16. An Answer

Published Nov 13, 2024, 8:01 AM

An interview takes a shocking turn — and answers a key question.

Did Robert Fisher live past April two thousand and one. Yes. From iHeartRadio and Neon thirty three. I'm John Walzac and this is Missing in Arizona, the story of a man who disappeared after allegedly killing his wife and kids, blowing up their suburban home, and escaping into the wilderness. Twenty three years later, I'm hunting Robert Fisher and I need your help. Missing in Arizona contains graphic depictions of violence and may not be suitable for all listeners.

Phoenix, Arizona, Friday, December the eleventh, two forty three PM.

Psycho nineteen sixty Hitchcock Panza camera across the Phoenix skyline credits dissolve into a black and white horizon. An ancient mountain looms in the distance, Camelback Mountain.

Phoenix, Arizona, two thousand and two.

And there on the mountain is Robert Fisher Alive?

The reaction Part one.

Let's circle back to episode fifteen. I told you about a person of interest. Tony Police got a lead that he helped Fisher before, during, and or after the murders. They interviewed him. He was nervous, breathing, heavily. Do you recognize the name Robert Fisher? No, he said, the guy who killed his family went to your church, blew up his house. Your wife knew his escaped, Your kids were friends FBI's ten most Wanted list. Ah, yes him. This is what gets me. The reaction Tony claiming not to recognize the name Robert Fisher. Scottsdale Lieutenant Hugh Lockerby, and former FBI agent Bob Caldwell, who interviewed him think he lied. So do I, which begs the question why why lie? Unless you have something to hide. I want to speak to Tony in person, look him in the eyes. So in late twenty twenty three, I show up at his house unannounced with our producer Paul Deckett. The door swings open. Tony's a big guy. I'm not. His wife and kids accused him of abuse. He's a person of interest in a triple homicide. I worry he'll fly into a rage, punch me, choke me worse. I side I escape routes and start asking questions. Tony speaks and shockingly doesn't stop for nearly twenty minutes. We're gonna play the whole interview. We disguised Tony's voice and bleeped personal details, but otherwise it's unedited. Pay close attention not only to what he says, but how he says it, his reaction. Hey, please, who I'm My name is John Walzach. I'm an investigative journalist in researching the case, and I was wondering if I could speak to you about Robert Fisher.

You know, I I've talked to the FBI years ago about that whole thing. I don't want I don't have any information on that.

Is it okay? If I can I speak to.

Or I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to deal with that anymore, is all right? Yeah?

Can I ask you any questions.

You can ask? I don't have any information. I don't know.

Did you know Robert Fisher at all?

He went to the same church and I went to That's about it, and my kids played with his kids in the church there. When I got divorced, my ex wife said a bunch of stuff about me being friends with him or whatever, And then so the FBI talked to me about it, and I'm like, I don't know the guy really, So it gives me anxiety just to think about it. Because it's more about my ex wife and the trauma that or the stuff that she stirred up with at that was just vindictive.

So so you you didn't know him at all.

I couldn't pick him out if I saw him. I wouldn't. I don't even remember ever talking to him any of that.

Okay, Yeah, I'm reaching out to basically everybody who I possibly can, but your name came up, so I wanted to reach out and speak to you.

You know, I appreciate it, But like I told the FBI back then, I don't have any information. I don't know other than what probably what I remember reading and hearing what had happened, not necessarily knowing him or anything prior to that.

Yeah, when they showed up, because I got the memo that they wrote after they spoke with you, what was your I mean, what do you think when they showed up? Like why are they here asking me about that?

Yeah? Like it was very bizarre, just like you guys coming up here, Like Okay, what do I have to do with any of this? Yeah?

Did you have any idea why they were there or did you assume somebody said something or I know the f guy well, like like some that somebody told them something.

Or Yeah, that's what I felt like, like somebody said said something. And as soon as I brought up my ex wife, the FBA stopped. Yeah.

How long did they interview you?

For? Just a couple of weeks. I think we went, they came that, they came to my work, and then I went down and I met with them and talked through a bunch of stuff. They wanted me to do a light detective test and I'm like at that point, I'm like, I'm done. I don't have anything to contribute. You guys are you know? Yeah, basically wasting more time with me, And it was just one of those that I felt like it was more my ex wife just trying to cause problems in my life. Yeah.

Do you think that's because your ex wife knew meryor because you guys went to the same church that because she knew Mary.

And I don't even know how much she knew.

Mary when they came and asked you. So their memo says that when they came and asked you.

Have a card or anything I have, I can give you a personal card.

So that's so I'm an investigator journalist out of Pittsburgh. I'm here working on this story. Paul works for iHeart Media. We're working on an audio documentary on the Fisher case. So but I've spent about ten months researching it. So I'm tracking down everything that I can. And I mean, and you know, full disclosure, I have the memo that they wrote after they spoke to you, so.

I don't know.

I mean, they obviously let it go, so I but I didn't want to not attempt to that. So that's interesting. Yeah, when when they spoke to you and they asked you if you knew who Robert Fisher was, the memo says that you said you didn't recognize the name Robert Fisher.

Yeah. When they said to the person, I'm like, who's Robert Fisher? I know Fisher that I worked with, and I was kind of like, oh is it is it something to do with with work?

