WEBVTT - 1. The Final Day 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.240 Missing in Arizona contains graphic depictions of violence and may 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:05.640 not be suitable for all listeners. 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:09.879 It's morning again in America. 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:19.239 April tenth, two thousand and one, eight forty one am, Scottsdale, Arizona. 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:22.479 In one minute, this suburban ranch at the end of 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:24.320 a cul de sac in the valley of the Sun 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:28.639 will explode, But before it does, walk with me through 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:29.360 the front door. 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:31.520 In the shosh. 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:36.000 It's dark, the air is stagnant. Morning light seeps through 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:39.519 closed curtains. A pair of eyes stare at us from 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:42.360 across a murky living room. The head of an elk 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:47.200 mounted on a wall glide with me quietly down the hall, 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:53.800 past the furnace stop. A candle flickers, illuminating three bedroom doors. 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.280 In each room, a bed in each bed, a body. 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:03.120 Mary Fisher thirty eight, Knee Fisher twelve, Bobby Fisher ten. 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:07.360 It's morning in America, two thousand and one. These walls 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:10.520 in two chaos that in a moment will spill out 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:14.600 as fire and smoke and charred debris, a violent rupture, 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:25.600 and the hunt will begin for Robert Fisher Boom from 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:29.400 iHeartRadio and Neon thirty three. I'm John Walzac and this 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:32.640 is Missing in Arizona, the story of a man who 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:36.160 disappeared after allegedly killing his wife and kids, blowing up 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:39.840 their suburban home, and escaping into the wilderness. Twenty three 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:43.520 years later, I'm hunting Robert Fisher, and I need your help. 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:51.480 In April two thousand and one, Robert Fisher pulled off 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:54.960 one of the greatest escapes in American criminal history. After 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:57.480 slitting the throats of his wife and children and shooting 0:01:57.520 --> 0:02:00.000 his wife in the head. Fisher rigged their house to explore, 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:04.160 then sped away in his wife's suv. Police say nine 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:07.720 days later, a man camping at a remote forest located 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:11.440 the abandoned suv and Fisher's dog Blue near a series 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:16.279 of caves. Since then nothing did Fisher die by suicide? 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:22.560 Did someone help him flee? Perhaps he's alive today. Fisher's 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:26.480 timing was impeccable. He vanished at precisely the right moment 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:29.680 on the eve of nine to eleven, Facebook the iPhone 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:33.560 ring cameras. He exited just as the Promethean tentacles of 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:37.440 the modern surveillance state started to suffocate the world. His 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:41.600 disappearance would be virtually impossible today. Early two thousand and 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:44.520 one marked in many ways the beginning of the end 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:50.280 of the mono mystery. Mysteries so dramatic and stupefying, perpetually unresolved, 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:54.280 that they burrowed deep into our collective consciousness, unifying a 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:59.440 house divided, if briefly in magnetic spectacle and society wide confusion, 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:02.960 was the twilight of an era during which you could say, 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:06.520 kill your family, flee, and not be caught on anything 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:10.440 more than grainy ATM footage. Yet even then, the Fisher 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:14.359 case never achieved the same fame as, say, the disappearance 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:17.400 of DC interns Chandra Levy in May two thousand and one, 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:20.400 or Andrea Yates drowning her five kids in a bathtub 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:25.359 in June two thousand and one. Why maybe because men 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:28.799 killing women or kids in a domestic setting is so 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:33.000 common in America that, despite its barbarity, this case fails 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:36.360 to shock. Or maybe because Fisher wasn't even the most 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.080 famous fugitive who allegedly fled into a cave in two 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:43.000 thousand and one after perpetuating a violent spectacle, And this 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:47.360 case is spectacle. It's cinematic in many ways. It's a 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:52.920 classic Western a mysterious figure commits a series of brutal murders, triggers, 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:56.760 and explosion and flees into the rugged landscape pursued by 0:03:56.840 --> 0:04:00.960 law enforcement and twenty three years later and journalists with 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:06.160 a masochistic pension for mind boggling mysteries to be upfront. 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:10.000 I haven't found Fisher yet, but I have found a 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:14.440 ton of new information, including new witnesses, new clues, and 0:04:14.520 --> 0:04:17.760 new persons of interest. This is a case with so 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:23.320 many frustrating questions. The most critical is Robert Fisher alive today? 