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August 7, 2024 38 mins

Disaster looms as the Fisher family’s final hours wind down.

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Missing in Arizona contains graphic depictions of violence and may
not be suitable for all listeners.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
It's morning again in America.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
April tenth, two thousand and one, eight forty one am, Scottsdale, Arizona.
In one minute, this suburban ranch at the end of
a cul de sac in the valley of the Sun
will explode, But before it does, walk with me through
the front door.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
In the shosh.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
It's dark, the air is stagnant. Morning light seeps through
closed curtains. A pair of eyes stare at us from
across a murky living room. The head of an elk
mounted on a wall glide with me quietly down the hall,
past the furnace stop. A candle flickers, illuminating three bedroom doors.

(00:54):
In each room, a bed in each bed, a body.
Mary Fisher thirty eight, Knee Fisher twelve, Bobby Fisher ten.
It's morning in America, two thousand and one. These walls
in two chaos that in a moment will spill out
as fire and smoke and charred debris, a violent rupture,

(01:15):
and the hunt will begin for Robert Fisher Boom 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

(01:36):
their suburban home, and escaping into the wilderness. Twenty three
years later, I'm hunting Robert Fisher, and I need your help.
In April two thousand and one, Robert Fisher pulled off
one of the greatest escapes in American criminal history. After
slitting the throats of his wife and children and shooting

(01:57):
his wife in the head. Fisher rigged their house to explore,
then sped away in his wife's suv. Police say nine
days later, a man camping at a remote forest located
the abandoned suv and Fisher's dog Blue near a series
of caves. Since then nothing did Fisher die by suicide?
Did someone help him flee? Perhaps he's alive today. Fisher's

(02:22):
timing was impeccable. He vanished at precisely the right moment
on the eve of nine to eleven, Facebook the iPhone
ring cameras. He exited just as the Promethean tentacles of
the modern surveillance state started to suffocate the world. His
disappearance would be virtually impossible today. Early two thousand and
one marked in many ways the beginning of the end

(02:44):
of the mono mystery. Mysteries so dramatic and stupefying, perpetually unresolved,
that they burrowed deep into our collective consciousness, unifying a
house divided, if briefly in magnetic spectacle and society wide confusion,
was the twilight of an era during which you could say,
kill your family, flee, and not be caught on anything

(03:06):
more than grainy ATM footage. Yet even then, the Fisher
case never achieved the same fame as, say, the disappearance
of DC interns Chandra Levy in May two thousand and one,
or Andrea Yates drowning her five kids in a bathtub
in June two thousand and one. Why maybe because men
killing women or kids in a domestic setting is so

(03:29):
common in America that, despite its barbarity, this case fails
to shock. Or maybe because Fisher wasn't even the most
famous fugitive who allegedly fled into a cave in two
thousand and one after perpetuating a violent spectacle, And this
case is spectacle. It's cinematic in many ways. It's a
classic Western a mysterious figure commits a series of brutal murders, triggers,

(03:52):
and explosion and flees into the rugged landscape pursued by
law enforcement and twenty three years later and journalists with
a masochistic pension for mind boggling mysteries to be upfront.
I haven't found Fisher yet, but I have found a
ton of new information, including new witnesses, new clues, and

(04:14):
new persons of interest. This is a case with so
many frustrating questions. The most critical is Robert Fisher alive today?
The FBI says it doesn't have an official opinion. Yet,
the bureau kept him on its ten most wanted list
for nineteen years. Why do that if you think he's dead.
If Fisher is alive, he's sixty three and extremely dangerous.

(04:38):
A man who kills his wife and kids won't hesitate
to kill again. Take a moment now to look at
our show art. It features an age progressed image of
what Fisher could look like today. I want you to
scan the men you know, neighbors, coworkers, friends, your husband,
your father who was not in your life prior to

(05:00):
April two thousand and one. Later in the show, I'll
share Fisher's voice, recreated using artificial intelligence. Listen closely. Does
it sound like anyone you know? Let me speak now
directly to Robert Fisher. Robert, if you're tuning in, and
if you made it this far, you probably are, Listen closely.