But you didn't recognize even even though you guys went to the same church and he was accused of somebody who was accused of you didn't recognize his name.

No, No, it was because it was such a remote thing for me, like I don't know who this guy really is. Yeah, it was a very traumatic time.

At the church.

Yeah, for sure. Do you remember what year?

Did do you stop going to the church at some point? I think what year that was, because this was two thousand and one that this happened.

I was already not going to the church then, I believe, Yeah, got two thousand and one would have been Yeah, I would have not I know him in the church.

Then, So when they spoke to you and asked you if you would take a light detector test, did you decline the light detector test?

Just like, I don't want to deal with this because I don't know. I mean, I've never taken a light of detector's test before, and like, what is it gonna? What is it gonna do? I mean, I had nothing to do with it.

Yeah, So so i'man I have to flat out ask you, did you ever meet Robert Fitcher? Did you know him at all?

I may have passed him in the church, but like I said, I would not know him if I saw him probably that wouldn't have known him by name. I wasn't affiliated with him in any way, so other than going attending the same church.

So you know, the FBI in the Scotstco Police apartment saw your employment records. I don't know if you knew that for April two thousand and one. Do you remember where you were when that event? Dah, absolutely, because it was it was not very pleasant.

Yeah. I was out doing there's a project manager owned project out there, and they came in showing their badges and I was in the middle of a meeting. Very embarrassing. Yeah.

Yeah, So they interviewed you at work and then you did you go down to the scottscol Police apartment.

I went down to downtown. It was like this really undis descript building down like on Third Avenue downtown somewhere.

If you remember, do you do you mind if I read you part of the memo that they wrote.

And asked go ahead? Is that our fact?

So says we next interviewed about his knowledge of Robert Fisher. At first, when we asked her if he knew Robert Fisher, he stated he did not recognize the name, and then they went on to explain what happened, and essentially, more or less, they noticed that during the interview with he appeared to be very nervous and was breathing heavily. Do you remember how you felt like when they showed.

Up or kind of like I do right now, just like understandable. I don't. I don't want to tell anybody about that. It just feels like I'm being interrogated over something that I had nothing involved with him. Well, when I brought up my ex wife and the divorce and all that stuff that she and I went through, and the vindictive stuff that went on that fit the bill before, the things that she would try to do, like try to pin me on something that was around.

You don't think it. You think it was your ex wife who spoke.

To the I don't know. It's just that's what it felt like, and that's what I told him.

So I have some I got I got it from records, but I don't know if somebody like for some reason sets I know that you know, and you're obviously they talked to a ton of people, so I know you're not the only person that they want, and they spoke to probably dozens or hundreds of people. So is there How how long were you about the church for you left be four two thousand moths that happening.

Yeah, I can't remember how many years you went. There was a big church.

Yeah, but do you they said that you recalled once they started speaking to you, that your wife, your ex wife, knew Mary, and that your kids knew the Fisher.

Kids they went to the same they didn't. They knew them from church, going to the Sunday school and the same Sunday school classes. And they may have I don't know if they did any field trips or anything from a church standpoint within.

Them or not.

They never played with them outside.

Of church, But I was the world did did do you know later on? Like afterwards, did any of them metual friends like like the Rodents, like Jim Roden or the pastor Cantelmo, Like, did did you know any of those people like that were friends with the Fishers?

The name as you mentioned the names, I kind of remember the names now, but I honestly couldn't remember who who was friends with who? And who did what who at the church?

Are you? I appreciate you answer answering. I apologize as to show up, but I mean you understand if I see see you know your name.

And the memo, why would be curious? It's okay?

Yeah, go like.

When all that happened with Robert Fisher, like I imagine like it was a crazy thing to hear about right, Like do you remember like.

When you said about what happened, like it was a horrible act about Yeah, I mean anybody and the fact that nobody's ever found him that's disturbing.

Yeah, you think, is this living in the woods somewhere?

Do you think he like? You know, I can't even specially, I mean I've heard a lot of different things. Yeah, I don't know enough about him to say whether I could even say that he's he's a good survivalist or whatever, other than what I've heard the news and what you guys have done the reporters have put out.

Have you ever been approached by a journalist? Or are we the first? You're the first, So I apologize that I know this is probably jarring for you, but it has been years since a lot of time. So when they when they I know they were at your work, but they also you said they brought you down to the to the f guy office or does this gousshill police?

They asked me to come down there and that I met with him later. I didn't leave work and go with at that point, gotcha, I took their card and then probably I don't even if I still had their information around. But I was in the middle of custody, divorced stuff and all that going on, So it wasn't it wasn't. I mean, it wasn't easy to deal with that on top of all the other stuff too.

So if they so they were seeking your employment records, if would your employment records show that you were at work in all of April two thousand and one or is there any chance that you took Basically it would back up your story, like, is there any chance you took time off around the time that all this happened, which would have been like mid April two thousand and one.

I wouldn't even know if it correlated with that or not.

Yeah, I mean, if they asked for your work records, would you be willing to grant them access to your work records?

I wouldn't have had I probably wouldn't have. They would probably have the subpoenaform. I don't know. Yeah, And I don't know how they got my work records or they that they had them.

