Aaron Spencer stepped out of the library’s glass doors wearing a blue-and-white voting sticker on his gray checkered shirt. About a dozen supporters greeted him in the parking lot, where he clasped hands, patted shoulders and leaned in for selfies.
It was the first day of early voting last month for the Republican primaries in this conservative stronghold of central Arkansas. Spencer had just voted for himself in the Lonoke County race for sheriff.
“It was so surreal seeing my name on the ballot,” he said as he mingled with voters under a dull, overcast sky.
On a curb not far from the red brick building, his campaign signs – “AARON SPENCER LONOKE COUNTY SHERIFF” – stood in black-and-white letters alongside those for candidates in other races.
The 37-year-old, however, is unlike other candidates. He’s accused of murder.
Spencer is awaiting trial in the October 2024 fatal shooting of a 67-year-old man who was out on bail after being charged with sexually abusing Spencer’s then-13-year-old daughter. Spencer said he discovered her missing from her room after midnight, jumped into his truck and scoured the nearby roads until he spotted her with the man and shot him after a confrontation. He has admitted to killing him but has pleaded not guilty.
And in an unexpected twist, Spencer announced last fall that he’s running for sheriff against the incumbent whose deputies arrested him that night. Spencer, an Army veteran with no law enforcement experience, is challenging longtime Republican incumbent John Staley, who’s been in office for over 13 years.
“People started to reach out with their own experiences of how the system failed them,” Spencer told CNN in explaining why he chose to run. “I was struggling with sitting (it) out and not doing something.”
For more than 16 months, Spencer has navigated public scrutiny. The case has divided voters; many support his efforts to help change a legal system they believe failed his family, while others worry about the impact of taking justice into one’s own hands.
His prosecution has sparked outrage on social media and prompted several petitions calling for the charges against him to be dropped, including one signed by more than 380,000 people. It’s also prompted conversations across Arkansas and beyond about a parent’s legal limits in protecting their child.
The winner of Tuesday’s Republican primary has a strong chance of becoming the next sheriff in a county where Donald Trump received almost 76% of the vote in 2024. If Spencer wins the primary, it will set up an unusual scenario: the county prosecuting a man who would be poised to become its top law enforcement officer in November.
Many county residents say they support Spencer
Cabot’s nearly 30,000 residents make up about a third of the population in Lonoke County. Roughly half an hour east of Little Rock, the small city draws thousands of people for its annual strawberry festival. Modest, single-family homes with American flags are a common fixture. So are mom-and-pop shops mixed with the occasional franchises.
Outside Cabot, campaign signs are few and far between. Instead of sidewalks and storefronts, it’s mostly farmland, open pasture and scattered homes – with a few towns in between. On rural roads that fade to pitch black at night, trucks appear to outnumber cars.
Walk into a diner or a bar here, and a lot of people have an opinion on Spencer’s case. Most of the people CNN talked to said they believe he did what many parents would do to protect their child.
For some, his case feels personal. Crystal Reed attended high school in the county and said she was sexually abused when she was about the same age as Spencer’s daughter. She believes that as a political outsider, Spencer will bring a fresh perspective that prioritizes children’s safety.
“I was sexually assaulted multiple times … there was no one to protect me,” Reed, 47, told CNN, adding that she cast a ballot for Spencer the day early voting began on February 17. “Luckily he was able to save his daughter.”
She paused, hands trembling, fighting back tears.
“I’m not political at all. This is my third time voting ever,” she said. “But this is the only one that has really mattered to me.”
Another resident, Shelby Cooney, said she would not vote to convict Spencer if she were on a jury.
“I don’t think anybody with a normal mind would (convict) him for saving his child,” she said. Cooney said she was sexually abused when she was young and later manipulated into thinking it had only been a dream.
“I just wish I would have had a strong man like him in my corner,” she added.
But others in town feel like Spencer went too far.
“Being a parent myself, I can understand how (he) felt when his daughter was going through what she was going through,” said Cabot resident Lia Bell.