(05:20):
I will not give up. I'm not the police, I
am not the FBI. I found things they missed. I
can dedicate all my time to you. I will follow
up on every lead today, tomorrow, in ten years. You
like control, well, this is your final moment of control.
These words are going out to millions of people, and

(05:41):
it's not two thousand and one anymore. You're going to
make mistakes or someone will turn you in. And if
you are in fact dead, if I'm speaking to a ghost, fine,
I still want to find you. I want to bring
home your bones so that the people whose lives ruptured
when Mary, Brittany and Bobby died can find the tiniest
bit of peace. I sat with them, the people who

(06:03):
loved your wife, your kids, even you. I looked them
in the eyes. I listened as they told me how
much this blew up their lives, their sense of security. Robert,
this is now my full time job to find you. Monday,
April ninth, two thousand and one, there's a major crisis

(06:23):
in the South China Sea. Eight days ago, an American
spy plane collided with a Chinese jet, then made an
emergency landing on a nearby island. Its crew remains detained.

Speaker 4 (06:33):
We've got every diplomatic channel open. We're in discussions with
the Chinese. Is now time for our troops to come
home so that our relationship does not become damaged.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
Time magazine features an egg sizzling in a frying pan
above the headline global warming, climbing temperatures, melting, glaciers, rising seas.
The radiant egg yolke is cleverly earth itself. We're feeling
the heat. Times says, why isn't Washington on the front
page of the Arizona Republic in this order? A weather

(07:06):
forecast sonny high seventy four, low forty nine, the words
good morning, and a photo of Tony Soprano scowling in
a bathrobe. An Italian American group wants the Sopranos canceled
or boycotted. I think it's bad for America. A spokesman says,
we're having children shooting each other in schools, and we
have a program that's deifying and romanticizing shooting people in

(07:29):
the head. This is America. April ninth, two thousand and one.
The song Butterfly by crazy Town is number one on
the radio. Spy Kids is the top movie. Aliyah is Alive.
The Twin Towers are standing and in Scottsdale, Arizona, a
well to do Phoenix suburb, the Fisher family is getting
ready for the day. Dad Robert thirty nine, Mom Mary

(07:51):
thirty eight, daughter Brittany twelve, son Bobby ten, seven thirty
am Robert Fisher begins his shift at the Mayo Clinic
Hospital in Phoenix. He's a medical technician who works in
a cardiac cath lab, assisting doctors and nurses with invasive
diagnostic procedures.

Speaker 5 (08:11):
They go in and they run catheter up into the
heart and up into the blood vessels, sometimes near the brain,
and they'll shoot different kinds of eyes and they'll look
at it on this image to see as their thought.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
This is one of Fisher's coworkers. I agreed not to
name him.

Speaker 5 (08:27):
The catheter is very big. It's about the size of
your pin. So when they take it out, you have
to hold pressure for a long long time for a
plot to form.

Speaker 1 (08:37):
If you're on a gurney today in the cath lab,
just know that this man's standing over you, six feet tall,
one hundred and ninety pounds, light brown hair, blue eyes,
holding pressure on your wound will, according to police, murder
his family in about twelve hours. As Robert Fisher starts work,
his wife Mary takes the kids to school. Ten year

(08:57):
old Bobby is a gentle goofball, quiet but funny. He
loves video games and blanket forts and his razor scooter.
He's a fourth grader at Pima Elementary School.

Speaker 6 (09:08):
He was a sweetheart.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
Beth Anderson is a Fisher family friend. Her son Brock
is Bobby's age.

Speaker 6 (09:13):
At the time, we had a convertible and we were
coming down the one oh one and they asked me,
can we ride with the top down, like, don't put
the top up? And I said, well, it's going to
be really loud and noisy and windy, and then oh,
we don't care. We don't care. So they're in the
backseat and off we go. We're coming down the one
oh one, and these two were just laughing hysterically, just

(09:36):
belly laughing. Their arms were up in the air, they
were waving to people, and I just remember looking in
the rear view mirror, thinking the innocence of childhood.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
Not long before the murders, some of Bobby's friends attend
to sleep over at the Fisher House. The kids watched
the nineteen ninety nine remake of The Haunting, starring Liam Neeson,
Catherine Zada Jones and a Rotten Tomatoes score of seventeen percent.