I don't think that they actually got access to it. I think that they sought them, and I don't think that gave it to them. But I'm saying that if they were to ask you if somebody asked you today, if they asked for like, if they had your permission to obtain your work records from April two thousand and one, would they.

Would I don't know what I would do on that that I want to think I'd probably want to talk to, you know, professional for some advice on how to handle that, because like this, it just goes way beyond helping in AH in a case like that, as opposed to feeling like now I am being looked at it for some reason.

If your if your work records from April two thousand and one didn't show anything suspicious, why would you be concerned about them obtaining your work records?

That's an interesting question, But I, like I just said, it turns it as being why would they want them if they're not just wanting my help? Yeah, if they'm trying to look at something that I did in that whole thing, and I have to prove myself. Yeah, and I know that I had nothing to do with it, but that's a whole different animal. Yeah, And that's where I think that if it goes there, I would probably have to get an attorney. And the same with the lie detector test.

Do you feel like if you did it it would just basically help the because obviously they're suspicious. I think they're suspicious that somehow they're suspicious of people who possibly assisted but were not directly involved with Robert Fisher. And I know that they were suspicious of you obviously, that's why they spoke to you. So I think what I would say is I know on their end like they care about finding him.

They don't. If I had the information, yeah, I would give it to him. He'll get the guy. I mean, I don't have any information. I don't know him. I wishould do it. I wish I could help, But to go through all that other stuff, all that does is put expense on me and angst on me, and for what Yeah? Yeah, So.

In April two thousand and one, do you so, Paul, We've asked like it you remember when the event occurred, but do you remember that day? Were you at work that day? April tenth?

I couldn't tell you where I was that day?

Do you remember the aftermath of it? Like did you go to the church, do you go to any of the memorial stuff where you involved in anything like that? Do you remember ever meeting Mary Fisher or the kids.

I think I remember meeting her outside in the breezeway when the kids were going in and out of from Sunday school to church and whatnot, and that would be it.

So, but when this happened, you told them that you did not recognize the name Robert Fisher. Like, even like sculls Sill is a very peaceful, calm suburb, how did you not recognize saying Robert Fisher?

Because I live in scott Steal and I only went to the church and he attended the church when there were five hundred people that went there. Yeah, So to throw out a name and like I don't know who that.

Is, yeah, that's fair. So in two thousand and one, do you mind me asking in April two thousand and one what vehicle you were driving?

So we had a minivan. I think I had a I had four truck. That's right, my X had the minivan. I had a truck.

What color was the truck?

It's like a teal. I believe I think that was the one that I had.

Did you were you? Have you ever been up to the area around young where they found the fore Runner.

I've been in that area when I had camped with my well, my kids think. I don't know the exact area though, but I've been on.

That up in the like off Young Highway, Like it's north just north Intotween when you come off of what is it to sixty from Pacin and then down to Young.

It's in between that.

Yeah, area, it's a very common camping area. Yeah, yeah, of course. And I mean it's the main road going down through Young. But what was what was your reaction when they showed up? I mean you must have been. Were you confused?

Why?

Like why are these why are these guys showing up at my work?

Before? Yeah?

I was.

It was very disturbing and embarrassing, like, Okay, why why am I being looked at? And I've got to I've got a meaning and i am the one in charge, and now I've got FBI with badges pulling me aside to talk to me.

Do you feel were you concerned about like how that may appear to your.

Coworkers or is that.

Do you feel like they did that on purpose showing up at your job.

I don't know how they do their investigations. I mean kind of like you guys show them up here. Yeah, I mean, how do I feel that you're showing up at my house? Yeah, I don't like it because I have nothing to do with it.

So to be clear, if they asked today either for your work workers at April two thousand one or for you to take.

A while, okay, so, and you are with.

So, I'm independent, but we're working on an audio project for iHeart.

I don't have anything to do with that. Can I Can I ask you one more question my patience has done with yes.

So obviously what they suspected is that you in some way assisted Barbaria Fisher after or daring what happened? Is that true or false?

Absolutely not? And if you keep asking me this, I'm going to call the police and have you removed from my property. So please leave.

Okay, thank you appreciate it. Thanks Paul, and I hustle back to the car. The other Paul Gemper line, our researcher is today our getaway driver. We speed away.

Within like the first two minutes. His body he almost like got kind of emotional red, like his eyes started to get red as if he almost had tears.

Coming into his office. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, I noticed that too.

And he mentioned how when you brought up the fissure and all this case and all this stuff, how it seemed to tie in at this That was also the same time when him and his wife got divorced, and so part of me was like, oh, that's he's getting emotional because like there's bad blood between him and his ex wife and he is dredging that up, is immediately making him kind of emotional. As one possible explanation, I.

Don't so he's seen very nervous. He almost looked like he was shaking. His face looked like flushbread it's been I mean, that's that's I think it's very different to ask about somebody's divorce, which is an uncomfortable, sad thing. But twenty five years later versus showing up asking about Robert Fisher, he was definitely off. I mean you could tell, and at some points I felt like he was giving me like a death glare. But I mean, I don't blame him, but.