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:27.120 The FBI says it doesn't have an official opinion. Yet, 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:29.679 the bureau kept him on its ten most wanted list 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:33.480 for nineteen years. Why do that if you think he's dead. 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:38.480 If Fisher is alive, he's sixty three and extremely dangerous. 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:42.000 A man who kills his wife and kids won't hesitate 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:44.960 to kill again. Take a moment now to look at 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:48.280 our show art. It features an age progressed image of 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:51.359 what Fisher could look like today. I want you to 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:56.560 scan the men you know, neighbors, coworkers, friends, your husband, 0:04:56.800 --> 0:04:59.920 your father who was not in your life prior to 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:03.200 April two thousand and one. Later in the show, I'll 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:08.640 share Fisher's voice, recreated using artificial intelligence. Listen closely. Does 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:13.000 it sound like anyone you know? Let me speak now 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:16.640 directly to Robert Fisher. Robert, if you're tuning in, and 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:19.960 if you made it this far, you probably are, Listen closely. 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:23.320 I will not give up. I'm not the police, I 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:26.520 am not the FBI. I found things they missed. I 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:30.240 can dedicate all my time to you. I will follow 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:34.480 up on every lead today, tomorrow, in ten years. You 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:38.240 like control, well, this is your final moment of control. 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:41.520 These words are going out to millions of people, and 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:44.080 it's not two thousand and one anymore. You're going to 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:47.400 make mistakes or someone will turn you in. And if 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:51.440 you are in fact dead, if I'm speaking to a ghost, fine, 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:54.320 I still want to find you. I want to bring 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:57.200 home your bones so that the people whose lives ruptured 0:05:57.240 --> 0:06:00.799 when Mary, Brittany and Bobby died can find the tiniest 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:03.760 bit of peace. I sat with them, the people who 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:07.640 loved your wife, your kids, even you. I looked them 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:10.680 in the eyes. I listened as they told me how 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:14.760 much this blew up their lives, their sense of security. Robert, 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:20.520 this is now my full time job to find you. Monday, 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:23.960 April ninth, two thousand and one, there's a major crisis 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:27.040 in the South China Sea. Eight days ago, an American 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:29.680 spy plane collided with a Chinese jet, then made an 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:33.600 emergency landing on a nearby island. Its crew remains detained. 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:37.919 We've got every diplomatic channel open. We're in discussions with 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.200 the Chinese. Is now time for our troops to come 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:44.600 home so that our relationship does not become damaged. 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:48.840 Time magazine features an egg sizzling in a frying pan 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:54.839 above the headline global warming, climbing temperatures, melting, glaciers, rising seas. 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:59.119 The radiant egg yolke is cleverly earth itself. We're feeling 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:03.159 the heat. Times says, why isn't Washington on the front 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:06.160 page of the Arizona Republic in this order? A weather 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:10.600 forecast sonny high seventy four, low forty nine, the words 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:14.040 good morning, and a photo of Tony Soprano scowling in 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:18.000 a bathrobe. An Italian American group wants the Sopranos canceled 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:22.080 or boycotted. I think it's bad for America. A spokesman says, 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:25.080 we're having children shooting each other in schools, and we 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:29.000 have a program that's deifying and romanticizing shooting people in 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:32.960 the head. This is America. April ninth, two thousand and one. 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:36.480 The song Butterfly by crazy Town is number one on 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:40.280 the radio. Spy Kids is the top movie. Aliyah is Alive. 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:44.280 The Twin Towers are standing and in Scottsdale, Arizona, a 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:47.040 well to do Phoenix suburb, the Fisher family is getting 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:51.560 ready for the day. Dad Robert thirty nine, Mom Mary 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:59.600 thirty eight, daughter Brittany twelve, son Bobby ten, seven thirty 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:03.000 am Robert Fisher begins his shift at the Mayo Clinic 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:06.440 Hospital in Phoenix. He's a medical technician who works in 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:10.160 a cardiac cath lab, assisting doctors and nurses with invasive 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:11.480 diagnostic procedures. 