There was no indication of foul play in the deaths early this year of a well-known Tucson couple, autopsy reports show.
The bodies of Muriel Macaskill Fisher and husband Paul Fisher were found in June along different locations of the Rio Grande near Truth of Consequence, New Mexico.
The couple lived in Tucson for more than 40 years. Muriel Fisher, 73, a Gaelic linguist and retired senior research scientist at the University of Arizona Department of Linguistics and Gaelic language, taught her native language for many years at her Tucson Gaelic Institute, Pima Community College and the UA. Paul Fisher, 70, a longtime leader in Tucson’s art community, was the director of arts education for the Tucson Pima Arts council from 1990-1996, even doing a stint as Tucson Water’s conservation mascot “Pete the Beak” in the late 1970s.
The cause of their deaths for the couple was listed as drowning by the University of New Mexico’s Office of the Medical Examiner, where the county’s autopsies are performed.
A toxicology report noted the couple each had Valium, oxycodone and marijuana in their systems at the time of their drownings. While the drugs could be contributing factors in how the pair died, the report goes on to say the exact manner in which they died remains uncertain.
“Why the Fishers were in the area and why they were in a river is unknown despite law enforcement investigative efforts,” the report says. “There is no evidence to suggest foul play at this time . . . It is possible that Mr. and Mrs. Fisher were trying to cross the river and were swept away.”
The report stated that, “due to the paucity of information” and circumstances surrounding, the manner of the Fisher’s deaths “is best classified as undetermined.”