I mean again just thinking. Also, yeah, the flip side is like, I don't know, the things you read about when people get people who are guilty get confronted about stuff, they often have a tendency to just keep talking.

That's what I was thinking too, That's what I was thinking. It's like I would like he kept speaking. He looked nervous, he was a little shaky. I was shaky. So I was trying to think and observe and look at my questions. And he asked for my a business card, so I had to pull my wallet out, and you know, now I'm like, dear lord, don't find my address. Like, yes, he was very again, it's under I don't know. He seemed off to me, like he was obviously shaken that we showed up. And I don't blame him for being shaken, but you know, I mean, I've just like the cops. I've spoken to a ton of people. The cops spoke to a ton of people, and you know, he was he was off. I wonder if you observed, because I was looking at him obviously, but my mind was going like one hundred miles an hour, and I wonder generally, like physically, see what was interesting to me is he declined? I didn't he actually see? He started telling me things I didn't know, right, so like I didn't know. That's why you kind of go in and not bluff, but you just don't necessarily say, well, this is what I know.

What didn't you know that?

He said, I didn't know that he went down and that they asked him to take a lie detective test, and he said, no, I didn't know that. Then we asked him again if he would, basically, why did you not take one? And I didn't feel like he had a good answer for that, And we asked about the employment record, saying to me was a little bit more of a red flag because I understand why somebody would be nervous about a lie detector tests. I mean, they can be they're valuable sometimes, but the employment records is bizarre to me. Because I asked him, you know, I'll have to listen, but I asked him flat out, if somebody asked you today, if would you give them permission to access your employment records from April two thousand and one? Would that verify that you know, you didn't take any time off from work? And then he said that he wouldn't more or less because he would, am I remembering this correctly? More or less because you know, why should he because he shouldn't have to prove anything, or at that point he would involve he said, I think a professional obviously an attorney so I just find that kind of weird. I mean, if I I understand nervousness about a lie detective test, though, you know, I think a lot of people would just do it to clear themselves of any involvement in a multiple murder. But the employment records was weirder to me. I think because it's an employment record saying whether or not you're at work. I mean, it's not that suspicious. So it's more a lot of times it's less about what you're asking you more to more about how they're responding to certain things.

I think, Well, especially because unprompted on that request that query, he was like, I'd probably have to hire an attorney, or I'd want to hire an attorney.

Yeah. I was like, okay, yeah.

So I just thought, like if if your employment records, like even if you took time off in April doesn't prove anything. So I just don't know why you get so nervous somebody asking about your employment records. It's to me, it's more of a like you know that there's something there or other. I don't know. I mean, I'm just reading it in my interpretation of it. But he was definitely shaken and he started to look angry at the end. Oh, yeah, he looked pissed, so I I to see. As soon as he asked us to leave, we left. So yeah, we didn't stay, but he didn't ask us to leave. He his face looked red to me. He looked almost a little shaky to me.

Yeah, And eyes looked like they're almost like water like, like on the verge of becoming emotional.

Yeah.

Yeah, the reaction Part two.

The Fisher murders traumatized hundreds of people. Let's zoom in and focus on one of them, a ten year old boy, Bobby Fisher's friend brock Anderson, whose mom Beth knew Bobby's mom Mary. Beth was the last person to see Mary and Bobby alive, right before the murders. How did this affect your son, who was very young?

Horribly? Horribly? Yeah, Well, he was at school and I went and picked him up because I was scared to death that he was going to find out from someone else, And so we told him what had happened, and we just said that there had been an accident at the house and that you know, they were We just told him, we said, they're with Jesus now, you know, how do you, how do you explain this to a ten year old.

The next day, Beth and Brock visited the Fisher's cul de sac.

He cried, it was everybody was just a mess. So he did take a little animal, stuffed animal that he could leave for Bobby. And so he asked one of the I don't know if it was a firefighter or policeman or whoever was there, if he would be allowed to take one of the pine cones out of the yard. And they said, yes, that's fine, that's fine, and he said, well, Bobby was my buddy and I want a pine cone from his house. And so they let him take pine cone and he still has it to this day. So we didn't stay very long and just left and just talked about it. You know, what are you feeling, what are your emotions? How do you feel about all this? And how can we best help you? I mean, this poor kid, he had nightmares like every night. He was so scared Robert he could kill Bobby. Is he going to come after all Bobby's friends? And I remember him saying, you know, I was just at their house and Robert had been to our house before. So he said, Robert, mister Robert knows where we live. Is he going to come after everybody and start killing all of us. It was just the worst. We just said, there's evil in this world and there are people that do bad things. And you know, he would say, well, well why, mister Robert. You know, we don't know. We wish we had all the answers, not just for you, but for us too. And Brock was he was a wise kid, and I think he understood the fact that he lost his buddy. But I lost a friend too, and so I just told him we will get through this. It won't be easy, and it's okay for you to cry. It's okay for you to yell or scream or throw something or do whatever you have to do to deal with the pain that you're feeling.

I do remember the last time I saw Bobby. He and I were in the color guard for Ajana, and you know, we had this we would do our drills. Maybe we were doing drills that night, and we'd have this term dress right dress, which I guess he would shift to the right, and his humor, he just yelled out, dress right undress.

