Possible break in murder case of 100-year-old man

Joe Fischer

SANGER – Police have located a “person of interest” in connection to the homicide of a 100-year-old man earlier this month and he is now being held in the Fresno County Jail.

The man, who has not been identified as a suspect, was in custody in Southern California on a number of warrants unrelated to this case. He has yet to be identified as a suspect in the killing of Joe Fischer. He was transferred to the Fresno County Jail over the weekend of Aug. 27 and is being interviewed by Sanger police about the centenarian’s death. Fischer was attacked in his apartment in Sanger on Aug. 8 and died three days later.

A meeting between the community and Sanger polic , and a candlelight vigil were held in the days following Fischer’s death. Soon after, the police department started receiving tips related to the murder. “We’ve had a number of phone calls since our candlelight vigil that have presented us with leads that my investigators have followed,” said Sanger Police Chief Thom Klose. “And some of those leads have led to where we are right now.”

Klose said that often times people are fearful of giving information about crimes, but in this case they were so upset by what happened that they decided to come forward. The tips led investigators to a man believed to be a transient who was in Sanger around the time of the attack.

The man has not been identified because the case is still under investigation. Sanger investigators traveled to Southern California over the weekend to interview the man’s family and transfer him to the Fresno jail. The man is still only a ‘person of interest’ in the Fischer homicide at this point, but Klose said charges might be filed soon.