Speaker 7 (10:00):
That terrible movie. Looking back on it now.

Speaker 1 (10:04):
Brock Anderson, it scared the crap out of me. The
film's antagonist, Hugh Crane, is a womanizing bully who kills
children and burns their bodies in his fireplace.

Speaker 7 (10:14):
I remember watching that and Robert was there. I remember
him kind of interacting with us in like a playful
way of like, oh, yeah, you guys are scared.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
Brock spends a lot of time at the Fisher House.

Speaker 7 (10:26):
I remember how dark the lighting was in that home.
It always just felt like a cave. The main light
would come from the kitchen, the living room, like it
just curtains were always just kind of closed. It always
just seemed kind of dark.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
Robert Fisher is a cheapskate who doesn't want to pay
for air conditioning, even in blazing Arizona, so he keeps
the curtains drawn. Twenty two to twenty three North seventy
fourth Place is Robert's stifling castle, and in it he
does whatever he wants. Mary be damned.

Speaker 7 (10:53):
Mary would always get really bothered by Robert chewing tobacco
at the table when we'd be eating dinner.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
He was just always.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
Chewing winter green Copenhagen.

Speaker 7 (11:02):
He always had a cup or a coke can or something,
and yeah, I remember she would just kind of give
him that look or make a Snyder remark, and it
was just kind of like, this is awkward.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
That sniping is a sign of a toxic dynamic, a
husband always attempting to assert control, a wife willing to
fight back. I wanted to spell immediately any image of
Mary as some passive yes sir wallflower steamrolled by her
domineering husband. Mary is strong, five foot four, one hundred
and thirty five pounds, blonde hair, blue eyes, a natural

(11:35):
born leader with many friends and a jovial streak of sarcasm.
Her life centers on Jesus and her kids. Yes, she
believes a wife should be submissive to a degree, but
it's also her choice when to fight and when to
just roll her eyes, not because she's weak, but because
she's wise. You see this dynamic obnoxious Robert exasperated Mary

(11:55):
on home videos, later rescued from a fire safe in
the charred rubble of their house. In one clip from
April nineteen eighty nine, Robert lays in bed, propped on pillows,
holding the camera with one hand and with the other,
his black lab Ruger, sits at the foot of the bed.

Speaker 8 (12:24):
Rue.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
You see your happy birthday to Brittany.

Speaker 1 (12:27):
It's Brittany's first birthday.

Speaker 8 (12:28):
Can you sing boy from your heart like you really meant?

Speaker 1 (12:57):
Robert pants the camera to Mary holding baby Brittany. Mary
looks annoyed and quickly exits. Robert gets up and wanders
around Brett.

Speaker 8 (13:05):
Brett mayor.

Speaker 9 (13:08):
Ma're here.

Speaker 10 (13:09):
I don't see it here they're here?

Speaker 8 (13:11):
Oh well, looky.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
Here go get a roof.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
Mary sitting on a toilet seat in the bathroom, combing
Britney's hair.

Speaker 10 (13:20):
Say what what do you say?

Speaker 4 (13:22):
Mar?

Speaker 3 (13:23):
This is the.

Speaker 7 (13:27):
Oh, this is Brittany's day, Ruger, get out of the day.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
Five years into their marriage, Mary is not afraid to
bark at Robert, and Robert isn't afraid to be a
smart ass in response. In fact, after Ruger exits the camera,
still aimed at Mary's face, Robert plays the harmonica again,
as if to purposely annoy her. The video then jumps

(13:51):
to a scene of Robert and Brittany in a kiddie
pool in the backyard. What two This clip shows something important.
Robert clearly loves his kids. Yes, he's strict, but he

(14:13):
cares deeply for Brittany and Bobby. If not, Mary, let
me pause and get something out of the way. You're
going to hear me occasionally say kind things about Robert Fisher.
Don't mistake that for anything other than what it is,
an accurate portrayal of a complex man. It doesn't serve
anyone to paint Robert as a demonic cartoon. If we

(14:34):
want to understand the crimes, if we want to understand Robert,
if we want to find Robert, we have to resist
the urge to soothe ourselves with an infantilized portrait of evil.

