Do You Recognize This Man? Police Ask Public to Check Photo to Help Identify Human Remains

A sheriff's office in Arizona is enlisting the help of the public to try to identify human remains that were found months ago, prompting social media users to speculate it's a man who's been sought by law enforcement for 20 years.

Officers from the Pinal County Sheriff's Office were called to a location within Arizona's state trust lands in October after someone located human remains in the desert. Since the body was in an advanced state of decomposition, law enforcement has been unable to identify the remains, but authorities were able to create a sketch of what the person might have looked like.

The sheriff's office posted two sketches to Facebook and asked people who recognize the man to call 520-866-5111.

The sketch was partially based on features that the Pinal County medical examiner thought the victim might have had. Police described the victim as likely being male and at least 40 years old. It's possible he is of "mixed ancestry," and police estimated he was killed sometime between six months and three years before he was found.

While police have yet to identify the man, the sketches prompted some to speculate about whom they picture. A popular opinion is that it's Robert William Fisher.

Until recently, Fisher had been on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list for nearly two decades for allegedly killing his family and blowing up the house where they lived in 2001. In November, the FBI's Phoenix field office confirmed that Fisher remains at large but said he no longer fits the criteria for being on the bureau's list.

"Because the extensive publicity Fisher's case received during its nearly 20 years on the list has not resulted in his successful location and/or capture, the case no longer fulfills that requirement," the FBI said in a statement.

Since his initial disappearance, there have been no confirmed sightings of Fisher, who would be 60 today if he's still alive. He's wanted on three counts of first-degree murder, arson of an occupied structure and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

Fisher is accused of killing his 38-year-old wife and two children, aged 12 and 10, while they were in their beds. He allegedly slit the children's throats, and his wife was found with a bullet in her head. Fisher, a former firefighter, is also accused of rigging their home to catch fire in an attempt to cover up the crime, but the victims were found after crews extinguished the flames.

Fisher was last photographed at an ATM about a half mile from the family's house on the night they were killed. The vehicle he was driving was found abandoned about a week later, and his dog, Blue, was located nearby.

Adding to speculation that the remains are Fisher's is that his home was in Scottsdale, not far from where the remains were found.

The Pinal County Sheriff's Office told Newsweek that it's unlikely the remains are Fisher's. While detectives saw the comparisons people were making, Fisher is 100 percent Caucasian, and the anthropologic forensic check determined the remains belonged to someone with multiple different ethnicities.

However, the office is going to check with the medical examiner to see if officials will be cross-checking Fisher's DNA profile with the remains.

"We will be able to say one way or another," the sheriff's office told Newsweek.

Police have received several phone calls since posting the photo, and they'll be looking into the claims.

Scottsdale police detective John Heinzelman told The Arizona Republic he receives about 100 tips about Fisher's whereabouts every year. Despite Fisher's removal from the FBI's most wanted list, Heinzelman's investigation will continue, he said, and it doesn't "change anything" that he's doing to locate Fisher.

Newsweek reached out to Heinzelman for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.

Update 12/15/21, 5:10 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with a comment from the Pinal County Sheriff's Office.