Robert William Fisher

Robert William Fisher (born April 13, 1961) is an American fugitive wanted for allegedly killing his family and blowing up the house in which they lived in Scottsdale, Arizona, on April 10, 2001.

Fisher served in the United States Navy and later worked as a firefighter and in the medical field.

Robert William Fisher was born on April 13, 1961, in Brooklyn, New York City.

His father was William Fisher, a banker, and his mother was Jan Howell.

They had three offspring: Robert and two daughters.

The parents divorced in 1976, when Robert was 15; after this, he and his sisters went to live with their father in Arizona.

All three attended Sahuaro High School in Tucson, Arizona.

According to friends and relatives, the divorce was turbulent and had long-lasting effects on him.

A friend from high school stated Robert was "very bitter" about it.

Fisher reportedly spoke of his parents' separation with co-workers at Mayo Clinic Hospital close to the time of the murders, and once confided to an associate that his life would have been different had Jan not left the family.

Fisher enlisted in the United States Navy and attempted to become part of the SEALs but was not successful.

He was an avid outdoorsman, hunter, and fisherman.

Fisher worked as a firefighter in California but was forced to retire after a back injury.

He then moved his family to Arizona and embarked on a career in the medical field.

He worked as a surgical catheter technician, and respiratory therapist.

Fisher worked as a weed sprayer for a time in the late 1980s.

A man who employed him recalled that he was a quiet man and suffered from serious back pain but was a good employee.

Fisher was a surgical technician at a Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale at the time of the murders.

He married Mary Cooper in 1987, and they had two children, Bobby and Brittney.

The Fishers had a difficult family life.

Robert Fisher was described as displaying cruel and controlling conduct towards his family, and on many occasions was reported to have exhibited disturbing and violent behavior.

He was unfaithful to his wife at least once.

His own parents had divorced when Fisher was 15, and this was believed to have played a role in the difficulties that he later experienced.

Fisher married Mary Cooper in 1987.

He was described as a cruel and distant control freak toward his family.

He and his wife fought about sex and money, with Mary taking a job that she told friends was a "security fund."

Fisher once turned a garden hose on Mary after he perceived her to have spoken out of turn.

Fisher was embarrassed that his son Bobby did not like to hunt or fish, and once tried to teach him and daughter Brittney how to swim by throwing them off a boat.

Hunting partner Sandy Gillespie said, "They were crying, and Brittney was screaming, and he pulled them back in the boat and he said, 'Now there, how's that?'" Fisher would not allow the walls in the house to be painted anything other than white, and only a small number of pictures were allowed on the wall.

"Several times her mother had made special things, like quilts," Mary's friend, Kimberly Sue Davidson, told police.

On April 10, 2001, the family's home exploded.

Inside, Fisher's wife and two children were found dead.

Their throats had been slit and Mary had been shot in the back of her head.

Robert Fisher, along with Mary's car, was absent.

Police named him as their only suspect in the killings.

On April 20, Mary's car was discovered in a forest near Young, Arizona.

Robert Fisher's ultimate fate is unknown.

On June 29, 2002, he was named by the FBI as the 475th fugitive to be placed on its Ten Most Wanted list.

On November 3, 2021, Fisher was removed from the FBI's Most Wanted Fugitives List.

Despite his removal from the Top Ten List, Fisher remains a wanted fugitive.