(15:12):
April ninth, two thousand and one, around eight am, Mary
arrives at her part time clerical job at a small
medical supply company. Her boss, Lori Greenbeck, is also her friend.

Speaker 11 (15:23):
She was a very kind person, but she's very sassy.
She was about five four, long, blonde hair, always had
it curled, always styled. She's always wearing a button up blouse,
tucked in shirt.

Speaker 8 (15:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (15:40):
She was always neat, always put together.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
And what about Robert jans.

Speaker 11 (15:45):
T shirt, slouching, dragging his feet, Yeah, he didn't care.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
Lunchtime on this sunny day, Robert Eet's outside with three
co workers. He's quiet and distant with them, but alone,
something's not right. At one point, he gets up and
walks away. Sometime between two and three pm, Mary Fisher
gets ready to leave work.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
She had a Reci's candy bar. They have two little
cups in them. When she was just standing right in
front of my desk, she opens this reseason. She puts
one on my desk and then she took the other
one and she was like, see you tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (16:22):
Three twenty two pm, Mary signs a check at Kmart
for eighteen dollars and eighteen cents. Sometime between three point
thirty and three fifty pm, Robert sits on a floor
at the hospital. He tells the doctor that his daughter, Brittany,
is being inducted tonight into the National Junior Honor Society,
and he's taking her to the ceremony. Three fifty one pm,

(16:45):
Robert clocks out. This is strange. If he waits until
three point fifty three, he'll get paid for a full hour.
Today is the first time one coworker has ever seen
him clock out early like this. What's the rush? Britney's
Honor Society event isn't for three hours. Robert heads to
the locker room. He changes out of scrubs and into
street clothes. Here's the recreation of what a coworker later

(17:08):
tells police.

Speaker 9 (17:10):
He had on a cutoff T shirt. I think it
was a blue cutoff shirt from a fire department or something, okay,
And he had a black Oakland Raiders hat and shades.
Small sunglasses.

Speaker 8 (17:22):
Small sunglasses, yeah.

Speaker 9 (17:24):
Like I don't know if there are Oakley Okay?

Speaker 8 (17:26):
What kind of pants was he wearing?

Speaker 9 (17:28):
Blue jeans?

Speaker 1 (17:30):
The coworker and Robert exit the hospital around four pm.
We're driving in the main entrance, can see the hospital,
and so we are looking for the east side of
the southern parking lot. This is where Robert gets into
his Silver two thousand and one, dodge Ram three point

(17:50):
fifty seven pm by now Mary's home from Kmart, she
emails a group of friends about an upcoming women's retreat.
The Fishers haven't had a computer for very long. Email
is still a novelty between four pm and six forty
five PM. Robert's whereabouts during this period are unconfirmed. He
departs the hospital at four pm and his home at

(18:12):
the latest by about six forty five. His house is
nineteen miles south, a twenty to thirty minute drive, passing
Scottsdale's most famous tourist attraction, Talies in West Frank Lloyd
Writ's winter home. Wright built it after an ax wielding
servant murdered seven people, including Wright's mistress and her kids,
at Talius in East in Wisconsin in nineteen fourteen, before

(18:34):
dousing the house in gasoline, burning it down, swallowing hydrochloric acid,
and starving to death in jail seven weeks later. On
April ninth, nineteen fifty nine, exactly forty two years before
the Fisher's final day, Wright died in Phoenix after his
third and final wife died in nineteen eighty five at
a hospital in which Robert Fisher would soon work. Wright's

(18:54):
remains were exzoomed, cremated, and relocated from Wisconsin to Scottsdale.
April ninth, two thousand and one, about five pm, Mary
Fisher speaks by phone with her sister Myrna Murna doesn't
notice anything unusual. Between six and seven pm, Mary speaks
by phone with her friend Mary Beth Rodin. Mary Beth

(19:15):
doesn't notice anything unusual either. Six p fifty four pm
sunset seven pm. Robert and Brittany are at Supei Middle School.
Britney is set to be inducted into the National Junior
Honor Society.

