Trail of evidence

John Larson Correspondent

A trail runs wild over Rimrock and High Mesa, through some of the West’s most spectacular country.  An 800-mile line from Mexico to Utah, the Arizona trail is a jagged spine of chaparral, cactus and pine.

Sometimes the trails are confusing. There are twists and turns,  places where you must decide—which way?

Life can be like that too. It was especially so for Harold Fish on that fateful day.

Harold Fish: If only I’d gone a different day or if I’d gone earlier, or if I’d gone later.  Or “if I this,” “if I that.” You know we’d “if”  this to death.

Harold Fish’s story is set in a place of beauty. You come to the pine forests of Central Arizona for release, for solitude, for a challenge.

Fish: I like hiking.  I like Arizona… going through wilderness areas—going across mountains that normally you wouldn’t normally see.

For 57-year-old Harold Fish, traversing the entire state of Arizona was a life-long goal. The retired high school Spanish teacher began hiking before he married his wife Deborah in 1985 and he continued his trips over the years, as their family grew to include seven children.

On May 11, 2004 he planned a day long solo hike on Arizona’s Pine Canyon Trail, which begins in the Tonto national forest.

John Larson, Dateline correspondent: It’d been a good day on the trail.

Fish: Oh yeah.

Larson: Exactly what you’d hoped for.

Fish: Yes.

Fish neared the end of the trail in the early evening. He says he was tired but felt relaxed from his day-long hike. He says his plan was to exit the trail, walk back to his car, and call it a day.

But Fish’s serene hike through the forest took a turn he never expected when he crossed paths with a stranger.

Fish: I looked out and I could see the top of a car.

At the head of the trail, he says he saw a man camped by his car with two dogs.

Fish: His head picks up, the dogs alert. And I just raised my hand, you know, just to let him know that I’m just a hiker going through here.

Larson: So you wave at him?

Fish: Yeah. I raised my hand. I just you know, like, “I’m here. I’m a guy—I’m friendly.” So I get to about right in here, and when I look up, here come these dogs running very quickly, fangs showing, barking, running right at me.

Larson: Just these 30 yards, right here?

Fish: Yeah, just coming right here and at that point I’m yelling at him, “Hey control your dogs!”

But, Fish says, the man didn’t try to stop the dogs.  Fish always carries a pistol with him when he hikes, he says to protect him from wild animals. He says he pulled out a 10 mm gun he had with him that day—and fired a warning shot into the ground.

Fish: One dog went off to the left and stopped right over there by the tree there. The other one went off into the brush there.

The dogs were out of the way, but Fish says the man began charging down the hill at full speed.

Fish: I yell at him, “I didn’t shoot your dogs” or “I didn’t hurt your dogs.” And he’s yelling back at me as he’s coming, he says, in a kind of strange voice “I’m going to hurt you. I’m going to kill you,” and he’s swinging, kind of punching at me. I’m yelling at him.  “I didn’t shoot your dogs. No. Don’t. Get back. Leave me alone. No!”

Fish says he feared for his life.

Fish: One minute I’m just walking through the woods, oblivious to him or anything else. And the next minute I’ve got two dogs barking and snarling, trying to bite me, and an angry man following right after them, yelling that he’s going to get me, going to kill me, swinging his fists.

Larson: And you’re convinced this guy actually was going to kill you?

Fish: Yeah.

Fish fired three shots. The man fell to the ground.

Larson: When he falls, does he say anything?

Fish: No.  Never did.

Larson: Do you say anything?

Fish: Yes.  I—I—for the first five seconds or so, I was angry.  But obviously, he was hurt.  So after about five seconds of losing my cool and then getting angry at him, you know, then I tried to do what I could to help him. 

Fish says he put his backpack under the man’s head, and covered him with a blanket, as seen in the sheriff’s department video.

He says he then tried to use his cell phone to call 911 — but couldn’t get reception in the remote wilderness.

He hiked to the nearest highway, and managed to flag down a car. The driver used the “On-Star” system in his car to call for help.

Paramedics soon arrived at the scene of the shooting and found the man dead.

The father of seven with no criminal record was now questioned by police late into the night and the following morning.

Fish says he fully cooperated with the authorities.

Fish: I didn’t say I’m not gonna talk to you.  I want an attorney.

The lead sheriff’s detective on the case told the media he thought Fish had acted in self-defense.

Larson: Were you thinking, “This is all over now?”

Fish: Yes. We thought it was.

Larson: It wasn’t.

Fish: No.

They were two strangers, whose lives tragically crossed on this beautiful, peaceful hiking trail.  To many, it seemed like a clear case of self-defense: a family man with no criminal record and no reason whatsoever to shoot another man he didn’t even know. 

But, when word of the shooting got out, many in this area began to come to the dead man’s defense, saying that Harold Fish should be prosecuted for murder.

Print this Email this Blog this  IM this