A wife and children are dead in their home as it burns, while the husband and father is suspected in their grisly deaths — the chilling scenario recalls the 2001 Fisher family massacre in south Scottsdale.
Robert William Fisher, now presumably 65, remains wanted by the FBI in suspicion of the deaths of his wife and two children, whose bodies were found April 10, 2001, in their Scottsdale house as it burned down.
Nearly 2,000 miles away in Grand Haven Township, Michigan, according to authorities, a wife and mother and her six children were slain by a husband and father who set the home ablaze. The murder-suicide suspect, Kristopher Karolkiewicz,, 47, his wife Amanda "Mandy" Karolkiewicz, 39, and their children, ages 5 to 15, were discovered lifeless
July 24, authorities said.
Here are the similarities and differences between the 25-year-old Valley case and the recent incident in Michigan.
Suspected homicide motives, weapons differed
Fisher's wife, Mary Fisher, 38, and their children, Brittney, 12, and Bobby, 10, had their throats slit, according to authorities. The Fishers were arguing the night before the killings, and there were murmurs of an impending divorce with Robert Fisher telling friends he would keep his children from enduring the dissolution of their parents' marriage, authorities said.
Mandy Karolkiewicz and the Karolkiewicz children were gunned down before Kristopher Karolkiewicz took his life, according to authorities. A handgun was used, authorities added.
A Reddit account linked to Mandy Karolkiewicz accused Kristopher of cheating on her in a post she made on the community forum site, according to the Holland Sentinel, a sister publication of The Arizona Republic. On Reddit, she accused him in 2024 of having an affair with an intern, who was the same age as her when she met him while also an intern.
The American Heart Association told People.com that Kristopher Karolkiewicz worked remotely as vice president of sales and marketing until his employment ended in July.
As of July 28, police had not yet identified a suspected motive.
Homes were crime scenes set on fire; one was an explosion
The Karolkiewicz home was on fire when first responders got to the victims, and public safety officials suspect Kristopher Karolkiewicz caused the blaze with multiple spots as sources of origin.
An explosion was heard by neighbors just before the Fisher home caught fire. Investigators said Robert Fisher, a former firefighter, unhooked a flexible metal gas line from the furnace and possibly lit a candle to use as an ignition source.
Robert Fisher apparently fled; Karolkiewicz killed himself
Kristopher Karolkiewicz was found dead with his family.
But Robert Fisher appears to remain on the loose after his family's slayings, which were perpetrated three days before his 40th birthday. Neither the FBI Phoenix field office nor the national press office responded to The Republic's request for comment on July 28.
He never returned to the home after its apparent explosion. An ATM security video caught him the night before his family was killed. Fisher remained on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives List for nearly 20 years until his removal when the agency took into account the extensive publicity on the case failed to yield a location or capture. The FBI still lists him as a most wanted fugitive.
Fisher's Toyota 4Runner was recovered in the Tonto National Forest 10 days after the fire.
Unlike, the Karolkiewicz's pets, who died in the house fire, the life of the Fishers' dog was spared. Blue, a 2-year-old Queensland Heeler, was found alive, hiding under Fisher's SUV.
The Detroit News reporter George Hunter contributed to this article.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Parallels emerge in Karolkiewicz, Scottsdale's Fisher family homicides