Speaker 8 (19:29):
The honor society was not just about getting a's and b's.
It was also about how do you represent your community.

Speaker 1 (19:37):
Let me now introduce you to four teachers I lovingly
call the Supeie Gang. Karen Ka Eberley, Britney's language arts teacher.
Kim Spate, Britney's science teacher and basketball coach.

Speaker 12 (19:48):
I'm Ronda Featherston.

Speaker 1 (19:49):
Ronda helps run the National Junior Honor Society, and finally,
the last member of the Supei Gang, Britney's social studies
and math teacher, requested anonymity. Like many people, she believes
Robert Fisher is alive and is concerned for her safety.
Let's call her miss Honey in honor of the teacher
in Matilda. None of these four women, three of whom

(20:10):
were at the honor Society event, have ever been interviewed
by media, and Ronda was never interviewed by law enforcement either.
When I start reaching out to the supe I gang,
they're initially and understandably suspicious. Who is this scoundrel? Is
this a scam? They convene remotely and determine that yes,
I am indeed legit. All of this is endearing to

(20:31):
me and a bit strange. Like Brittany Fisher, I was
born in nineteen eighty eight, and like Brittany, I was
a seventh grader in April two thousand and one. In
a way, it feels like reaching out to my old
teachers decades later, trying to solve a mystery. Supei even
resembles my middle school in North Carolina.

Speaker 8 (20:47):
It was Pink Frink, Split Green Doors.

Speaker 1 (20:51):
The ceremony takes place in the cafeteria on one side,
a stage on the other, tables with cake and punch.
John Baird, who co runs j with Ronda Featherston gave.

Speaker 12 (21:01):
A little introduction and we stood for the national anthem.
The students were on stage and we had the chairs
on the floor for parents.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
And guests, including Robert Fisher.

Speaker 3 (21:14):
He wasn't dressed up like I would have expected him
to be.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
Miss Honey, Brittany's teacher and Honor Society sponsor, is likely
the second to last person to see and speak with
Robert Fisher before the murders.

Speaker 3 (21:26):
He was casual, but not grengy, but just casual. And
I remember when I shook his hand that night to
congratulate him, because Brittany was with me. I was like, congratulations,
you must be so proud of her. There was no response.
I got no response.

Speaker 1 (21:42):
Besides, this lines up with what Miss Honey told police
in two thousand and one. She recalled telling Robert Fisher,
you must be so proud of her. Robert shrugged his
shoulders and said it's to be expected.

Speaker 3 (21:54):
It was almost like it was inconvenience to be at
this ceremony, like, ugh, I guess we're going to do this.

Speaker 1 (22:01):
Earlier, Robert told a coworker that he doesn't live in
a great school district. So Britney's Honor society induction might
not be a big deal. Robert is there, but not there.
Kay Eberly tells police quote he did not seem proud
of Brittany.

Speaker 8 (22:14):
I remember shaking Robert Fisher's hand and getting a weird
vibration from that, and I remember saying, you must be
very proud of Brittany, and his response was I wouldn't
expect anything less. And it was not in a happy voice.
It was more of a yeah, this is what she
needs to do.

Speaker 1 (22:34):
Robert asks Kay how long the event will last. She
tells him about forty five minutes. Then he pulls his
chair away from the other parents, teachers, and students. Now
it's just him, Brittany, and miss Honey.

Speaker 3 (22:45):
Ended up in this really uncomfortable situation with Brittany and
then her dad and then me and then over to
this idea was that that was kind of strange. That's
why I didn't leave her. I wasn't going to leave her,
you know. I could have gone in sad with my
colleagues because other people had families, you know. And then
the teachers were seated somewhere else by tried to stay
as much as I could.