And then we just started laughing and he drove away.

It was just like, okay, that was like my last interaction with him was just joy and laughter.

Brock was at school when Bobby's house blew up.

I think I got out like two forty five that day. I just remember my parents picking me up. I don't know how I found out they were, but they were there. We had a red Chrysler le baron. I saw the le Baron, I saw both of my parents. I was like, okay, this was really weird because my dad would typically work, you know till six or seven, and so that to me it was when the unusualness started. But I was more excited of like, oh cool, guys are picking me up and.

If to take the bus. So went home. My brothers were there.

My mom let my middle brother and I Grant play video games, which was unusual for right after school during a school week.

But they're like, yeah, it's fine.

My parents rupsters in their room door closed to which always meant like okay, sometimes they just need a moment whatever.

But they were there for it seemed like.

An hour at least, which was also just kind of like all right, this is a little weird, Like I don't know, Usually it means like some sort of big news is following that. So both came down. They brought my oldest brother down and gathered us. Hey turn that off. Okay, so again it's like family meeting. Just everything just seemed kind of like, all right, well, something really big is going on. I was airing on the side of oh yeah, we're going to Disneyland or something like that, you know, something that a ten year old might suspect. But man, never in my wildest dreams would I have expected that sort of news. I mean, my dad, you know, very very stoic, very just a quiet confident man, you know, really struggled to say, you know, Mary, Brittany and Bobby have gone to be with Jesus today, just choked up and him, you know, showing that emotion.

It was just like whoa.

I mean, it just immediately is in shock, very much denial, Like no, it was was that even mean, you know, it just it took it felt like forever for it to really even remotely start to sink in.

On April eleventh, two thousand and one, Brock visited what was left of twenty two twenty three North seventy fourth Place.

I remember just the house was still smoldering.

Grieving loved one circled rubble, leaving mementos and putting up flyers, trying to make sense of tragedy. So also six months later, obviously nine to eleven happened. That's kind of a double punch for you at a really important moment of development, and I imagine for your sense of safety and how you process the world. To have something happen so personal in April and then global, but it still extremely upsetting in September must have had a very serious impact on you for the rest of your life.

Yeah, two thousand and one was a healthy year. I was.

I've even talked about this with a couple close friends of mine, Ryan and Ricky, that you know, I experienced trauma from a very close perspective to suddenly a nationwide, worldwide.

Thing in a matter of months, And just looking.

Back on that now, it's like, oh my gosh, Like yeah, I mean I think back to my ten eleven year old self and like, yeah, my perspective of people the world was very shattered, you know where I think it was just more important for me to just find safety however I could, and a lot of that was just through isolation, I remember. Yeah, for a few years really being like having an immense fear of dark. I haven't really thought about it much in terms of connecting it to oh it is Robert, But I remember having those thoughts as a kid of like, yeah, I think talking to my mom or dad being like, he's not going to come after us, right, and they're like, no, I really don't think so. And I think that's where even to this day, like my wife can attest to it, like I.

Just like to make sure things are locked up at home.

Can you talk to me about how you, as an adult, have realized ways that you've turned out as a human being, personality, traits, your mental health, things that you've been through. Obviously there are many causes and from genetics to a million other things in your life. It's not all Robert Fisher. But how have you connected the dots to understand the parts of you that were deeply affected in a way that you probably didn't realize until you were older and an adult.

Yeah, how difficult relationships were and still kind of ore for me, you know. I mean that's I look back on, you know, when I first went to therapy. I think that was when it started to sink in for me. Of like, oh, like I was.

Yeah, I was.

I was generally a shy kid, you know, growing up, and I was just just more of my demeanor who I was.

You know.

I have my family's background or roots or Midwest and East Coast, but I think I got more of the Midwest kind of just quiet and to myself, but more of a physical presence kind of person. So I think just looking back on, yeah, my friendship with Bobby and.

Just how that can be severed so quickly.

I mean that just from that time on, you know, into middle school and high school, like I had friends, but I just I was very just to myself. That was just kind of what I referred. But deep down though, there was that longing, like this tension within me of like, man, I just like I want friends, I want to have connection. I had mentioned in a different interview of feeling suicidal at times, and I think I look back on that now, it's like, yeah, I was so alone, you know, and that was what I felt like was protective for me. But also looking at as like my human interaction was very limited. I had my family, and honestly, like I think they kept me going.

You know.

I imagine for you as a kid who was. It sounds like you were more introverted, and so was I. The friends that you do have are very valuable to you, and you would have grown up alongside Bobby. You guys would probably still be friends today. I imagine it was difficult to go through graduation, to go through all the different little milestones of life, and to know that this friend you had was taken from you. It's not exactly the same, but when I was twenty eight, my oldest friend was we met when we were nine. In twenty sixteen, he passed from cancer and was a one in a literally a one in one million cancer.

Right, It's like, what are.

The what are the literally one in one million is such an ex It's a called uing sarcoma is a very rare.

But we right after we were born one day apart.

We grew up two houses down from each other, and it's I got to live to be into my late twenties with him as my literally literally my oldest friend and the only friend that I've lost like that happened to be somebody so close and somebody that I knew since I was nine years old. Wow, sorry about that last, but it's always there with you and I had another eighteen years of memories that you didn't get with your friend. How do you balance keeping the memories alive without letting them consume you.

