Arkansas Officer Fred Marsh Proposed to Fiancée Hours Before Drowning While Saving Her Life
Fred Marsh, a 24-year-old Rogers, Arkansas police officer, proposed to his girlfriend of three years, Hailey Lummus, on the morning of July 18. Hours later, the couple was canoeing on Missouri’s Elk River with friends when Hailey got caught in a strong current trying to reach a kayak. Marsh went in after her. He got her to safety, then went under himself and never resurfaced. His body was recovered the next day.
A proposal, then a river trip
Marsh and Lummus had been together three years before he asked her to marry him that Saturday morning. Later that day, the newly engaged couple joined another off-duty Rogers officer and his wife for a canoe trip near Noel, Missouri, just over the state line.
According toHailey’s mother, Sheryl Padgett, speaking to KSL, and a Missouri State Highway Patrol report, Hailey entered the water trying to get back to a kayak and started struggling against the current. The other officer went in first. Marsh followed when he saw his fiancée in trouble.
He got her out, then he didn’t come back
Both officers managed to push Hailey toward the canoe. Marsh wasn’t as lucky. The current pulled him under before nearby swimmers could reach him, and he didn’t resurface. Search crews recovered his body the following morning.
Marsh had only been on the force since April, fresh out of the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy. Rogers Police Chief Jonathan Best called it a heartbreaking loss for the department, and said Marsh had already made an impact on the officers he worked alongside.
How people are remembering him
Padgett described her daughter and Marsh’s relationship as three beautiful years together, and said that even without a wedding, he’ll forever be family to her. Marsh’s cousin, Chris Frye, told NBC affiliate KNWA he died the hero, doing exactly what the job asks of someone: thinking about others before himself.
On July 20, a motorcade escorted Marsh’s body through Northwest Arkansas. Hailey’s sister has since set up a fundraiser to help support her.
