Salem, Oregon, August 3rd, 1974.
Ann Fisher (44), along with two other women, Rose Daniel (40), and Alicia Ferguson (44), who were friends of Mrs. Fisher, were found brutally murdered in the home of Ann Fisher, which she shared with her husband, Frank Fisher (46).
They had received grievous wounds, by an unknown murder weapon, which probably was an axe. The murder weapon was not found at the crime scene. Autopsies concluded that all died due to having their throat chopped. Mrs. Fisher's wounds were the most comprehensive, having had her face mutilated beyond recognition and her right arm chopped off; detectives also noted her wedding ring was missing. Victims were estimated to have died between 11 PM and 6 AM.
Suspicion quickly fell on Frank Fisher, who had been married to Ann Fisher for 15 years. Their marriage was filled with issues, with acquaintances and friends describing Mr. Fisher as domineering and possessive. Neighbors described hearing Mr. Fisher shouting and verbally abusing Mrs. Fisher at untimely hours, he was also known to get into altercations with neighbors and people in public.
Ann Fisher was described as a well-meaning and friendly woman and was friends with many local women, including Rose Daniel and Alicia Ferguson, both of whom she'd met through a knitting club.
However, Mr. Fisher's alibi was provided by a close friend of his, Bob Bosch (48), who stated that Mr. Fisher had been helping him chopping wood at Bosch's farmhouse and that he had stayed overnight too. Detectives were initially doubtful of Bosch's testimony but had no evidence contradicting any of it, though a detective looking around the farmhouse noted that many axes were stored in Bosch's tool shed.
As detectives worked on the case, they came up with another potential suspect, a 19-year-old man named Jon Andersen who has reportedly made advances on Mrs. Fisher, and was seemingly obsessed with her. One witness described him standing outside her home, for hours, waiting for Mrs. Fisher to come home from work, but running away when he saw her car approaching.
Jon Andersen was taken in for interrogation but was released due to lack of evidence linking him to the case. One family member came up and provided photographic evidence that proved he spent the night at a family member's house on the night of the killings.
As the years went by, no further clues came up, and the case grew cold. Mr. Fisher continued living in the house and died in 1980, after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 52. Neighbors described that he completely withdrew from the outside world after the killings, and never spoke to anyone, not even Bob Bosch.
The Fisher House became known throughout the neighborhood as "haunted," due to this bloody history.
A huge breakthrough in the case came up in November 1989, when Bob Bosch reportedly had made a written deathbed confession, which he'd given to his two adult grandchildren. In the writing, he revealed that he had lied to the detectives about Frank Fisher's alibi. He described that late into the evening, August 3rd, 1974, while he and Frank Fisher were still in the process of chopping wood, Fisher suddenly went up and left, saying he needed some fresh air. He returned 2 hours later, wearing different clothes. Bosch also wrote that he believed himself that Ann Fisher wanted a divorce with Frank Fisher, but was too afraid to go through it herself, so she invited two of her friends over to discuss the divorce proceedings. Bob Bosch died 4 days later. He was 63.
With Mr. Bosch's deathbed confession, detectives concluded that it was most likely Mr. Fisher who murdered his wife, Daniel, and Ferguson.