Yeah, that's a great question.

Certainly for me when I started to go to therapy, I mean that was like really having a space to just talk about it, you know, talk about what happened, and yeah, yeah, I have a trained professional help me through the different issues the trauma itself. But I think that having so I have these you know, two really close friends, Ryan and Ricky, like that those guys have been so redeeming for me and relationships how I view friendship now. They've brought a lot of healing for me, and I think just really leaning into that and more of the present. And it's hard to describe, I guess, the balancing act, but I think for me, I had to. I had to face the things that were really uncomfortable for me through therapy, and I think a part of that was a decision to not just get so consumed by this terrible thing happened. Where's Robert. It's Robert, Robert, you know. I think just getting so fixated on that left me really stuck. So I think I had to look at it and say, Okay, well, I may never see justice for Robert, you know, in the sense of like apprehension and put on.

Trial and put to or whatever. You know.

I had to accept I may never see that in my life, and for me, like, there has to be a level of acceptance and okayness with that. And I think that was where I started to see my life as my life apart from this tragedy.

On April tenth, twenty sixteen, the fifteenth anniversary of the murders, Brock proposed to his girlfriend.

I wanted to use that for as a symbolism of okay, and that's not the end of the story here, like new life happens and starts on this day.

It was a beautiful proposal. We had a party for them at the house and he told everybody that was there. You know, they thanked everybody for coming, but he said, I just have to share with you guys that he said, this day is very meaningful to me. One side is hard, and a lot of people that were there, not everybody, but several people knew what had happened with the Fishers, but maybe they didn't connect that. Oh gosh, today is April tenth. This is an anniversary day. So he told everybody, he said, you know, April tenth has always been a rough day for me and a negative day. It brings back negative memories. So he said, I purposely chose and he told them why. He said, I purposely chose this day because I want to change that in my head. I want this to become a day of celebration. And our daughter in law is She's just amazing and she I think was very influential in being able to help Brock kind of find his way. So he went back to school, graduated from ASU, and then decided he wants to be a therapist. So that's what he did. He got his master's so he is now a family and marriage therapist and I just I hang onto that. It's like you go, kid. I mean because from that day in two thousand and one to where he is now is just And when he first told us he wanted to pursue therapy as a career, I said, do you have any idea what kind? And he said, right now, I'm thinking trauma. Like okay, He's like, you know, after what I went through and losing my friend at ten years old and trying to deal with all the garbage that comes with that through the years. It was a long process for him. He got counseling as an adult, you know, to deal with it. I didn't realize that he was still needing counseling. It's like, gosh, this is still hanging heavy on me. So he got help that he needed and now here he is helping others. So very proud of that. I think that's a positive thing that he's been able to do, taking something so bad and turning it into a positive.

This journey has really been from the Fisher story my own healing and I think also finding a renewed sense of okay, like back to the closure thing, what does my life look like now? And that comes back to this place of justice. People think of justice sure in some ways of you know, apprehension the whole thing. For me, I started to view justice.

And well, what would Mary and Brittany and Bobby want. You know, they were people, they were humans.

Bobby I think he loved his dad. You know, he has a kid, Brittany, same thing Mary, you know, yeah, his wife going through a lot and a lot of turmoil there. But what would they want?

You know?

And that I really wrestled with that the more recent years with my friends and thinking through like I think justice would be helping people that hurt, whether it's the Robert Fishers of the world or the victims these the people, the survivors of this kind of stuff.

It's really interesting. I was about to ask you that the previous interview you did, I've never heard anybody empathize with the Robert Fishers of the world. Obviously you're not empathizing with the action, sure, but to prevent things like this from happening, people like that need help too. I thought that was a fascinating perspective, and it's something that most people just don't voice. They don't They either don't think it or they don't want to voice it. But yeah, you're not. Part of it is, Yes, you want to help people like that obviously who have demons, but part of it is also to protect everybody else, right.

Sure.

On April tenth, twenty twenty, Good Friday, the nineteenth anniversary of the murders, as the COVID pandemic raged, Brock drove to Young Arizona with his friends Ryan and Ricky. He wanted to reminisce, pray, make peace, They started in Scottsdale at the cemetery where Mary, Brittany and Bobby are interred, went to the Fisher's cul de Sac, then the Chase Bank, where Robert took out two hundred and eighty dollars. The night of April ninth, two thousand and one, they withdrew two hundred and eighty dollars, then drove to sup By Middle School, Scottsdale Baptist Church, and finally young Ricky led them in communion. They enjoyed dinner. The next day they started looking for the fore Runner spot. In an email, Brock said, quote on the drive, I experienced a panic attack and felt the weight of encountering the place literally and metaphorically. That represented what I knew then to be the finality of the Fisher's story. We set out to go cave searching and didn't find a single one. Instead, we traversed down into a valley, almost got lost in the forest. Ricky, a marine veteran, would beg to differ and experienced all four seasons of weather fog, rain, snow, sunshine, cold, t warm, and back. Brock sat on a log, wrote a letter addressed it to Robert Fisher drove back to Scottsdale and on Easter set it down at the cemetery, got up and left.

