AZ AZ - Robert William "Bobby" Fisher, Scottsdale, Apr 2001 *FBI Ten Most Wanted*

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ROBERT WILLIAM FISHER | Federal Bureau of Investigation

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ROBERT WILLIAM FISHER
Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution - First Degree Murder (3 Counts), Arson of an Occupied Structure

Alias: Robert W. Fisher
Date(s) of Birth Used: April 13, 1961
Place of Birth: Brooklyn, New York
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 190 pounds
Build: Medium
Complexion: Light
Sex: Male
Race: White
Occupation: Surgical Catheter Technician, Respiratory Therapist, Fireman
Nationality: American
Scars and Marks: Fisher has surgical scars on his lower back.

REWARD The FBI is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading directly to the arrest of Robert William Fisher.

REMARKS Fisher is physically fit and is an avid outdoorsman, hunter, and fisherman. He has a noticeable gold crown on his upper left first bicuspid tooth. He may walk with an exaggerated erect posture and his chest pushed out due to a lower back injury. Fisher is known to chew tobacco heavily. He has ties to New Mexico and Florida. Fisher is believed to be in possession of several weapons, including a high-powered rifle.

CAUTION Robert William Fisher is wanted for allegedly killing his wife and two young children and then blowing up the house in which they all lived in Scottsdale, Arizona, in April of 2001.
 
APR 23, 2001
Law enforcement frustrated after futile Fisher search
  1. The search was called off after 25 to 50 officers spent the weekend in the Hell's Gate Wilderness Area near Young searching for RF.
  2. RF's dog, Blue, found circling the SUV on Fri afternoon, was doing fine on Mon, said PB, a Payson veterinarian who helped capture and treat him.
  3. Blue was found hungry, agitated and with a nose full of porcupine quills.
  4. RF is wanted in the deaths of his wife Mary, 38, and their two children, Brittney, 13 and Robert Jr., 10. Their bodies were found in the debris of their burned-out home.
  5. Police believe they were killed before someone rigged the home to explode by disconnecting a natural gas line.
  6. Deputy Tom Rasmussen said there was no sign that RF had stayed in the caves, and Jon Selby, a Forest Service patrol officer who has explored them, said no one could hide in them for long.
  7. "I think he used the vehicle as a decoy and left the dog and hopped a ride with someone," Selby said. "(But) we've got to base everything on facts, and we don't have any yet."
 
APR 6, 2002
Police: Ariz. fugitive may have called TV show
  1. RF may have contacted an operator of the television series "America's Most Wanted" after an August episode about the killings.
  2. "There were some things said that led me to believe it was Robert Fisher," Scottsdale police detective John Kirkham said during a news conference Friday on the nearly year-old case.
  3. Police didn't say what the man claiming to be RF said, why he called, how long he talked or whether investigators know where the call came from.
  4. The Arizona Republic said federal documents show the call came from a pizza parlor in Chester VA on 8/18/2001 - a week after the TV show aired.
  5. Kirkham said the call was the first, but not the only piece of evidence that eventually allowed the FBI to officially join the hunt six months later.
  6. Scottsdale police have received about 365 leads in the case.
  7. The Fishers' home in Scottsdale exploded in flames on April 9, 2001.
 
