Robert Fisher: The killer who blew up his family was never caught

Many people believe that the lists of the most wanted criminals include only terrorists or heads of drug cartels. In fact, this is not entirely true. Interpol also searches for serial killers and those who have committed crimes in a way that is especially dangerous to society. Robert William Fisher is one of these people. Since 2001, he has been wanted by the US authorities, the FBI, and Interpol for a monstrous crime - he killed his loved ones and then blew up his own house.

Robert Fisher was born on April 13, 1961, in Brooklyn, New York. His father, William Fisher, was a successful banker, and his mother, Jan Howell, devoted herself entirely to raising three children - a son and two daughters. However, in 1976, when Robert turned 15, his parents decided to separate. After that, the children stayed with their father and left noisy New York, moving to a ranch in Arizona.

The parents' divorce was accompanied by a scandal due to the mother's adultery. Jan Howell met another man and simply left the family. Later, the Fishers' relatives said that this event had a strong impact on Robert's psyche, who loved his mother very much and was very disappointed in her. Shortly before committing the crime, the man told his colleagues at work that if it were not for his parents' divorce, his life would have turned out completely differently. Fisher himself considered himself a loser, and such thoughts constantly oppressed him.

After school, Robert Fisher successfully graduated from the military medical school. Since childhood, he dreamed of a military career and wanted to join the Navy Seals. But the young man could not pass the rigorous selection for the elite unit, which became another disappointment for him. Then Fisher decided to work as a firefighter in California. However, he soon suffered a serious back injury and was forced to quit.

Everyone who knew Fischer described him as a balanced and physically strong person. He regularly exercised, led a healthy lifestyle and enjoyed fishing and hunting. In 1987, Robert married Mary Cooper, and this period revealed new facets of his personality.

At first, the couple's family life was cloudless. The couple had two children: a daughter, Britney, and a son, Bobby. The young family moved from California to Scottsdale, Arizona, where Robert got a job as a surgical catheter technician at a local clinic. Over time, Fisher's attitude toward family members began to change. He was constantly jealous of his wife and watched her every move.

Neighbors recalled that loud arguments were common in the house, always started by Robert. It may have even come to blows, but Mary remained silent and did not share her problems with anyone. Gradually, her husband's behavior became unbearable - he literally demanded permission so that his wife could express her opinion. Once, Fisher doused Mary with water from a hose right in front of the entire street when she tried to object to him.

The relationship with the children of the domestic tyrant also did not work out. The son and daughter were afraid of their father, who did not always behave predictably. Robert was irritated that his son, in his opinion, grew up too attached to his mother and did not show interest in such "manly" activities as hunting and fishing. Once, during a vacation in nature, he threw his children - a 10-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter, who did not know how to swim at all - off the boat.

Family friend Sandy Gillespie, who witnessed the incident, recalled that the dangerous prank greatly amused Fisher. He pulled the frightened, drowning children out of the water and began to shame them, claiming that they were not capable of anything. Mary, who was nearby, silently watched what was happening. Horror was visible in her eyes, but she did not even try to intervene. Fear of her husband completely paralyzed the woman.

Robert Fisher had other quirks that only added to the tension in the house. For example, he insisted that the walls in the house be painted exclusively white. The choice of furniture and accessories for the interior was also entirely up to him - he excluded Mary from such decisions.

In her own home, a woman found herself practically deprived of rights. Her role was reduced to the duties of a silent servant and a caring educator of children. She had to address her husband only respectfully - "sir" or "mister", emphasizing his dominance.

Despite this, his father-in-law and mother-in-law treated Robert well and attributed all his oddities to his stern male character. Mary's mother said in an interview:

Over time, Robert Fisher began to show clear signs of mental illness. Once, while hunting, he killed a deer, then, having smeared its blood on his face, returned to camp and frightened his wife and children. Another time, during a picnic, he crept up on his family relaxing in deck chairs and fired a pistol right next to their ears. Fisher found such “jokes” incredibly witty.

Robert's actions became increasingly dangerous over time. Shortly before the tragedy, he shot a stray dog, citing the fact that it had allegedly attacked his Labrador. He was a strange combination of cruelty and piety. Fisher was a Baptist, regularly attended church, and was actively involved in the life of the community. However, just before the tragedy, he suddenly stopped attending services - a fact that did not go unnoticed by those around him.

