By Emily Bittner

The similarities were tantalizing. Same facial structure. Same short haircut. A surgical scar on the back. Even a missing tooth where fugitive Robert Fisher's gold bicuspid had been.

But in the end, the gap-toothed man captured in suburban Vancouver, British Columbia, is definitely not the man suspected of murdering his wife and two children in Scottsdale nearly three years ago.

The sighting set off a flurry of speculation among law enforcement officers that they'd finally collared one of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted fugitives.

The chief FBI investigator in Phoenix even bought plane tickets to Canada, and the media quickly picked up on the excitement.

But the fingerprints didn't match.

They belonged to a man staying in a home in upscale White Rock, Canada, who was collared after a neighbor saw Fisher's picture on the Internet. The 45-year-old Canadian was released from Royal Canadian Mounted Police custody Thursday afternoon.

"Unfortunately, it turned out not to be him," said Special Agent Bob Caldwell, who is leading the FBI's investigation.

This isn't the first time authorities have gotten their hopes up. There have been repeated reports of sightings since Fisher vanished in April 2001 after his family members' throats were slit and a ferocious natural-gas explosion was rigged in their Scottsdale home.

Police say that in the weeks before the killings, Fisher told co-workers at the Mayo Clinic that he'd contracted a sexually transmitted disease after a massage. Fisher's wife of 14 years wanted a divorce, which the Christian fundamentalist couldn't bear.

Since then, hundreds of false Fisher sightings have been reported.

• In at least two other instances in the past three years, authorities held men who bore a remarkable physical resemblance to Fisher. In both cases, fingerprints ruled them out.

• Federal authorities were called from a pizzeria in Virginia in August 2001 after a broadcast about Fisher on America's Most Wanted. The caller identified himself as Fisher.

• People in his old neighborhood told police they saw a man who resembled Fisher driving around.

But the Navy veteran, outdoorsman and cardiovascular technician is still at large.

Scottsdale police say they believe he is alive and living under a false identity.

Though tips continue to trickle in, there haven't been any concrete clues since 10 days after the killings, when authorities found Fisher's truck and his dog, Blue, near a labyrinthine array of caves in the mountains east of Payson.

They believed they had him cornered, but a three-day search with bloodhounds, a helicopter and 150 officers yielded only a set of footprints.

Other investigators have speculated that Fisher took his own life deep in the woods on the Mogollon Rim shortly after the killings.

'Out of Proportion'
Scottsdale police said Wednesday's development was leaked to the media and "blown way out of proportion."

"It's just another sighting that we get from time to time," said Detective John Kirkham, Scottsdale's chief investigator in the case.

All of the mistaken man's physical similarities were bolstered by "cluster sightings" in British Columbia, meaning several people independently thought they saw him and called authorities, Caldwell said.

Even after authorities said that the man's fingerprints didn't match Fisher's, speculation grew that his fingertips were altered.

"They haven't been burned off," Kirkham said. "There's no scarring on the fingers."

Kirkham said fingerprint identification is the most effective way to identify a person because they never change.

Canadian authorities asked for more detailed dental records than those that have already been filed in state, federal and international criminal databases. Authorities speculated that the man may have knocked out his own tooth to avoid detection.

Canadian police still have many unanswered questions about the man and haven't completely ruled out any connection to Fisher, Constable Tim Shields said.

The man ran from authorities when nearly three dozen SWAT-like officers surrounded his girlfriend's home. They cannot account for his whereabouts for a decade, beginning in 1991. He has a minor criminal record in Canada, with two undisclosed offenses that happened more than a decade ago.

"There's still some doubt in the minds of our investigators," Shields said. "The man fit the description of Mr. Fisher precisely. Everything matched."

Local officials, however, remain convinced he's not their man.

"They desperately want him to be somebody that he isn't," Kirkham said.

Caldwell praised the Canadian authorities' hard work.

"They're just being very thorough," Caldwell said. "They're just trying to do the best possible job."

The man, whose name was not released, was taken out of the police station through a back door. He was covered by a red blanket and driven away in a police car. His lawyer told Canadian reporters that the man's life was disrupted for no reason.

"Frankly it's a little troubling . . . that someone could . . . make a phone call that could turn someone's life upside down," attorney Matthew Nathanson said.

Ever Watchful
Despite the false leads, police still encourage the public to report any possible Fisher sightings.

"One of these people is going to turn out to be him," Caldwell said. A $50,000 reward is being offered for any information leading to Fisher's arrest.

Mary Fisher's family was unavailable for comment, but Kirkham spoke to her sister Wednesday night and Thursday morning. He said she was disappointed in the news.

"It is very frustrating," Kirkham said. "You get all hyped up, and you want to have a conclusion to the case. It's kind of an up-and-down sort of thing, but that's part of job."

The reports of Fisher's arrest put both families through "heck," Caldwell said.

"There's no reason to . . . put the families through the turmoil when it's not him," Caldwell said. "This is a nightmare that they relive constantly."

Meanwhile, Caldwell believes Fisher, a loner, is starting a new life.

"He's out starting all over again," he said. "He's breathing the same air you and I are. And he doesn't deserve to be." 

 

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