April eleventh, twenty twenty Robert Fisher, we may never find you here on this earth. There is a chance you might have died years ago, and you could also still be alive, living a different life. God knows where you are, and I submit to that. Anger no longer carries any power over me. I have been set free. It is only through the love, grace and redemption of Jesus that I forgive you for what you have done to your family. I forgive you, Robert. I hope that confession and repentance find you, and that the truth sets you free from what you have done. In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus, you are forgiven, and in the name of Jesus, I commit myself to loving and helping the broken and hurting. I would even help you if I ever got the chance.

Brock.

If you like this show, please download our first two seasons, Missing in Alaska and Missing on nine to eleven. For updates, visit me on thirty three dot com or follow me on Twitter at John Waalzac j O n W A L. Czak. Thanks for listening.

The Reaction Part three.

To close out this season, I have one more interview for you, a phone call I almost didn't make because at some point I have to stop investigating and start writing right wrong. I'll never stop investigating, and this is why, because calls that seem unimportant, mundane even are often critical.

Hello.

This is Lynn.

Lynn Mashorn is a retired nurse. She worked with Robert Fisher from the late eighties to the late nineties at Scott Still Memorial Hospital.

I kind of just knew him the whole time I worked there. I think he was originally in respiratory and went to see thee monitoring.

Lynn was the ICU charged nurse leading a team of medical professionals at a Level one trauma center, including Robert Fisher when he worked the night shift. She remembers Robert as respectful and kind a quote really great guy.

We used to do. He was kind of an exercise junkie, so we used to on slow nights, we used to do the stairs. We'd get in the stairwell and run up and down the stairs, just the pastime, you know. He used to brag about how and I never knew whether it was true or not. How he had trained to be a Navy seal, and so he had all these mad survival skills and all this great fitness and stuff. And you know, looking at him, you'd say, yeah, I could see that, because it was clear that he worked.

Out a lot.

T Lynn Robert was normal, bland, even vanilla. Nothing stands out with one exception.

He worked in surgery with my husband.

Richard Mashorn, a heart surgeon.

And he knew that my husband had been a had originally studied to be a Lutheran minister before he became a surgeon, and so he my husband commented to me that one day he was talking to him and he said, so, doctor Mashorn, and I'm paraphrasing this because I can't exactly remember how he phrased the question, but it struck my husband as odd, something about is killing someone always a sin in the eyes of God? And you know, this was prior to anything happening, So my husband only recalled it after the incident because then it struck him as weird. And then another thing I remember is that, and I'm going to say this was within a year of the incident, I was hiking camelback mountains from the Echo Canyon side, which is the east side, and I was coming down and he was coming up. Now this was after he was supposedly gone and missing, but he was hiking up and he was alone, and as soon as we locked eyes, he turned around and ran, not down the trail, but ran cross country down hill. And so this was before. I mean, I didn't have a cell phone or anything. So I think I called the police when I got home. But yeah, I'm sure there's no record of that, and it was too late, you know, he was long gone. I'm sure this. Yeah, it was after. It was probably within a year year and a half after, so he was back in the valley at some point.

How confident are you that it was him?

We locked eyes and he bolted. So we worked together long enough to know each other.

Do you remember what time of year it was? No? So and then so? Were you by yourself or were you with anyone at the time?

Well? I was with my husband.

Does he remember this as well?

Yes?

So you said you called the police. Do you remember did you call Scot Sale or did you call it different police department?

I have no recollection of who I called or if I really did I can't remember for sure.

If you didn't, do you know why you would not have called.

There might have been a tip line or something that I reported to. I'm just not sure. Sorry, long time ago.

Yeah, no worries. So you can you tell me? Do you mind telling me the whole story again, just from the beginning, kind of you kind of caught me off guard.

My husband I were hiking Camelback Mountain on the east side and we were coming down. I was ahead of my husband and Bob Fisher was coming up and he saw me, and I saw him, and he turned around and bolted downhill, cross country, downhill, not on the trail, and ran very fast. He's a great athlete and on a scale.

And how sure you that it was I was.

I'm ninety five percent sure it was him.

And so I mean you work with him for over a decade, right, yeah, I did. So you saw him a lot. I mean, it's not like you saw him as some times. You were very familiar with what you looked like, right, do you so to your recollection, did you definitely phone that in or do you are you not sure if you called the type end I'm not sure. H Well, that is very interesting. Have you shared that with anybody in the years since?

Yeah?

Have you?

Have you been contacted or interviewed by law enforcement? Ever?

No, That's why I'm not sure. If I called it in, to be honest, I might have gotten home and thought, well, it's too late now he's long gone. Sorry, I can't remember.

No, no worries. M Do you remember what he was wearing?

A ball cap and a T shirt and shorts. That's all I remember. Ah, he didn't have much hair, so he always wore a ball cap.

And your your husband saw him? Did your husband also recognize him as Robert Fusher?

He says he did?

What did he possible for me to speak to your husband? At some point?

It would not he's passed away.

Oh man, I'm sorry. When did? When did he pass? April of us here, I'm sorry to hear that me too.

