[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
A man is dead and an Arkansas father has been arrested after what police are calling a “confrontation” between them — over the status of a missing 14-year-old girl.
Last Tuesday, police in the city of Lonoke, Arkansas received a 911 call about a missing juvenile girl. The girl’s parents Aaron and Heather Spencer had called cops to file a missing persons report, and officers immediately sprang into action searching for the girl. But before they could find her, Aaron did. And not only that, but he found the girl all alone riding in a car a little more than an hour after midnight… with a 67-year-old man.
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As police were en route to the scene, Aaron (pictured above, in his mugshot) allegedly chased after and confronted the elderly man, later identified as Michael Fosler. Per the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff John Stanley, a shooting then resulted in Fosler’s death:
“A confrontation between the two adult males ensued, which resulted in a shooting. Deputies immediately initiated an investigation. Michael Fosler was pronounced dead at the scene, and Aaron Spencer was taken into custody.”
Whoa.
According to a Facebook account purportedly belonging to Heather Spencer, their daughter had been “targeted, groomed and ultimately raped by the boyfriend of a family friend” earlier this year, meaning Fosler. Heather also claimed she had “no idea” the girl was communicating with Fosler again in recent weeks prior to the shocking murder.
It’s not certain whether the Facebook account in question (HERE) actually belongs to Aaron’s wife, Sheriff Stanley did confirm to USA Today that Fosler was indeed arrested back in July and booked on charges of sexual assault and internet stalking of a child. Sheriff Stanley told that outlet:
“This guy that preyed upon their daughter was released on bond, and had we stopped him that night and got him with her, that bond would have been revoked. He would have never got out of jail. None of the bond companies would have let him out. We wouldn’t let him out.”
To that same end, the Facebook account reportedly belonging to Heather added the Spencer fam’s concern that “our child would have not come home if my husband hadn’t found her” on that fateful night. Heather wrote:
“He was looking at the rest of his pathetic life in jail, and our daughter was the only witness. We 100% in the moment thought he had taken her to kill her. By God’s never failing grace, my husband passed this man driving on our road with our minor child in the vehicle. As soon as the predator knew my husband was behind him, he ran. The chase ended in an accident. Aaron was able to retrieve our child alive, but in the process he was attacked and did what he had to do to protect himself and our minor child. He is now facing an outrageous murder 1 charge.”
So freakin’ scary.
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About that “outrageous” murder one charge, though? Per Sheriff Stanley, the charges against Aaron are only preliminary, and it is now up to prosecutors to decide whether or not to file charges and pursue the murder case in court. The sheriff explained:
“Currently, official charges have not been filed. I have not, nor will I advocate for any specific charge. This is a tragic situation and my thoughts and prayers are with all those involved.”
And the law enforcement official continued:
“I absolutely do not support predators. When we get on scene and there’s a homicide, it means one person took the life of another. It’s either justified or not justified. That’s what the fact finding, that’s what the investigation is going to find out. All my deputies and investigators knew at that time is there’s a deceased man, a 14-year-old that was in the truck with him, and a dad saying ‘Hey, I stopped him for this.'”
There’s a big difference between stopping him and getting revenge. So which one was Aaron doing? And will any jury convict him either way? Hmm…
For now, the father has been released on bail. And Sheriff Stanley’s office is finalizing their arrest documentation to send over to the prosecutor’s office for a final decision this week. What a truly terrible story…
If you have sincere cause to suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and would like to learn more about resources, consider checking out https://www.rainn.org/resources.
[Image via Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office]
