What started as a quiet Tuesday morning was soon to be turned upside down when an explosion and fire broke out right before 9 A.M in a home in Scottsdale, Arizona on April 10th. Law enforcement and firemen uncovered that this was the house of Robert, Mary, Bobby, and Brittany Fisher. Mary and Robert were married and Bobby and Brittany were their elementary school aged children. Upon arriving on the scene, they noticed that Mary Fisher’s car was missing. Once they were able to stop the blaze they found 3 bodies among the ashes; two of which were obviously children, and the third was found to be Mary Fisher. At this time, they attempted to reach Robert, who they suspected had no idea what just happened to his family, and inform him of the tragedy that had taken place.
While investigating, law enforcement officials took a closer look into the lives of the Fisher’s. They found out that Mary and Robert had been married for 16 years. They also uncovered that Robert had suffered a terrible back injury that caused him to lose his career as a firefighter, and left him with large scars and odd posture. This injury weighed heavily on him, and made him uneasy in many aspects of his life. From the outside, the Fisher’s looked like any happy family, but those closest to them knew their relationship was strained. Even though Robert and Mary were incredibly unhappy in their marriage, Robert had grown up with divorced parents and was an active member of the Baptist church and often claimed that “divorce was not an option” for him and his family. Although Robert made claims that him and his wife were working through their troubles to repair their marriage, Mary had been telling those closest to her that she was planning on filing for divorce.
On Monday April 9th, 2001, the day before the fire had broken out, Robert had been running errands because he had a day off from work and the rest of the family were carrying on their days as normal. However, that night around 10 P.M, Robert and Mary were heard having an explosive fight that lasted about a half an hour according to neighbors who heard them arguing. Around 10:40 P.M that same night, Robert was seen at an ATM machine not far from his home withdrawing $280 in cash. At this point in the investigation, police have concluded that Mary, Bobby, and Brittany were murdered but they are unsure when and by whom, even though they speculate that Robert was the perpetrator. Police know that the family was murdered because during the investigation of the crime scene they uncovered that, at some point before the fire had started, all 3 of their throats were slit almost to the point of decapitation and Mary had also been shot in the head. Robert had a massive gun collection in which a few were missing when law enforcement was investigating what was left of the home. They discovered that the bullet Mary was shot with matched the caliber of one of the weapons believed to be missing; further linking Robert to the crimes. It was after the family was murdered that the perpetrator covered the house in an unknown accelerant and, in an attempt to slow the reaction, removed the gas line from the oil tank and lit a candle forcing the home to fill with gas before the fire could be ignited. At this point, Robert could have been on the road, escaping his crimes, for any number of hours.
On April 14th, Robert was named the only official suspect in the crimes. They sent out multiple bulletins asking for any information that would lead them to him. Not long after, they began receiving information about sightings of Robert near Rye, Arizona, a town north of his home in Scottsdale. After following up on these leads, law enforcement still had not been able to track down Robert. On April 20th they received a call about an abandoned car found far off the road in Young, Arizona, another town that is north of Scottsdale. After helicopters were able to confirm that this vehicle was in fact the SUV that belonged to Mary Fisher, the Arizona SWAT team was brought in to further investigate. They found that the side view mirrors had been manually pushed in and all of the windows had been rolled down. They also believed that the vehicle had just been abandoned there not long ago because even though it was parked in the woods under a multitude of pine trees with falling needles, there were hardly any found on or in the car. Underneath the car they also find Robert’s dog “Blue”, who was not tied up and still alive. After testing the car for DNA, they discovered that there was absolutely none on or within the vehicle, but they did find the cap that Robert was wearing the night he withdrew money from the ATM near his home. They also discovered size 13 footprints leading from the car to a cave within the woods. However, after investigating this cave, they came up empty and after 3 days the searched was called off because of a lack of any evidence.
There have been multiple reported sightings of Robert all over the place, but there is one shocking sighting that stands out. In February 2004 a man that looked identical to Robert was arrested in Vancouver, Canada. Police decided to contact his former neighbor from home to see if he would be able to come and identify him. The neighbor visited the jail where this man was located and stated that he looked and sounded exactly like Robert. This man also had strikingly similar scars on his back that Robert had gotten after that back injury. Robert also had a very distinctive gold tooth that could be used to easily identify him, and the man that was incarcerated in Canada was missing the exact same tooth that Robert had the gold cap on. Fingerprints that were taken of the man did not match Robert and ultimately he was let go.
On June 29, 2002 Robert Fisher was named the 475th fugitive to be put on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List. He also is featured on the America’s Most Wanted “Dirty Dozen” list which comprises the show’s most notorious fugitives. The FBI currently offers a reward of up to $100,000 for any information leading to his arrest. There has been speculation that he committed suicide in a cave in the woods, but many believe that he is still alive and is living in isolation under an assumed identity. Robert is considered to be armed and extremely dangerous and has known ties to Florida and New Mexico. He is known to have blue eyes, brown hair, and stand at about 6 feet tall. Today he would be 59 years of age. If you have any information about the whereabouts of Robert Fisher, you should contact the Scottsdale Police at (480) 312-2716 or the Phoenix FBI office at (602) 279-5511.
Pictured Below (Left to Right, Top to Bottom): Robert Fisher from the time he went missing, https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/robert-william-fisher: The Fisher family, https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Robert_Fisher: The fire ablaze at the Fisher home, https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ariz-fugitive-alive-15-years-vanishing-article-1.2593996: Robert seen taking money out of the ATM near his house wearing the cap later found inside the abandoned vehicle, https://www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/news/local/scottsdale/2014/05/01/robert-fisher-family-tragedy/7599889/: Mary Fisher's SUV found abandoned in the woods, http://murderpedia.org/male.F/f/fisher-robert-william-photos.htm: Age progression of Robert/What he might look like today, https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/scottsdale-police-release-enhanced-photos-of-fugitive-robert-fisher-suspected-of-murdering-his-family-15-years-ago-8204552: Robert's FBI most wanted poster, http://murderpedia.org/male.F/f/fisher-robert-william-photos.htm.
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