The Arkansas Dad Who Shot His Daughter’s Alleged Abuser — and Why a Judge Just Cleared Him

Just after 1 a.m. on October 8, 2024, Aaron Spencer woke up to find his 13-year-old daughter gone. Her bed was not empty, something had been placed there to make it look like she was asleep. A stuffed animal, wrapped in her hoodie, had been arranged as a decoy. Spencer jumped into his truck and drove into the night.

He did not have to go far. A short distance from home, he spotted the pickup truck of Michael Fosler, a 67-year-old man already facing 43 criminal counts related to the sexual abuse of Spencer’s daughter. Fosler was out on a $50,000 bond. A court-ordered no-contact order was in place. Neither had kept him away.

What happened next ended Fosler’s life and set off one of the most closely watched criminal cases in Arkansas in years.

A Father, a Veteran, and a Murder Charge

Spencer, 37, is an Army veteran and farmer from Lonoke County, a predominantly suburban county of roughly 76,000 people in the greater Little Rock area. After finding his daughter inside Fosler’s vehicle, Spencer forced the truck off the road. An altercation followed. Spencer shot and killed Fosler, then called 911 himself to report what he had done.

He was charged with second-degree murder in November 2024.

Spencer never denied pulling the trigger. He admitted to the killing from the beginning, pleaded not guilty, and built his legal defense around a single argument: that he acted to protect his daughter from a man the courts had already failed to detain.

Fosler’s prior record was not in dispute. He was facing 43 criminal counts, including internet stalking of a child, s*xual assault, sexual indecency with a child, and possession of child p***graphy. He had been released on bond by Circuit Judge Barbara Elmore, who also issued a no-contact order that Fosler violated by continuing to contact the victim.

What the Police Lost — and What the Judge Found

Spencer’s defense rested partly on what a dash camera in Fosler’s truck may have captured that night. A detective with the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office removed the camera from the scene. What followed became the basis for the dismissal.

According to CBS News reporting on the June 4, 2026 ruling, the camera’s internal settings were not preserved, the battery was allowed to drain, and the device reverted to its default settings. When it was sent to the attorney general’s office for a forensic exam, the memory card that had been in it when collected from the truck was missing.

Spencer’s legal team argued that the footage could have supported his self-defense claim. Special Circuit Court Judge Ralph Wilson Jr. agreed that its disappearance was not a minor procedural failure. In a 19-page dismissal order, Wilson ruled that the loss of the SD card violated Spencer’s right to due process and that the Sheriff’s Office’s conduct amounted to something “so egregious that it warrants dismissal.” The judge wrote that law enforcement’s handling of the evidence “gave the appearance of a coverup.”

Running for the Office That Arrested Him

The dismissal came weeks before Spencer’s trial, which had been set to begin June 22. But the legal outcome was not the only extraordinary development in this story.

In October 2025, still under a murder indictment, Spencer announced he was running for Lonoke County sheriff. His reason, stated plainly in his announcement: “Through my own fight for justice, I have seen firsthand the failures in law enforcement and in our circuit court. And I refuse to stand by while others face these same failures.”

He won. Spencer took the GOP nomination in March 2026, defeating the three-term incumbent whose office had arrested him, with more than 53% of the vote. He is now on the November ballot for sheriff of the county where all of this began.

“This Father Should Have Never Been Charged”

The response to the dismissal was swift. Spencer’s attorney, Erin Cassinelli, said in a statement: “No member of this family should ever again be forced to walk into a courtroom and relive this horror. This father should have never been charged for protecting his child.”

Spencer’s own words named the people who carried him through it: “First, I want to thank God, my wife, and my family. And I want to thank the people of Lonoke County who stood with us when it would have been easier to look the other way.”

Spencer’s daughter is now 15. Fosler died at the scene that October night, before any of the 43 counts against him could be tried. The full record of what he did to the girl remains sealed in court documents because she is a minor. The murder case against her father is closed.