In 1998, Robert Fisher decided to seek help from a pastor. He complained about his wife, who, he said, “didn’t understand” him. He also said that he had lost the meaning of life and was thinking about suicide. Two years later, in 2000, he began bragging to colleagues about casual relationships with prostitutes, although he had never mentioned this before. During this period, he also went to see a doctor because of a mild venereal disease.

This behavior of her husband pushed Mary to think about divorce. Two weeks before the tragedy, she confessed to her friends that she was planning to leave Robert. Probably, this news reached Fisher, and he began to behave more restrained and pester his wife less. But, most likely, Robert was already hatching a plan for revenge.

On April 9, 2001, 10 hours before the explosion, neighbors heard Robert arguing loudly with his wife. This happened between 9:30 and 10:15 p.m. Most likely, this is when he killed Mary and the children. At 10:43 p.m., ATM cameras recorded Robert arriving in his wife's car and withdrawing $280.

This was the last time Robert Fisher was seen. It remains unknown whether he returned home after this or immediately disappeared. Later, the investigation established that he shot 38-year-old Mary, 12-year-old Britney and 10-year-old Bobby with a hunting rifle. By the time the explosion occurred, everyone in the house was already dead.

The explosion occurred in the morning, and emergency services began receiving calls from worried neighbors at 8:23 a.m. The force of the blast was so powerful that the front brick wall of the Fishers' home was completely blown off, and most of the roof was blown into the air. The blast wave swept through the neighborhood, shaking buildings within a radius of up to half a mile. As a result, all nearby houses were left without glass.

A massive fire broke out in the Fisher home, with flames shooting up to six meters high. While firefighters rushed to the scene, neighbors tried to put out the fire themselves, dousing it with garden hoses. After the fire was extinguished, police experts determined that Robert Fisher had damaged a gas line in the kitchen. To cause an explosion, he closed all the windows and doors in the house, and left a burning candle in one of the rooms.

This clever ruse meant that the explosion did not occur until 10 hours after Fisher had fled, allowing him to escape. The charred remains of Mary, Bobby, and Britney Fisher were found in the bedroom. The killer had apparently placed them in a row on the bed. Four rifles, a shotgun, and a large quantity of ammunition were also found in the house.

The police immediately declared Fisher the prime suspect and began an active search for him. However, the first clues appeared only ten days later. On April 20, Mary Fisher's car, in which Robert had escaped, was found in Tonto National Park, about 160 kilometers north of the crime scene.

Hiding under the car was Robert's Labrador, Blue. The dog looked emaciated and scared. On the driver's seat was an Oakland Raiders baseball cap that belonged to Fisher. Near the front door of the car, police found a pile of human feces - all that was left of the killer.

There were cave entrances not far from the car, some of which stretched for a considerable distance. The police and rangers searched them all thoroughly. They even brought in speleologists to search the most inaccessible and dangerous parts of the underground passages. But there was no trace of Fisher anywhere. Investigators assumed that he either committed suicide or deliberately destroyed all the evidence in order to disappear without a trace.

One of Robert's friends recalled that shortly before the tragedy they had hunted together in this very area. He found it strange that Fisher was more focused on studying the surrounding area than on tracking his prey. Robert William Fisher was put on the wanted list. People would occasionally appear claiming to have seen him in different states. However, the police were never able to track him down.

FBI experts admit that Robert Fisher may still be alive today. There is even a version that he remained in the national park, hiding in its mountainous and hard-to-reach areas. However, this assumption seems unlikely: surviving in the harsh conditions of Arizona, completely isolated from society, is extremely difficult, even for an experienced hunter.

It is also possible that Fischer fled the United States via the southern border. This version is supported by the fact that in 2009, in Guatemala, the police detained a foreign man for a fight who looked exactly like Robert. However, at that time, law enforcement officers did not check the data through the FBI or Interpol websites, and the man was only fined and released.

Robert Fisher is on the US Most Wanted list. However, in 2021, they started talking about removing him from the registry as deceased. Over the years, the criminal has not shown himself in any way and it is possible that he has long been dead.