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:14.760 They go in and they run catheter up into the 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:18.000 heart and up into the blood vessels, sometimes near the brain, 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:20.880 and they'll shoot different kinds of eyes and they'll look 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:23.160 at it on this image to see as their thought. 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:26.600 This is one of Fisher's coworkers. I agreed not to 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:27.160 name him. 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:29.480 The catheter is very big. It's about the size of 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:32.560 your pin. So when they take it out, you have 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:35.120 to hold pressure for a long long time for a 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:36.800 plot to form. 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:39.200 If you're on a gurney today in the cath lab, 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:42.840 just know that this man's standing over you, six feet tall, 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:46.240 one hundred and ninety pounds, light brown hair, blue eyes, 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:49.959 holding pressure on your wound will, according to police, murder 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:54.040 his family in about twelve hours. As Robert Fisher starts work, 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:57.120 his wife Mary takes the kids to school. Ten year 0:08:57.120 --> 0:09:01.240 old Bobby is a gentle goofball, quiet but funny. He 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:05.080 loves video games and blanket forts and his razor scooter. 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:07.960 He's a fourth grader at Pima Elementary School. 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:09.160 He was a sweetheart. 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:12.760 Beth Anderson is a Fisher family friend. Her son Brock 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:13.800 is Bobby's age. 0:09:13.880 --> 0:09:16.920 At the time, we had a convertible and we were 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:19.400 coming down the one oh one and they asked me, 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:22.160 can we ride with the top down, like, don't put 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:24.760 the top up? And I said, well, it's going to 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:27.760 be really loud and noisy and windy, and then oh, 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:29.320 we don't care. We don't care. So they're in the 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:32.120 backseat and off we go. We're coming down the one 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:35.840 oh one, and these two were just laughing hysterically, just 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:38.760 belly laughing. Their arms were up in the air, they 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:42.200 were waving to people, and I just remember looking in 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:45.760 the rear view mirror, thinking the innocence of childhood. 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:49.480 Not long before the murders, some of Bobby's friends attend 0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:52.160 to sleep over at the Fisher House. The kids watched 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:55.400 the nineteen ninety nine remake of The Haunting, starring Liam Neeson, 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:59.240 Catherine Zada Jones and a Rotten Tomatoes score of seventeen percent. 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:04.360 That terrible movie. Looking back on it now. 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:08.080 Brock Anderson, it scared the crap out of me. The 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:11.959 film's antagonist, Hugh Crane, is a womanizing bully who kills 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:14.600 children and burns their bodies in his fireplace. 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:18.840 I remember watching that and Robert was there. I remember 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:21.600 him kind of interacting with us in like a playful 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:23.720 way of like, oh, yeah, you guys are scared. 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:26.320 Brock spends a lot of time at the Fisher House. 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:29.040 I remember how dark the lighting was in that home. 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:32.640 It always just felt like a cave. The main light 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:35.000 would come from the kitchen, the living room, like it 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:37.439 just curtains were always just kind of closed. It always 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:38.280 just seemed kind of dark. 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:41.320 Robert Fisher is a cheapskate who doesn't want to pay 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:44.640 for air conditioning, even in blazing Arizona, so he keeps 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:47.800 the curtains drawn. Twenty two to twenty three North seventy 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:50.960 fourth Place is Robert's stifling castle, and in it he 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:53.280 does whatever he wants. Mary be damned. 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:56.920 Mary would always get really bothered by Robert chewing tobacco 0:10:56.960 --> 0:10:58.760 at the table when we'd be eating dinner. 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:00.360 He was just always. 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:02.120 Chewing winter green Copenhagen. 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:04.880 He always had a cup or a coke can or something, 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:06.920 and yeah, I remember she would just kind of give 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:09.440 him that look or make a Snyder remark, and it 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:11.319 was just kind of like, this is awkward. 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:15.800 That sniping is a sign of a toxic dynamic, a 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:19.600 husband always attempting to assert control, a wife willing to 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:23.440 fight back. I wanted to spell immediately any image of 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:27.600 Mary as some passive yes sir wallflower steamrolled by her 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:31.720 domineering husband. Mary is strong, five foot four, one hundred 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:35.160 and thirty five pounds, blonde hair, blue eyes, a natural 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:38.559 born leader with many friends and a jovial streak of sarcasm. 