The Watch in the Septic Shaft: Who Buried Dawn Fisher?

The Watch in the Septic Shaft: Who Buried Dawn Fisher?

A gold-toned dress watch sat four feet below ground on a concrete shelf inside a septic access shaft, its hands frozen at eleven minutes past two - and the opening above measured only eight inches across. How did a watch with a distinctive nick, given to Dawn Fisher on her thirtieth birthday, end up in a deliberate, dry chamber on a rental property thirty-one days after her disappearance?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from Dawn Fisher leaving her Crestwick Drive home on March 12, 2003, to the watch being discovered during a routine septic inspection a year later, and the investigative dead ends that followed. What does that watch tell us about who had the skill and access to use that shaft, and why couldn't it convict the person who knew the system best?

Person: Dawn Fisher Date: March 12, 2003 Location: Aldermoor Lane septic access shaft Case: Watch found March 2004 after renter vacated 31 days post-disappearance Person: Frank Rafferty

- Dawn Fisher left her house at approximately 6:15 AM and her phone pinged a tower on Millrace Road at 6:22 AM on March 12, 2003. - The shaft opening above the concrete shelf measured eight inches across, narrow enough for a forearm. - The watch was found on a dry concrete shelf four feet below ground during a septic inspection in March 2004. - The watch’s hands stopped at 2:11 and the crystal was uncracked when photographed with a disposable camera. - Tenant Frank Rafferty vacated the Aldermoor Lane property 31 days after Dawn’s disappearance, forfeiting a $600 deposit and citing a job opportunity.

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