Robert William Fisher

Robert William Fisher (born April 13, 1961) is an American fugitive who is wanted for the murders of his wife and their two children on the night of April 9–10, 2001, in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Fisher's parents had divorced when he was aged 15, and this is believed to have played a role in the emotional difficulties that he later experienced. He married Mary Cooper in 1987, and they had two children, Bobby and Brittney. Fisher was described as displaying a cruel and domineering attitude towards his family, and on several occasions was reported to have exhibited disturbing and violent behavior. He was also unfaithful to his wife at least one occasion.

On April 10, 2001, the Fisher family's home was destroyed in a gas explosion, with Fisher's wife and two children found dead inside. Their throats had been cut, and Mary had been shot in the back of her head. Fisher was absent, along with Mary's car. Police named him as their only suspect in the killings. On April 20, the car was discovered in a forest near Young, Arizona.

Fisher's ultimate fate is unknown. On June 29, 2002, he was named by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as the 475th fugitive to be placed on its Ten Most Wanted list. Fisher was removed from the Ten Most Wanted list in 2021 but remains a wanted fugitive as of 2026.

Early life Robert William Fisher was born in New York City on April 13, 1961, to William Fisher, a banker, and Jan Fisher ( Howell). They had three children, of which Fisher was the sole son. Fisher's parents divorced in 1976, when he was aged 15, and he subsequently moved to Arizona with his sisters to live with their father. According to friends and relatives, the divorce was turbulent and had long-lasting effects on Fisher, with a high school acquaintance stating he was "very bitter" about it. Shortly before the murders, Fisher reportedly spoke of the divorce with co-workers at Mayo Clinic Hospital and confided to an associate that his life would have been different had his mother not left the family.

Fisher and his siblings attended Sahuaro High School in Tucson, Arizona. He enlisted in the United States Navy and applied to join the SEALs program, but was not successful.

Adult life Following his discharge from the navy, Fisher worked as a firefighter in California until he was forced to retire due to a back injury. During the late 1980s he worked a weed sprayer, and was described by one of his former employers as a quiet man but a good worker. Fisher eventually moved his family to Arizona and began a career in the medical field, working as a surgical catheter technician and respiratory therapist. He was a surgical technician at the Mayo Clinic branch in Scottsdale at the time of the murders.

In 1987, Fisher married Mary Cooper; the marriage produced two children: a daughter Brittney and a son Bobby. However, Fisher was described as a cruel and distant control freak toward his family. He and his wife often had loud arguments which were overheard by their next-door neighbors. Fisher nonetheless tried to hold on to an image as a devoted family man.

Fisher had been an outdoorsman and a hunter since he was a young adult, and was reportedly embarrassed that his son did not share such interests. Friends observed him exhibiting disturbing behavior during outdoor activities. In one case, after killing an elk, Fisher began smearing its blood on his face. Fisher had been an active participant in the men's ministry of his church, but had begun to withdraw in the months leading up to the murders. Police theorized that the murders took place between 9:30pm and 10:15pm. At 10:43pm, Fisher was spotted on an ATM camera, where he withdrew $280. Mary's Toyota 4Runner was in the background.

Mary Fisher was shot in the back of the head and had her throat cut. Brittney and Bobby's throats were cut, but they did not display signs of having been shot. Before firefighters arrived, neighbors used garden hoses to try to keep the flames under control. The family dog Blue was found outside the car. Professional cavers have visited these caves many times in the years since the murders, but no sign of Fisher has ever been found. Police followed a set of footprints that led onto the reservation, but uncovered no sign of Fisher. However, all reported sightings of Fisher have been either inconclusive or false.

In April 2016, FBI officials and Scottsdale police displayed new age-enhanced photos of Fisher during a news conference on the fifteenth anniversary of the murders.

On November 3, 2021, Fisher was removed from the FBI Top 10 Most Wanted List. He was replaced by Yulan Adonay Archaga Carias, the alleged leader of MS-13 in Honduras, and the 526th addition to the Top Ten List. "Because the extensive publicity Fisher's case received during its nearly 20 years on the list has not resulted in his successful location and/or capture, the case no longer fulfills that requirement," the FBI said. In that case, he may have died after years as a fugitive without his remains being identified.

If Fisher did survive, it is thought that he may have hitchhiked out of the area or had aid from an accomplice. There is a theory that Fisher may have used his survival skills to continue living in the wilderness near Payson where his wife's car was discovered, although police and survival experts are skeptical due to the difficulty of finding food and shelter in that environment as well as the fact that no evidence has ever emerged of someone living in the woods in that area. "He could be living in a small town, where he gets paid cash and he works as a handyman," said Detective John Heinzelman. "Or he could be in a big city and blend in." It was postulated that Fisher may have crossed the southern United States border. Fisher's disappearance took place before the September 11 attacks. With border security being more lax at that time than it would later become, police have considered this a reasonable possibility. A hostile encounter occurred in Guatemala in 2009 between tourists and a man said to resemble Fisher. Police have speculated that Fisher may have started a new family, and have cited the fear that he might eventually decide to leave and annihilate that family like he did his original family as one of their chief reasons for continuing to search for him. Some police have however conceded that they may never learn what happened to Fisher. "Maybe this is the best we have, knowing he did it, and never finding him again," said Heintzelman.

FBI agent Bob Caldwell's sense of his personality and habits is that he is "arrogant. He's cocky. He's a know-it-all...and a loner." Fisher has been known to chew tobacco and favors the Copenhagen brand. His look has been described as average, but he sometimes walks in an odd, erect manner with his chest out due to a back problem stemming from the injury that he suffered as a firefighter, and is an avid hunter and fisherman. Fisher is considered armed and extremely dangerous and has ties to Florida and New Mexico.

In popular culture Fisher is the subject of a documentary, Where Is Robert Fisher?, released in 2011. It relies heavily on interviews with journalists and detectives, and it features interviews with one of his sisters and a neighbor. The documentary includes home footage of Fisher taken by Mary.