“But … he’s charged with murder. As a law enforcement officer, I don’t want somebody that’s gonna be trigger happy … I want somebody that’s gonna take the emotion out of it and follow the law in every circumstance.”
Another resident, Annber Evans, said she believes some people are so focused on Spencer’s “heroism” that they don’t consider how his case would affect his relationship with the county prosecuting attorney’s office if he were elected.
“Am I saying I disagree with what he did for his child? Nope,” she said. “I’m only saying him becoming sheriff would not make it a better Lonoke County. … It will make every case a power struggle.”
The county’s leadership is in flux. The current prosecuting attorney, Chuck Graham, is retiring this year, his office said. And last month the county clerk submitted a resignation letter, citing personal reasons.
The October night that changed everything
Before they were thrust into the spotlight, the Spencers were just another young family in Lonoke County, where Spencer’s wife, Heather, is from. Together for 20 years, they moved from central Florida in 2018 with their two children to help care for her dying father.
Their farm, just off a main highway, is filled with chickens and turkeys roaming freely under the watch of Nova, a white Great Pyrenees, and several other dogs. Spencer, a contractor and a farmer, also breeds turkeys with a gobbler named JerryBoy.
At one time, the family had more than 100 turkeys, but Aaron Spencer said he sold most of them because he needed money for attorneys’ fees and couldn’t take care of all the birds while he prepared for trial.
“I wanted to be known as ‘this dude breeds the biggest, coolest turkeys,’” Spencer said.
For now, he’s mostly known for what happened on that fall night in 2024.
Aaron Spencer said he woke in the middle of the night to his daughter’s dog barking and found her missing with a stuffed animal tucked under the covers in her place, according to his arrest affidavit.
At the time, the couple had been on edge. Four months earlier, their daughter had revealed she’d been sexually abused by Michael Fosler, whom she met at the home of a family friend, they said.
Fosler, more than 50 years her senior, groomed the teenage girl via text messages, Heather Spencer said on Facebook.
Fosler was arrested and faced 43 criminal counts, including internet stalking of a child, sexual assault, sexual indecency with a child and possession of child pornography. All the charges were related to Spencer’s daughter, Staley told CNN.
He pleaded not guilty and was released on a $50,000 bond with orders to have no contact with the teen. His attorney at the time did not respond to CNN’s requests for comment.
Not long after his wife called 911, Spencer spotted Fosler’s truck on a nearby highway with his daughter inside, according to the affidavit. He told authorities he gave chase and rammed into the vehicle at the next intersection. His daughter tried to exit the passenger side, but Fosler grabbed her, Spencer said, according to the affidavit.
Spencer ordered him to get out of the car, but Fosler “lunged towards him” with something in his hand and shouted, “F**k you,” according to the affidavit. Spencer fired at Fosler until his weapon was empty, then jumped on him and pistol-whipped him, the affidavit said. He then called 911.
Fosler’s relatives have never spoken publicly about the case, and a local official said they deserve compassion.
“He (Fosler) had a family that had no clue what he was doing and that hurts them as well,” Staley, the current sheriff, told CNN last month. “It’s a horrible situation.”
CNN’s efforts to reach Fosler’s family members for comment have been unsuccessful.
Spencer is charged with second-degree murder, which in Arkansas carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. He also faces a potential additional penalty for using a firearm, which could increase his sentence if found guilty.
The county prosecuting attorney’s office did not respond to CNN’s repeated requests for comment.
Their daughter is ‘learning to trust herself again’
Spencer’s attorney has said the couple feared their daughter was in grave danger when she left their house with Fosler that night. She was the only witness to the sexual assault charges against Fosler, whose trial was set to begin three months later.
“At that time, she was the only thing standing between him and life in prison,” said Erin Cassinelli, the defense attorney.
After the shooting, the Spencers retreated to their farm to shield their daughter from scrutiny. There, as part of her therapy, she rides an Arabian rescue horse in a sprawling pasture behind their home. Her parents say it’s helped her a lot.
“There’s something about their (horses’) personality,” Aaron Spencer said. “They just know how you’re feeling.”
