An Arkansas father who killed his teenage daughter’s alleged rapist won the Republican primary for Lonoke County Sheriff on Tuesday — as he awaits trial for second-degree murder charges.
Aaron Spencer won 53.53% of the vote against two challengers in the primary, according to the Arkansas Secretary of State’s website. President Donald Trump won Lonoke County, a predominately suburban county in the Little Rock metropolitan area, by over 50% in the 2016, 2020 and 2024 presidential elections.
The state filed charges against Spencer in October 2024, accusing him of the second-degree murder of 67-year-old Michael Fosler, who had been charged with multiple sexual crimes against Spencer’s daughter, then 13. At the time the father fatally shot Fosler, the alleged rapist was out on bond, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Spencer announced his campaign for sheriff a year later in October 2025, stating that he saw the failures of the justice system “firsthand.”
“Through my own fight for justice, I have seen firsthand the failures in law enforcement and in our circuit court,” Spencer said in his announcement video posted to Facebook. “And I refuse to stand by while others face these same failures.”
Spencer’s campaign website states that he “fully disputes the charges against him,” and is running to “restore trust in law enforcement” and ensure that “no family in Lonoke County ever faces the same failures his family did.
According to court documents, Spencer found a “hoodie on a stuffed animal” in his daughter’s bed. Spencer found Fosler’s truck with his daughter inside and forced the truck off the highway, where the two entered “an altercation.” Spencer later called 911 “to report that he had shot Fosler.”
Arkansas state court records show that Fosler faced 43 felony counts of sexual offenses against Spencer’s daughter including internet stalking of a child, fourth-degree sexual assault and sexual indecency with a child.
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