FAIRBANKS — Cellphone records, blood and witness accounts all show that a North Pole man strangled his girlfriend, Kaylynn Bishop, and later impersonated her in text messages for several days, Fairbanks police say in a criminal complaint filed in court Saturday.
Nyrobbie Chandler, 35, who goes by “D,” according to police records, is being held without bail at Fairbanks Correctional Center on a charge of first-degree murder and three counts of evidence tampering.
Police say they interviewed Chandler four times between when Bishop was found dead on May 9 and his arrest Friday morning.
Chandler’s account of the week his girlfriend died, police say, is that Bishop got home late from work at the Hideout Bar on May 6. Later in the morning, she got a call from someone Chandler did not know who picked her up at his house, Chandler said.
But police say phone records show Bishop never received a phone call on the morning of May 6. There were several text messages from Bishop’s phone on May 7 and 8, after police say she likely was killed. In these messages, Bishop, or someone using her phone, said she was going to miss work because she was going to Chena Hot Springs Resort. One series of text messages, sent May 6 and 7, inquired about picking up a $400 deposit Bishop had made on an apartment.
Bishop’s body was found May 9, partially buried behind an abandoned vehicle near the western Badger Road exit of the Richardson Highway. An autopsy done by the state medical investigator concluded she was strangled.
Police said Bishop’s black Saturn Ion, which Chandler drove between May 6 and 9, was missing carpet in its trunk and contained a red oil-like substance that tested positive for Bishop’s blood.
Interviews with several of Bishop’s friends and co-workers supported the suspicion of Chandler and provided evidence of a possible motive, police said.
“The underlying theme of these interviews was that Chandler was a jealous and controlling boyfriend and that Bishop was scared of Chandler and had been trying to end the relationship for some time,” detective Peyton Merideth wrote in the criminal complaint. “Chandler had been asked to leave the Hideout on more than one occasion for harassing customers Bishop was attending to.”
Chandler was arraigned Saturday afternoon at the Rabinowitz Courthouse. Appearing from Fairbanks Correctional Center by video conference, Chandler was wearing a white T-shirt and appeared impatient with the hearing.
“Do I get a bail or anything?” he asked.
Magistrate judge David Roghair said he will be held without bail for now.
“I plead no contest,” Chandler said at one point during the hearing. Roghair told him he would not be able to enter a plea until he appears in court again next week with an attorney.
Friends and family of Bishop occupied two rows at the courthouse. Many left the courtroom in tears.
“We’re just so glad that something has come out of this and someone has been accused of this,” Wendy Schneider, a friend of the Bishop family, said outside the courtroom. “And if all of the evidence points in the right direction and they have the right person, then that’s all we can hope for. Nothing will bring her (Bishop) back.”
Contact Fairbanks Daily News-Miner staff writer Sam Friedman at 907-459-7545. Follow him on Twitter, @FDNMcrime