The couple said their now 15-year-old daughter is slowly rebuilding her sense of safety. “She is learning to trust herself again,” Heather Spencer said.
And two weeks ago, she went to her first high school dance.
“When your child has walked through significant trauma, it’s hard to picture a day when life will ever feel ‘normal’ again,” Heather Spencer later posted on Facebook. “Milestones that used to feel simple suddenly carry so much more weight. They take longer to reach, and they come with a different kind of anxiety, the kind born from a nervous system that has learned the world isn’t always safe.”
“We were just grateful she got to be a regular teenager for a night,” she added.
Some days, however, are better than others.
“Things can be a little bit of a roller coaster at times,” Aaron Spencer added. “I think that’s anybody who’s dealt with trauma. She’s doing pretty good though, all things considered.”
The current sheriff questions Spencer’s experience
Spencer’s campaign has focused on the issues surrounding his case, including protecting children from sexual predators. Spencer has condemned the amount of Fosler’s bail, arguing it was too low for someone accused of multiple counts of child abuse.
He describes himself as an outsider whose focus is on transparency, accountability and keeping families safe. Before his daughter’s sexual abuse, he said, he had no interest in politics.
If elected, he said, his goal is to help change a system that he believes failed his family.
Some critics have said Spencer’s bid for sheriff is an attempt to influence his legal outcome. Others have complained that it sensationalizes the local election. A third Republican candidate for sheriff, David Bufford, is also on the ballot.
“It’s hard to just think there’s all this chaos going on at the federal level, and now to have it here at home too, this craziness,” said Ethan Hall, who lives in the nearby town of Ward. “To think you can just take the law into your own hands like that and think you can run for sheriff, it’s just weird to me.”
Spencer acknowledges that his run for office caught a lot of people off-guard but maintains he’s not trying to game the legal system.
“This was not a calculated step,” he said. “I have seen firsthand the failures in law enforcement.”
“We already have stress trying to help our daughter and our family heal while we’re still going through this,” he added. “And to throw a campaign on top of it, now you’re going to be part of the public spotlight. You’re going to have to meet with people … be accountable to people. It’s a lot to learn. But … I’m excited to be able to do something for my community, for my family.”
Spencer, who served in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and deployed to Iraq as a paratrooper in the late 2000s, said the sheriff’s job is to be a leader. “It is to manage facilities and equipment. It’s to lead people. I’ve done that in the military. I have done that in the private sector,” he said.
His supporters say he offers a long‑needed fresh perspective. But Staley, the incumbent sheriff, has questioned his lack of law enforcement experience.
“You can’t learn this job on the fly. It’s not on-the-job training,” he told CNN last month. “I’ve worked hard for 25 years … being a sheriff isn’t just about blue lights and going out and putting handcuffs on people. It’s about working the case files, having a team, leading that team, running the jail.”
Asked what he thinks about some people calling Spencer a hero for defending his daughter, Staley said, “I don’t know that hero would be the word I use … I think that he did some things that he has to answer for.”
In the days after the 2024 shooting, Staley stated that the decision to charge Spencer rested with prosecutors and that he was not advocating for any specific charge.
But, last month, he said, “If one of our deputies had got behind that vehicle, hit the vehicle, got out and just started shooting at somebody, with the evidence that we have they would be in the same position.”
A new trial date is expected to be set soon
Almost a year and a half after the fatal shooting, the Spencers are still awaiting a new trial date.
His trial, originally scheduled for late January in Lonoke County, was postponed earlier this year after the Arkansas Supreme Court recused the original judge. A retired judge has since been appointed to take over the case, but the next steps remain unclear.
If Spencer wins the election but is found guilty, the county’s Republicans would need to pick a new nominee, Staley said.
Meanwhile, the family awaits Tuesday’s primary election results that will help shape what comes next. After that, there’s a March 18 hearing to select a new trial date.
Spencer said he thinks about every potential legal outcome.
“I’m as prepared as anyone can be. I just take it day by day,” he said. “I did what any good father would do — just save and protect their child. That’s going to definitely show in our strong legal defense.”