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:42.080 Her life centers on Jesus and her kids. Yes, she 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:44.960 believes a wife should be submissive to a degree, but 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:47.640 it's also her choice when to fight and when to 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:50.640 just roll her eyes, not because she's weak, but because 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:55.680 she's wise. You see this dynamic obnoxious Robert exasperated Mary 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:58.640 on home videos, later rescued from a fire safe in 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:01.240 the charred rubble of their house. In one clip from 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:04.600 April nineteen eighty nine, Robert lays in bed, propped on pillows, 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:06.920 holding the camera with one hand and with the other, 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:17.360 his black lab Ruger, sits at the foot of the bed. 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:25.200 Rue. 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:26.840 You see your happy birthday to Brittany. 0:12:27.000 --> 0:12:28.440 It's Brittany's first birthday. 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:56.640 Can you sing boy from your heart like you really meant? 0:12:57.200 --> 0:13:00.559 Robert pants the camera to Mary holding baby Brittany. Mary 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:04.120 looks annoyed and quickly exits. Robert gets up and wanders 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:05.599 around Brett. 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:06.960 Brett mayor. 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:08.800 Ma're here. 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:11.800 I don't see it here they're here? 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:13.199 Oh well, looky. 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:14.000 Here go get a roof. 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:17.360 Mary sitting on a toilet seat in the bathroom, combing 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:18.080 Britney's hair. 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:22.360 Say what what do you say? 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:22.600 Mar? 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:24.200 This is the. 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:30.880 Oh, this is Brittany's day, Ruger, get out of the day. 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:33.840 Five years into their marriage, Mary is not afraid to 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:36.080 bark at Robert, and Robert isn't afraid to be a 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:44.439 smart ass in response. In fact, after Ruger exits the camera, 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:47.880 still aimed at Mary's face, Robert plays the harmonica again, 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:51.320 as if to purposely annoy her. The video then jumps 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:53.560 to a scene of Robert and Brittany in a kiddie 0:13:53.559 --> 0:14:08.320 pool in the backyard. What two This clip shows something important. 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:12.880 Robert clearly loves his kids. Yes, he's strict, but he 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:17.199 cares deeply for Brittany and Bobby. If not, Mary, let 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:19.680 me pause and get something out of the way. You're 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:23.360 going to hear me occasionally say kind things about Robert Fisher. 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:26.400 Don't mistake that for anything other than what it is, 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:30.480 an accurate portrayal of a complex man. It doesn't serve 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:34.160 anyone to paint Robert as a demonic cartoon. If we 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:37.360 want to understand the crimes, if we want to understand Robert, 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:40.240 if we want to find Robert, we have to resist 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:44.040 the urge to soothe ourselves with an infantilized portrait of evil. 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:16.240 April ninth, two thousand and one, around eight am, Mary 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:18.960 arrives at her part time clerical job at a small 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:22.960 medical supply company. Her boss, Lori Greenbeck, is also her friend. 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:27.080 She was a very kind person, but she's very sassy. 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:32.480 She was about five four, long, blonde hair, always had 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:36.880 it curled, always styled. She's always wearing a button up blouse, 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:38.120 tucked in shirt. 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:39.960 Yeah. 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:42.240 She was always neat, always put together. 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:45.480 And what about Robert jans. 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:49.880 T shirt, slouching, dragging his feet, Yeah, he didn't care. 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:54.840 Lunchtime on this sunny day, Robert Eet's outside with three 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:58.880 co workers. He's quiet and distant with them, but alone, 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:02.080 something's not right. At one point, he gets up and 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:08.040 walks away. Sometime between two and three pm, Mary Fisher 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:09.280 gets ready to leave work. 0:16:09.640 --> 0:16:12.160 She had a Reci's candy bar. They have two little 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:14.080 cups in them. When she was just standing right in 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:16.960 front of my desk, she opens this reseason. She puts 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:19.200 one on my desk and then she took the other 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:21.280 one and she was like, see you tomorrow. 