FEB 5, 2004
Fisher or not Fisher? Arrest questions identity
  1. Tim Shields, a constable with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, suggested that RF's 1979 fingerprints from U.S. Navy files did not match prints of a man arrested Wed because the man living as RF in Scottsdale was someone else.
  2. “We have to cover off the very real possibility that this 45-year-old Canadian man had not moved to the U.S. and assumed another identity and actually had a family there before moving back to Canada,” Shield said.
  3. The man, whose name was withheld by police went missing for more than 10 years. He was released by Canadian authorities Thursday.
  4. Besides the face, the man is of similar age, height and weight and has eye color, athletic build and the same surgical scar on his lower back as RF. He is missing his upper first left bicuspid — where RF had a gold crown.
  5. One of RF's former neighbors in the 2200 block of North 74th Place also identified the man in Canada as RF in a photo lineup.
  6. Shields said Canadian authorities were not able to eliminate the possibility that their man had lived in the United States under another name.
  7. The man's lawyer, Matthew Nathanson, said this is a case of mistaken identity and that his client was dragged out of his home at gunpoint. The man provided police with his name and birthdate and nothing else.
  8. "He was from the outset cooperative. He lived up to all the obligation he had of identifying himself," Nathanson said.
  9. Someone who knew the man called authorities after seeing RF's poster on the FBI's Most Wanted website, said Bob Caldwell, FBI agent in charge.
  10. Acting on a tip, 35 Canadian officers surrounded a house in White Rock, BC on Wed less than a mile from the U.S. border. He was living in the 14500 block of Sunset Dr, with a woman believed to be his girlfriend.
  11. Canadian police, who cordoned off streets around the home, said the man tried to elude capture by running out the back door.
  12. Caldwell said it was late Wed when the FBI confirmed that the detained man could not be the 42-year-old Fisher.
  13. FBI fingerprint experts compared the man's prints to those on file from RF's which didn't match and there was no indication of any attempt to change them.
  14. “You would be able to tell if he tried to alter them,” Caldwell said.
  15. “Other than the families, there's no one who wishes it was him more than me,” Caldwell said.
 
FEB 7, 2004
FBI: Canadian man is not Robert Fisher
  1. A spokesman for the RCMP on Thu. suggested a Canadian citizen may have posed as RF while living in Scottsdale and returned to his own country after killing his wife and two children.
  2. "That’s absurd," said FBI special agent Bob Caldwell, the lead investigator.
  3. "We know who Robert Fisher is. He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. He moved to Arizona, lived in Tucson for quite a long time. His family has all been here in the state of Arizona. We’ve tracked Robert Fisher throughout his life. His parents — we’ve had contact with them the whole time."
  4. RF is the sole suspect in the killings. Police say he slit their throats, shot his wife in the head, then rigged a gas line to blow up their home.
  5. Scottsdale detective Sam Bailey said the man’s striking resemblance to RF actually was a reason alone to discount him as RF, as he has probably tried to change his appearance as much as possible.
  6. Caldwell said RF’s dental records were sent to Canadian authorities, but he did not know the outcome of that comparison, other than the man was missing the same upper bicuspid where Fisher had a gold crown.
  7. "But his fingerprints rule him out. Fingerprints are better than dental records," Caldwell said.
  8. "I’ve seen the pictures of this guy. And at first quick glance, you go, ‘Yeah, he looks like him.’ But it’s not him. Even by picture I can see that it’s not him."
 
NANCY GRACE - Armed, Dangerous and Wanted by FBI
Aired December 29, 2005 - 20:00:00 ET
CNN.com - Transcripts
[...]

Tonight, from Scottsdale, Arizona, Mary Fisher`s father, Bill Cooper. From the Scottsdale, Arizona, Police Department, Detective John Kirkham. And from the Arizona FBI agent Bob Caldwell.

[...]

HOLLY JOHNSON, "ARIZONA REPUBLIC": ... There have been numerous sightings...

GRACE: Holly, what do we know about motive? Why would he suddenly commit these murders and take off?

JOHNSON: Investigators believe that Fisher had contracted a sexually transmitted disease from a massage therapist.

[...]

JOHNSON: Yes. And his wife had apparently wanted a divorce, and he was just not willing to buy that. So that`s one of the possible motives that they`re looking at.

GRACE: To Bill Cooper. He is the father of Mary Fisher. Bill, did you notice anything wrong with their marriage?

BILL COOPER, FATHER OF MARY FISHER: No, we didn`t at all, Nancy. It was just -- as far as we were concerned, that was the best thing that was going. I mean, Robert was so nice to us. He was just sweet. I could just mention that for the last year, he and Mary had been going out double- dating with my oldest daughter and her husband, and they didn`t know anything was going on. Mary kept everything to herself, for whatever reason, I don`t know, but I think a lot of it was to protect us.

[…]

GRACE: ... Now, let me go quickly to John Kirkham. He`s the lead investigation with the Scottsdale Police Department. That took a lot of planning, not only to commit a triple homicide, but Officer, to then plan out the way this home exploded. Explain how he allegedly set the home on fire.