Speaker 1 (23:07):
Brittany is quiet and smart and funny. She loves Jesus
and has kind of a country western vibe. She keeps
the photo of the family dog, blue tapes in her locker.
She speaks to and stands up for kids with special needs.
She has a slight lisp, but her dad refuses speech therapy,
not for his kids. To visualize how old Brittany would

(23:28):
be today, look to Lizzo. Brittany and Lizzo were born
on the same day, April twenty seventh, nineteen eighty eight.
Or look to Emma Stone, who, like Brittany, was born
in nineteen eighty eight and grew up in Scottsdale, only
fifteen minutes from the Fishers. It's unlikely Stone knew Brittany,
but to be safe, I did reach out to her reps.
They haven't gotten back to me yet. Brittany was only

(23:52):
four months older than me. Calling through Fisher home videos,
I found this clip. Brittany, wearing a pink and white
Poga dott dress, gets off a school bus and runs
to Mary. Mary pushes Bobby in a stroller.

Speaker 8 (24:11):
Slack and hamps from the bus stop.

Speaker 1 (24:14):
The date suddenly comes into focus. September eighth, nineteen ninety three.
My fifth birthday. While interviewing people who knew Brittany, I
came to see myself as a physical embodiment of their loss.
I'm thirty five, Brittany would be thirty five, thirty six
actually by the time this errs. In the home videos,

(24:35):
there are so many delicate moments of Brittany and Bobby
the banal beauty of childhood. There are also clips that,
in retrospect seem kind of eerie. In one, Brittany dances
in the front yard as her dad films ring.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
Well the Roney the road.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
Ashes ashes, we all fall down. Then you hear Robert
Fisher in front of a house that, according to police,
he will one day burn down.

Speaker 8 (25:05):
Ah.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
In another, Mary asked Brittany that a water gun and
here's one more. Robert sits on the floor cross legged
with Brittany, Bobby, a toy contraption, and a water balloon.

Speaker 5 (25:21):
Hit boom.

Speaker 1 (25:29):
These home videos make me sad and remind me that, yes,
this is a fascinating case. It's okay to admit that.
But these people are real. We're real. If you like
this show, please download our first two seasons, Missing in

(25:52):
Alaska and Missing on nine to eleven for updates, visit
meon thirty three dot com or follow me on Twitter
at John waalzac J and w al Czak. Thanks for listening.

(26:21):
April ninth, two thousand and one, seven something PM sup
by Middle School Robert Fisher makes miss Honey feel uneasy.
What a jerk here tonight and what should be a
beaming moment of pride for his daughter, this sweet twelve
year old girl, Robert says, essentially, meh, honor society, so
what whatever?

Speaker 3 (26:40):
And that was partially why I sat there with her.
I wanted her to feel that she had the support,
you know, as an educator and just as a person.
Liked that she wasn't alone. I felt like, you have
a creepy dad, So I'm going to sit with you.
I mean that. I don't mean to put it that way,
but that was my thinking. You know, I'll see with
you since you're alone.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
Here, Brittany seems to more and tired.

Speaker 3 (27:01):
She could sense something was going on with dad. Normally
parents would be like, oh my gosh, I'm so proud
of you, congratulations. And I think she sensed it because
she wasn't her like excited, smiley self that I knew.
I mean, she was smiling, but it was something was
missing that night.

Speaker 1 (27:17):
Britney's hair is damp. She must have showered right before
the ceremony. Miss Honey shakes Robert's hand, makes small talk,
then steals Brittany away for a moment, and I.

Speaker 3 (27:26):
Remember telling her, I am really proud of you. I
really really proud of you, you know, And even then,
just because I could feel that he was not giving
her that what a father would, and so I tried
to tell her what a great job she's doing and that,
you know, to keep it up.

Speaker 1 (27:49):
Kay Eberly also notices that Britney seems kind of down.
Her handshake is quote very wimpy, which is out of character.

Speaker 10 (27:56):
I just got the weirdest feeling that something was not
right with either one of them, with Brittany and with
her dad, and I dismissed it as being they had
a quarrel. I thought maybe she was upset because her
mother wasn't there.