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:26.280 Three twenty two pm, Mary signs a check at Kmart 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:30.720 for eighteen dollars and eighteen cents. Sometime between three point 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:33.800 thirty and three fifty pm, Robert sits on a floor 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:36.800 at the hospital. He tells the doctor that his daughter, Brittany, 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:40.280 is being inducted tonight into the National Junior Honor Society, 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:45.280 and he's taking her to the ceremony. Three fifty one pm, 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:49.280 Robert clocks out. This is strange. If he waits until 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:51.640 three point fifty three, he'll get paid for a full hour. 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:54.840 Today is the first time one coworker has ever seen 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:58.520 him clock out early like this. What's the rush? Britney's 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:02.160 Honor Society event isn't for three hours. Robert heads to 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:04.840 the locker room. He changes out of scrubs and into 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:08.160 street clothes. Here's the recreation of what a coworker later 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:10.280 tells police. 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:12.720 He had on a cutoff T shirt. I think it 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:16.679 was a blue cutoff shirt from a fire department or something, okay, 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:21.360 And he had a black Oakland Raiders hat and shades. 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:22.720 Small sunglasses. 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:24.640 Small sunglasses, yeah. 0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:26.560 Like I don't know if there are Oakley Okay? 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:28.200 What kind of pants was he wearing? 0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:29.440 Blue jeans? 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:34.080 The coworker and Robert exit the hospital around four pm. 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:36.600 We're driving in the main entrance, can see the hospital, 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.919 and so we are looking for the east side of 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:44.280 the southern parking lot. This is where Robert gets into 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:50.640 his Silver two thousand and one, dodge Ram three point 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:54.800 fifty seven pm by now Mary's home from Kmart, she 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:57.880 emails a group of friends about an upcoming women's retreat. 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:01.359 The Fishers haven't had a computer for very long. Email 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:05.639 is still a novelty between four pm and six forty 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:09.879 five PM. Robert's whereabouts during this period are unconfirmed. He 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:12.520 departs the hospital at four pm and his home at 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:15.560 the latest by about six forty five. His house is 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:18.879 nineteen miles south, a twenty to thirty minute drive, passing 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:22.880 Scottsdale's most famous tourist attraction, Talies in West Frank Lloyd 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:26.640 Writ's winter home. Wright built it after an ax wielding 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:30.359 servant murdered seven people, including Wright's mistress and her kids, 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:34.200 at Talius in East in Wisconsin in nineteen fourteen, before 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:38.359 dousing the house in gasoline, burning it down, swallowing hydrochloric acid, 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:41.439 and starving to death in jail seven weeks later. On 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:44.760 April ninth, nineteen fifty nine, exactly forty two years before 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:48.439 the Fisher's final day, Wright died in Phoenix after his 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:51.360 third and final wife died in nineteen eighty five at 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:54.360 a hospital in which Robert Fisher would soon work. Wright's 0:18:54.359 --> 0:19:00.359 remains were exzoomed, cremated, and relocated from Wisconsin to Scottsdale. 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:04.359 April ninth, two thousand and one, about five pm, Mary 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:07.679 Fisher speaks by phone with her sister Myrna Murna doesn't 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:12.840 notice anything unusual. Between six and seven pm, Mary speaks 0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:15.600 by phone with her friend Mary Beth Rodin. Mary Beth 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:20.359 doesn't notice anything unusual either. Six p fifty four pm 0:19:20.480 --> 0:19:25.679 sunset seven pm. Robert and Brittany are at Supei Middle School. 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:28.600 Britney is set to be inducted into the National Junior 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:29.480 Honor Society. 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:33.000 The honor society was not just about getting a's and b's. 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:36.560 It was also about how do you represent your community. 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:40.640 Let me now introduce you to four teachers I lovingly 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:45.040 call the Supeie Gang. Karen Ka Eberley, Britney's language arts teacher. 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:48.240 Kim Spate, Britney's science teacher and basketball coach. 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:49.440 I'm Ronda Featherston. 0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:53.240 Ronda helps run the National Junior Honor Society, and finally, 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:57.600 the last member of the Supei Gang, Britney's social studies 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:01.640 and math teacher, requested anonymity. Like many people, she believes 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:04.440 Robert Fisher is alive and is concerned for her safety. 