DET. JOHN KIRKHAM, SCOTTSDALE POLICE DEPARTMENT: Oh, absolutely, it took a lot of planning. What we were able to find out after the fire was out was that the flex pipe on the furnace had been removed in a manner that it couldn`t have ever been put back. And later on, we were able to determine that there was an ignition source placed in the home. And it was probably...

GRACE: An ignition source?

KIRKHAM: ... about eight hours went by.

[…]

KIRKHAM: Well, we think that he placed the candle on a stand in the hallway, and as the home filled with natural gas over a period of eight to ten hours, the gas would slowly come down to the level of the candle and then ignite the gas.

[…]

COOPER: Nancy, I`ve talked to myself about that many times. He was a man who said that he loved his wife, that he loved his two kids. But how can a man who loved his wife and his kids so much put a bullet in my daughter`s head, slash her throat and then slash Britney and Bobbie`s beautiful little throats? And I only come up with one conclusion -- he`s not a man, he`s a monster, Nancy. He`s a monster.

[…]

GRACE: The thought of you watching the house burn all that time and smelling it and not realizing that your daughter is in there...

[…]

BOB CALDWELL, FBI AGENT: We got involved once Scottsdale Police Department had had some probable cause to believe that Robert Fisher fled the state. They looked -- at first, it was -- we believed Robert was missing, didn`t know if he may be also a victim in this crime, at first. And then as the forensic evidence started to get developed, it was determined and started leaning towards that Robert Fisher was actually the suspect in this case.

GRACE: Now, when you say the evidence began to be developed, what do you mean? What evidence led you to Fisher?

CALDWELL: When they forensically started to look at the bodies and they actually determined that these throats had actually been slit and actually slit deep enough to actually cut the vertebrae in the back of the neck.

[…]

JOHNSON: Well, by all accounts, you know, as Mr. Cooper said, he was devout in his religion, he was devoted to his family. Robert Fisher was a man who, by all accounts, was also devoted to his job. He kept to himself a lot. He was an avid outdoorsman. He just -- he was someone that you wouldn`t really peg for a crime like this.

[…]

GRACE: ... Mr. Cooper, ... I mean, I hear that your son-in-law was devout, was very religious. Was there any indication that he had a very dark side to his personality?

COOPER: We`ve found out since then that he was just double-sided.

[…]

GRACE: Well, what about that, Kirkham? John Kirkham is the lead investigator of the Scottsdale Police Department. Is that true? Was Fisher leading a double life?

[…]

KIRKHAM: We know that when he was with his hunting buddies that there was some bizarre behavior. He`d take animals and just kill them for no reason. We`ve got one picture that we got out of the home where he`s covered with blood from his head down to his pants, kind of like a trophy picture that he had taken. So that`s just some of the bizarre behavior that we found when he was with his hunting buddies.

GRACE: What forensics lead you to believe that he is guilty?

KIRKHAM: ... As we cleared the rubble away from the bodies, they were badly charred. We moved the bodies over onto one side and found that there was blood that had been protected in the bedsheets under the bodies, shouldn`t have been there. We noticed the lacerations on the neck. And as we went from one body to the other, they all had the same forensic evidence, the slash to the throat, the blood underneath the bodies. We knew that this wasn`t a result of a fire.

[…]

CALDWELL: ... He left his brand-new pickup truck in the driveway, but Mary`s vehicle was missing. Also, many of Robert Fisher`s personal items in the home were also taken. His clothing, all the male clothing belonging to him was gone. ...

GRACE: Yes, exactly, why would they only take his belongings? And why hasn`t he come back to the home to find out about his family.

[…]

GRACE: Bob Caldwell with the FBI also with us, also on Fisher`s trail. How long can Fisher stay underground?

CALDWELL: You would think by now, after four years, he would have to surface at some time. He`s going to need money. He`s going to need a way to survive. As far as we know, the night before the murders occurred, he took $280 out of his bank account. And whether or not he may have had a stash of money in planning this -- he very well could have. But right now, that money would have run out. So he needs to come out and get supplies, get the normal things that we need to live with day by day.

[…]
 
MAR 18, 2007
The FBI's Worst Of The Worst
[...]