Speaker 1 (28:12):
It is abnormal that Mary isn't here. Instead, she and
Bobby are two miles away at a hunting safety course
at Scottsdale Baptist Church. It's unclear why Mary takes her
son to a hunting class. Masculine, while Robert takes his
daughter to a school event feminine. At least that's how
Robert would see it. Around seven thirty PM, as the

(28:33):
ceremony concludes, students light celebratory candles, then step off the stage.
Teachers ask parents to wait five minutes so they can
sign diplomas. Meanwhile, they say please enjoy the cake and juice.
Brittany goes for a glass of punch. Robert doesn't join her.
He doesn't even wait for her to get her diploma.
He seems to be in a rush. Around seven thirty

(28:53):
five PM, Robert and Brittany depart sup By Middle School.
They drive two point three miles north, either directly in
front of or very close to their church. They don't
stop to see Mary and Bobby. Instead, they go to
a nearby store. I'm at popular outdoor outfitters, or at
least what used to be popular outdoor outfitters, is now
an abandoned, vacant building. At some point, also in the

(29:16):
last twenty years, it was an Errands. They have a
we've moved sign in the window, and I'm pressing my
face against the glass and looking inside. This is the
last place that anyone saw Robert Fisher alive. It was
an eighteen year old store clerk named Ian, and the
evening of April ninth, two thousand and one, Robert and
Britney Fisher came here to this exact spot directly after

(29:39):
the National Junior Honor Society event at Super Middle School.
Now they were here for fifteen minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes,
and at seven to fifty five PM, Robert pays eighty
nine forty eight for five items. A pump Pure microfilter,
which is used by backpackers and hikers to filter water,
a sixty four ounce water bottle, proof matches, and two

(30:01):
packets of water purification tablets. He and Brittany leave this
store this exact spot and presumably goes straight home. The
eighteen year old cashier, Ian, who we've tried to talk
to and I don't think he wants to speak to
us because we've sent a letter and emailed and called Ian,
is the last person to see Robert Fisher alive. Ian

(30:23):
tells police that Robert and Brittany are in the store
for about thirty minutes, but if they leave Sup by
around seven thirty five, drive to the store and check
out at seven fifty five. This can't be accurate. It's likelier.
They're here for about fifteen minutes. At one point, Ian
looks up to see Robert and Brittany staring at him,
which makes him uncomfortable. Robert tells Ian he needs advice

(30:43):
on water purification, saying he's going to draw water from
a cattle hole and he's worried about viruses. Ian gets
the impression that Robert is planning on camping for quite
a long time and that he's leaving town for a while.
Seven to fifty five pm. Robert swipes his credit card.
He and Brittany exit the store. It's unclear if they

(31:04):
stop anywhere else, but if they do, Robert doesn't use
his credit card. At some point they return home eight
thirty to nine pm. This is when the kids normally
go to bed. Robert and Brittany are likely home by now,
but Mary and Bobby are still at church studying how
to properly handle guns. Nine thirty pm the hunting class ends.

(31:25):
Beth Anderson, a Fisher family friend, is also at church tonight,
teaching a course on financial responsibility. Beth and Mary speak briefly.

Speaker 6 (31:33):
I said, okay, we'll see you tomorrow morning.

Speaker 1 (31:35):
For a women's Bible group, and.

Speaker 6 (31:38):
She said, okay, so that's the last thing I said
to her.

Speaker 1 (31:42):
Beth is likely the final person to see Mary and
Bobby Fisher alive. She waves as they drive away in
Mary's silver Toyota for Runner.

Speaker 10 (31:50):
Okay.

Speaker 8 (31:50):
So.

Speaker 1 (31:51):
Driving from the Fisher's home to their church, Scottsdale Baptist,
it's about a point six mile or three minute four
minute drive nine thirty to ten pm. This is when
Mary and Robert normally go to bed around nine forty pm.
Mary and Bobby get home from the hunting class around

(32:12):
ten pm. A neighbor tells police that while taking out
the trash, she hears a heated argument between Robert and Mary.
Around ten thirty eight pm, Robert leaves the house. So
we're driving leaving right now from the cul de Sac.
It's a really pretty neighborhood, a lot of mid century ranches,
the kind that working class stiffs could afford in the

(32:34):
fifties or sixties, or even two thousand and one, but
not today. These modest homes are now worth about seven
hundred thousand dollars. Summer twenty twenty three. I'm on the
ground now in Arizona for four months with our producer Chris.
We rent a small house in Phoenix. We're lucky to
have any shelter. It is literally the worst summer ever,