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:07.399 Let's call her miss Honey in honor of the teacher 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:10.680 in Matilda. None of these four women, three of whom 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:13.360 were at the honor Society event, have ever been interviewed 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:16.760 by media, and Ronda was never interviewed by law enforcement either. 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:19.440 When I start reaching out to the supe I gang, 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:24.240 they're initially and understandably suspicious. Who is this scoundrel? Is 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:28.000 this a scam? They convene remotely and determine that yes, 0:20:28.160 --> 0:20:31.320 I am indeed legit. All of this is endearing to 0:20:31.359 --> 0:20:34.439 me and a bit strange. Like Brittany Fisher, I was 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:36.960 born in nineteen eighty eight, and like Brittany, I was 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:39.439 a seventh grader in April two thousand and one. In 0:20:39.480 --> 0:20:41.560 a way, it feels like reaching out to my old 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:45.440 teachers decades later, trying to solve a mystery. Supei even 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:47.720 resembles my middle school in North Carolina. 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:50.680 It was Pink Frink, Split Green Doors. 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:54.760 The ceremony takes place in the cafeteria on one side, 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:57.919 a stage on the other, tables with cake and punch. 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:01.960 John Baird, who co runs j with Ronda Featherston gave. 0:21:01.800 --> 0:21:06.960 A little introduction and we stood for the national anthem. 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:10.600 The students were on stage and we had the chairs 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:12.600 on the floor for parents. 0:21:12.200 --> 0:21:14.400 And guests, including Robert Fisher. 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:17.200 He wasn't dressed up like I would have expected him 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:17.439 to be. 0:21:17.880 --> 0:21:21.520 Miss Honey, Brittany's teacher and Honor Society sponsor, is likely 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:24.199 the second to last person to see and speak with 0:21:24.320 --> 0:21:26.080 Robert Fisher before the murders. 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:31.000 He was casual, but not grengy, but just casual. And 0:21:31.320 --> 0:21:34.000 I remember when I shook his hand that night to 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:37.040 congratulate him, because Brittany was with me. I was like, congratulations, 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:40.600 you must be so proud of her. There was no response. 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:42.680 I got no response. 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:46.600 Besides, this lines up with what Miss Honey told police 0:21:46.600 --> 0:21:49.480 in two thousand and one. She recalled telling Robert Fisher, 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:52.240 you must be so proud of her. Robert shrugged his 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:54.520 shoulders and said it's to be expected. 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:57.680 It was almost like it was inconvenience to be at 0:21:57.720 --> 0:22:01.000 this ceremony, like, ugh, I guess we're going to do this. 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:04.159 Earlier, Robert told a coworker that he doesn't live in 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:07.480 a great school district. So Britney's Honor society induction might 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:10.880 not be a big deal. Robert is there, but not there. 0:22:11.040 --> 0:22:14.160 Kay Eberly tells police quote he did not seem proud 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:14.720 of Brittany. 0:22:14.840 --> 0:22:19.199 I remember shaking Robert Fisher's hand and getting a weird 0:22:19.560 --> 0:22:23.040 vibration from that, and I remember saying, you must be 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:26.640 very proud of Brittany, and his response was I wouldn't 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:30.240 expect anything less. And it was not in a happy voice. 0:22:30.320 --> 0:22:32.720 It was more of a yeah, this is what she 0:22:32.960 --> 0:22:33.680 needs to do. 0:22:34.240 --> 0:22:37.240 Robert asks Kay how long the event will last. She 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:39.920 tells him about forty five minutes. Then he pulls his 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:43.200 chair away from the other parents, teachers, and students. Now 0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:45.280 it's just him, Brittany, and miss Honey. 0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:49.399 Ended up in this really uncomfortable situation with Brittany and 0:22:49.440 --> 0:22:51.679 then her dad and then me and then over to 0:22:51.720 --> 0:22:55.000 this idea was that that was kind of strange. That's 0:22:55.040 --> 0:22:57.040 why I didn't leave her. I wasn't going to leave her, 0:22:57.240 --> 0:22:59.280 you know. I could have gone in sad with my 0:22:59.320 --> 0:23:03.159 colleagues because other people had families, you know. And then 0:23:03.200 --> 0:23:05.440 the teachers were seated somewhere else by tried to stay 0:23:05.480 --> 0:23:06.280 as much as I could. 0:23:07.760 --> 0:23:11.720 Brittany is quiet and smart and funny. She loves Jesus 0:23:11.800 --> 0:23:14.480 and has kind of a country western vibe. She keeps 0:23:14.480 --> 0:23:17.159 the photo of the family dog, blue tapes in her locker. 0:23:17.480 --> 0:23:20.959 She speaks to and stands up for kids with special needs. 0:23:21.359 --> 0:23:24.800 She has a slight lisp, but her dad refuses speech therapy, 0:23:25.160 --> 0:23:28.840 not for his kids. To visualize how old Brittany would 0:23:28.840 --> 0:23:32.080 be today, look to Lizzo. Brittany and Lizzo were born 0:23:32.200 --> 0:23:35.080 on the same day, April twenty seventh, nineteen eighty eight. 0:23:35.440 --> 0:23:38.120 Or look to Emma Stone, who, like Brittany, was born 0:23:38.119 --> 0:23:40.640 in nineteen eighty eight and grew up in Scottsdale, only 0:23:40.680 --> 0:23:44.200 fifteen minutes from the Fishers. It's unlikely Stone knew Brittany, 0:23:44.359 --> 0:23:46.720 but to be safe, I did reach out to her reps. 0:23:47.240 --> 0:23:52.280 They haven't gotten back to me yet. Brittany was only 0:23:52.320 --> 0:23:56.160 four months older than me. Calling through Fisher home videos, 0:23:56.280 --> 0:24:04.480