America's list of Ten Most Wanted fugitives is more than just names and photographs. It is about crimes. One took place here in Scottsdale, Arizona on April 9, 2001, in a house that used to sit in a cul-de-sac.

To the outside world, Robert William Fisher "looked" like the perfect dad and husband. Then a fire destroyed his home. Three bodies were recovered: his wife Mary Fisher, her daughter Brittney Fisher, and her son, Bobby Junior.

"The children's and even Mary's throats were slit so deep that they were almost decapitated. And Mary Fisher was shot in the head," said Robert Caldwell, a FBI special agent in the Phoenix office. "And, in the house, it was found to have been rigged to blow up, to cover up the homicide."

[...]

Agent Caldwell nominated Fisher for the Top Ten List and in June 2002, Fisher's name went on it.

"What's he going to do if he meets another woman, starts another family?" Caldwell said. "Is he gonna murder them? And that's the reason why he's on the Top Ten, as we firmly believe he could do this again."

[...]
 
DEC 17, 2007 - Last Update JAN 13, 2015
Robert William Fisher Wanted for Fatally Shooting Wife, Slitting Kids' Throats
[...]

He loved to hunt and fish. He doted on his kids and dedicated himself to a career of helping others, first as a firefighter, then later as a surgical catheter technician and respiratory therapist.

But there was a dark side to Fisher. People close to him described him as a loner, a control freak who didn't want anyone outside of his close-knit family raising his kids.

[...]

On April 10, 2001, police suspect that dark side got the better of him.

He and his wife Mary, who were having marital troubles, were having an argument at their Scottsdale, Ariz. home. The night before, neighbors heard yelling from the house.

[...]

Caldwell said Mary, who had already caught Robert cheating with another woman, learned he was having another affair. Mary already took Robert back one time. She wasn't going to do it again and planned to leave him.

[...]

Investigators say Robert shot Mary, 38, in the head, then hunted down his two children and slit their throats. Fisher is thought to have then put an accelerant on their bodies, opened a gas line to the heater and lit a candle down the hallway that caused the house to explode.

[...]
 
Every time I see his picture, I see dead eyes. He looks so familiar, but ? as to why, as there’s no way he looks now like he did then. It’s the short haircut I think, as there are multiple military bases in this area.
 
Last edited:
MAY 25, 2011
475. Robert William Fisher | Federal Bureau of Investigation



OCT 13, 2011
Robert Fisher Murder Case Documentary: Great Story, Not So Hot Story Execution
[...]

Fisher has evaded capture to this day, and a reasonable debate exists as to whether he is still alive or dead (most likely by his own hand) in the remote mountains north of Payson, where authorities later found Mary's vehicle and the dog (who still was alive at the time).

We attended the new movie with a pal who employed Robert Fisher as a weed sprayer for a year or so in the 1980s.

He recalled Fisher as an excellent, if somewhat diffident, employee who suffered from serious back pain, the remnants of a bad accident said to have cost him a career in the United States Navy.

Our friend said Fisher surely had been addicted to painkillers back then and hypothesized that continued use of the drugs may have spiraled him into an inexplicable homicidal rage.

[...]

Our favorite scene, by far, was an excerpt from a haunting home movie taken by Mary Fisher sometimes in the 1990s.

[...]
 
JAN 23, 2012
$100,000 Reward for Fugitive Robert William Fisher

MAR 6, 2013
Lot of Fisher massacre has been sold three times
For almost three years, a charred slab of concrete had been the only thing left at 2223 N. 74th Place in Scottsdale. ...

Now, even the slab is gone. Bulldozers have torn out the last remnants of the Fisher house, and an orange plastic fence now lines the west side of the lot.

The lot has been sold three times since September 2003, county records show. Neighbors have said its current owner has been clearing the way to build a house, and many of them welcome the activity.

[...]
 
APR 11, 2014
Why FBI Won't Give Up the Search for Fugitive Robert Fisher
[...]

"This man stood over his children, slit their throats so deeply he almost decapitated them and also slit the throat of his wife and shot her in the head," case agent Robert Caldwell said in a statement about the fugitive, who if alive, would be 52 years old.


"We never let off the gas pedal. Even after 13 years, we still have not let off the pedal. We are going to continue to look for him until he is brought into custody," he said.

