An Arkansas father was arrested for allegedly shooting and killing his underage daughter’s reported stalker who he found with her after she went missing Tuesday.
Aaron Spencer, 36, had reported his 14-year-old daughter missing earlier the same day and Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched to his home.
But before they arrived, Spencer found his daughter in a vehicle with Michael Fosler, 67, and the confrontation turned deadly, according to the sheriff.
This was not the family’s first encounter with Fosler, who they had a “no contact order” against,” according to Spencer’s wife Heather Spencer.
The teen’s mom alleged in a Facebook post that the older man had stalked and raped their child over the summer and they feared that he might kill her if given the chance.
Folser was arrested in July for internet stalking of a child and sexual assault by a different law enforcement agency and was released on bond, Lonoke County Sheriff John Staley told USA Today.
Neither parent was aware that Fosler had reinitiated contact with their daughter.
When the girl’s father found the alleged predator with his daughter, a heated confrontation ensued between the two men before Aaron Spencer allegedly shot and killed Fosler, the sheriff’s office said.
The deputies responding to the original call pivoted, arresting Aaron Spencer on a “preliminary charge” of first-degree murder. He was booked into the Lonoke County Detention Center, but was released after posting bail the following day.
Staley said the charge is not official and the local district attorney can decide whether to prosecute the concerned dad.
But his wife called out the sheriff’s office for not handling the case with care.
“Some things we will never know, but we know that the police department afforded this predator privacy they did not give our family. Including posting our home address. I’m deeply offended by the way this was handled by the county [sheriff’s] office,” Heather Spencer wrote on Facebook.
“At the end of the day, our daughter is a victim and we have a long road of recovery for everyone. We are so thankful for all the calls, messages and prayers.”
Aaron has not formally been charged yet, Sheriff John Staley said in a video on Facebook.
“I absolutely do not support predators,” Staley told USA Today.
“I’m a daddy. I have three daughters. I know she’s hurt right now, but there’s absolutely nobody I would put ahead of our children, their children, my children.”
Deputies are continuing to investigate what happened leading up to the shooting. The aim of the “fact-finding” is to determine any concrete justification for the homicide, he said.
Meanwhile, Heather Spencer has set up her Venmo and CashApp to accept donations towards legal defense fees for her husband.
She originally launched a GoFundMe, but it has since been taken down because the website’s terms of service prohibit fundraisers from raising money for the legal defense of anyone charged with an alleged violent crime.
“My husband is a hero and we are so thankful to have him home with us for now. We want to do everything possible to ensure he can continue to be here to protect us,” Heather Spencer wrote in a Facebook post.
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