Richard died only nine days before I got to Phoenix to report this story to recap. Lynn Mashorn and I see you. Nurse who worked with Robert Fisher for a decade, says she and her husband ran into Fisher while hiking Camelback Mountain in two thousand and two. Intriguing, But I've heard something like this a half dozen times, people who knew Fisher swearing they saw him. Law enforcement investigated those leads. It was never him. This is different. Why because of the man's reaction, There are only three options. One Lynn is lying. I don't think so. I believe her. She knew Fisher well and never sought media attention. Two Lynn saw someone who looked like Fisher but wasn't. This doesn't make sense. Why would he lock eyes with her panic and run down the side of a mountain so rapidly he didn't even take a trail unless three when actually saw Robert Fisher. This is what I believe, because again, of the man's reaction.

I thought at the time it was awfully cavalier of him to show his face in public like that, even though you know chances are that you'd get recognized and something like that. It's pretty slim, but it happened.

And I apologize to push on details. But do you you don't remember what time of year, what season or anything it was? I do not, Nope, And do you mind telling me one more time exactly where you came up and where this occurb.

The east side of Camelback Mountain is called Echo Canyon. Side, So I was coming down and it was probably in the lower quarter he was coming up.

And so when you ran into him the east side of Camelback Mountain, just to I just want to make sure I'm one hundred percent certain this was after the murders occurb. Yes, And so when you saw him, how long did it take for you to recognize him instantly?

And I was assured it was him when he turned around and ran?

How quickly did he run immediately as soon as we locked eyes? Has anybody ever interviewed you before, either media or law enforcement? No, this is the first time anybody has asked you about him.

Yep.

Does that surprise you.

Yes, because you think that you'd think that the police would have interviewed everyone who worked with him, and clearly they did not, because none of my friends have been interviewed unless there's somebody you spoke to, But none of the people who I know who've worked with him have ever been contacted by the police.

When you saw him on Camelback Mountain, how long did you lock eyes with him? Momentarily and then he literally turned and ran. Yes, and he ran down the mountain.

Yeah, not on the trail, though he ran cross country, down the mountain, down the hillside.

How long after that were you able to see him before he vanished out of your high line?

Hi?

Fight a minute two, So you see him. I turned around and went back up to where my husband was to see if he had seen him, and he said, yeah, I thought that was him.

So you were a little bit further down from your husband, yes, And you mentioned what he was wearing. Do you remember any other details? No? Did he have any equipment with him, like.

A backpack, it's possible.

Did he have a dog with him?

No, he did not. There's no dogs allowed on that side, gotcha, there weren't. There weren't at the time.

And how far from wherever you parked. How far of a hike had it been for you to get where you were?

Quite a way? Well, like I said, we were coming down, so we had been up and were coming down, and we were probably three quarters of the way down, so it was another half mile back to the car at least.

That's This is just fascinating to me because you know, there have been a million leads over the years, and including multiple co workers who thought they saw him. But it's very different if you'd think you see him any runs. I mean, yeah, well.

That was what you know, It's that momentary, Hey, I think you're you. And as soon as he turned and ran, I was like, then I was sure. And we were probably twenty feet apart, you.

Know, so he was Was he coming up at that point?

He was, Yeah, he was coming up. So it couldn't have been in It couldn't have been in the dead of summer because he would have been starting way too late. So it was probably in one of the shoulder seasons.

That's and this is very fascinating to me. Well, hey, I really appreciate you speaking with me. This is this is why I reach out to everybody, because you never know what you're going to hear.

And so this saga ends for now, but it also begins on Camelback Mountain. Before we go, let me say a few things Mary, Brittany, and Bobby I know, in some small way in this moment, I've been your voice. I hope I've done you justice. To law enforcement, I've dug up new information, please act on it. To everyone who spoke with us, I appreciate you. To our team, especially Paul Deckan, Ben Bowen, and Chris Brown, thank you for pouring your hearts into this show alongside me. To our audience, please go to Neon thirty three dot com share the wanted poster. Did Robert Fisher live past April two thousand and one? Yes, now let's find him when you come in a crime.

Where Essie.

That is out.

There guns inside.

If you begin to saw well, chat our.

Film seriously, you can restless though.

A landa all. You can reach us by phone at one eight three three new tips that's one eight three three six three nine eight four seven seven by email at tips at iHeartMedia dot com, t I p s at iHeartMedia dot com, online at Neon thirty three dot com, or on Twitter at John Wallzac, Jo n Wa l Czak. Paul Ducan is our executive producer, Chris Brown is our supervising producer. Hannah Rose Snyder is our producer. Paul Gemberlin is our researcher, Ben Bolan is a consulting producer, and I'm your host and executive producer John Wallzac. Additional production support provided by Ben Hackett. Cover art by Pam Peacock. Neon thirty three logo designed by Derek Rudy. Our intro song is Utopia by ruby Cube. Please download the first two seasons of our show, Missing in Alaska and Missing on nine to eleven, and if you're so inclined, give us a five star rating. Missing in Arizona is a co production of iHeartRadio and Neon thirty three. Our intro song is Cuyahoga Canal by the Taxpayers

Missing in Arizona

In 2001, Robert Fisher killed his family, blew up their suburban home, and vanished in a remote Ariz 
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