[...]

Fisher was officially named a suspect on April 14, 2001.

[...]

Fisher’s Toyota 4Runner and dog were found in the woods about 80 miles away in Arizona several days after his family was murdered. It was the last clue to the surgical catheter technician's whereabouts.

[...]

Authorities held a Fisher lookalike in Canada in 2003 until it was confirmed they had the wrong man.

There's also the theory that he killed himself, but Caldwell said the man who was described as arrogant and hard to get along with, likely didn't take his own life.

[...]
 
OCT 11, 2014
Tip of Robert Fisher in Colorado results in arrest of 2
[...]

Law enforcement officials in Colorado arrested two people Saturday night after acting on a tip that the notorious Arizona fugitive Robert William Fisher was at a Commerce City, Colo., home.

[...]

They are being held for investigation of possession of a schedule two substance with the intent to distribute, obstruction, and possession of an illegal weapon, according to Colorado police. There appears to be no indication that these men are connected to Fisher, police said.

[...]

Fisher's last known whereabouts were established 10 days later. A camper spotted Fisher's Toyota 4Runner near Cherry Creek outside of Young, in eastern Arizona, and shortly thereafter heard about the manhunt on the radio. He contacted a friend in Scottsdale who reached out to authorities, but by the time law enforcement arrived, only the SUV remained.

The family dog, Blue, was found in the area, alive but apprehensive. A veterinarian would confirm that he had not recently been fed, leading authorities to believe Fisher had arrived days earlier.

[...]

He was physically fit, despite chewing tobacco heavily, and had a noticeable gold crown on his upper left first bicuspid tooth. Authorities said he walked with an exaggeratedly erect posture because of a lower-back injury.

[...]

Few law-enforcement experts believe Fisher is dead. They paint a picture of a callous, ego-driven man who possessed the skills that would easily allow him to hide in the wilderness. Fisher is an avid outdoorsman, a former firefighter and a Navy veteran.
 
OCT 14, 2014
False sighting puts spotlight back on Arizona fugitive
[...]

Fisher, the avid outdoorsman accused of slitting his children's throats, shooting his wife and blowing up their Scottsdale, Ariz., house in 2001, was suddenly on everyone's mind for the first time in a long time. The only problem was that it wasn't Fisher, and Commerce City, Colo., police don't think he has ever been to their city.

But authorities say even a false sighting can have major benefits, casting an old case suddenly back in the public spotlight, reminding everyone a dangerous suspect is still on the lam and to report anyone who might resemble him.

[...]

Nancy Savage, executive director of the Society of Retired Special Agents of the FBI, said old cases like Fisher's are not that unusual for detectives assigned to fugitive details. She said such cases are usually exhaustive, with detectives staying in touch with the fugitive's family and friends, hoping the fugitive becomes careless.

[...]
 
NOV 26, 2014
Timeline: The Robert Fisher case
10 p.m. April 9, 2001

Robert Fisher and his wife, Mary, are said to have had a loud argument about 10 p.m. in their Scottsdale house.

10:45 p.m. April 9, 2001

Robert Fisher withdraws $280 - the maximum amount allowable - from an ATM at 10:45 p.m. at 74th Street and McDowell Road in Scottsdale. The surveillance camera shows that Fisher was alone in his wife's Toyota 4Runner.

April 10, 2001

At 8:42 a.m., a blast rings through a Scottsdale neighborhood, and flames engulfing the residence at 2223 N. 74th Place. The charred remains of Mary Fisher, Brittney Fisher and Robert Fisher Jr. are discovered inside. Their throats were slit and their bodies doused with an accelerant. Notably missing is Robert Fisher Sr., who is quickly labeled a person of interest.

[...]

1398984119000-scottsdale-fisher-atm-camera.jpg
1398984569000-Camera2.jpg
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[...]
 
momrids6 said:
Every time I see his picture, I see dead eyes. He looks so familiar, but ? as to why, as there’s no way he looks now like he did then. It’s the short haircut I think, as there are multiple military bases in this area.
Click to expand...
Did you see the age-progression photos in post #1 (FBI flyer)? That's a better idea of what he may look like today. :) MOO
 
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