(32:55):
the hottest summer in any major American city in recorded history.
But as the meme goes, the coolest summer of the
rest of our lives. Nearly one thousand people live downtown
in a sprawling homeless encampment called the Zone. Phoenix hits
at least one hundred and ten degrees fahrenheit for thirty
one days in a row, shattering records. Decals and stickers

(33:16):
jokingly feature a skeleton resting on a cactus. At least
it's a dry heat. They say that dry heat helped
kill four hundred and twenty five people in Maricopa County
last year. Meanwhile, the Colorado River, the source of water
for forty million people, is running dry. It's in this boiling, scalding,
dry heat that Chris and I venture out to retrace

(33:38):
Robert Fisher's final known steps. So we're at the intersection
of mcdowellan seventy fourth. There is a Chase Bank here
used to be a bank. One April ninth, two thousand
and one ten forty two oh seven pm, Forty minutes
after a neighbor hears Robert and Mary fighting. Robert is
standing here at this ATM zero point six miles from

(33:58):
his house. A security camera captures the final confirmed sighting
of Robert. In grainy black and white footage, we see
him wearing a long sleeved shirt with an RC COLA logo,
tucked into cargo style pants, and in Oakland Raiders ball cap.
He appears to be wearing boots. In the background, we

(34:21):
see Mary Fisher's Forerunner, which is bizarre. Robert and Mary
rarely drive each other's vehicles. If ever, Robert pulls out
two hundred and eighty dollars the daily max ten forty

(34:42):
three fifty four. Robert walks away from the ATM ten
forty four three. Robert reaches the Forerunner. He seems to
pause ten forty four twenty one. Robert gets into the
fore Runner. He drives away. This is April ninth, two

(35:03):
thousand and one, a normal day, school work and honor
society ceremony, a hunting class, marital strife, a trip to
an ATM. A normal day. The ATM footage is the
final clue. The final time anyone sees Robert Fisher. The
final time anyone sees Mary Fisher's forerunner, Untila Camper, finds

(35:23):
it abandoned ten days later in a remote forest. I
wish to God we had more witnesses, but sadly we don't.
Next time on Missing an Arizona Except this is false.
The timeline repeated by law enforcement in the media for
twenty three years is incorrect. The timeline in which Robert

(35:44):
Fisher possibly has a ten hour lead on police before
his house explodes is not accurate. When I investigate these
high profile stories, there's inevitably a point when I ask myself,
why why am I doing this? This case has been
investigated and reported repeatedly. What's the point. Well, this is why,
because there are always new facts to find, and I

(36:07):
found them. No, I haven't located Robert Fisher yet. For
that I need your help. But I have found a
ton of new information, including a new witness and a
post atm sighting a new timeline. As we conclude, let
me leave you with this from a home video dated
February eighteenth, nineteen ninety four, Britney Fisher and her classmates

(36:31):
stand on a stage in front of proud parents. Next

(37:21):
time I'm missing in Arizona.

Speaker 9 (37:22):
What's going on?

Speaker 5 (37:23):
It's a big fire.

Speaker 8 (37:25):
Was generally big fires just like blew up?

Speaker 9 (37:28):
Okay, what's on fire?

Speaker 1 (37:29):
The whole house?

Speaker 8 (37:30):
Hello, whole house is burning up.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
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 me on thirty three dot com, or on
Twitter at John Waalzac j O n W A L

(37:57):
c Z A K. Paul Ducan is our execus producer,
Chris Brown is our supervising producer. Hannah Rose Snyder is
our producer. Paul Gemperlin is our researcher. Ben Bollen is
a consulting producer, and I'm your host and executive producer
John Walzac. Special thanks to Matt Baugard and the Scottsdale
Police Department, and a shout out to Max Schwartz, the

(38:17):
first person to discover an Easter egg I hid in
season two, Missing on nine to eleven Recreations, voiced by
Max Williams and Paul Deckin. 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

(38:38):
us a five star rating. Missing in Arizona is a
co production of iHeartRadio and Neon thirty three
Advertise With Us

Host

Jon Walczak

Jon Walczak

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