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First Watch: Vigilante Father Kills Daughter’s Alleged Rapist, Then Runs for Office
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Hi, it's Katie. I'm excited to let you know that you can watch video episodes of Crime House Daily Night Watch on Spotify. It's the same gripping true crime stories you've been getting here now with added videos and photos that give you even more depth and detail into each case. Search Night Watch on Spotify and hit follow so you never miss an episode.
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This is Crime House.
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Today we have two pretty wild cases for you, both involving fathers whose actions had major impacts on their daughters lives. First, I'll tell you about Aaron Spencer, the father who rushed to his 13 year old daughter's aid after she was kidnapped by a man accused of sexually assaulting. In the process, Aaron killed the other man and proceeded to do something nobody expected. Then I'll get into the case of Christopher Schultz, a 37 year old father of three whose two year old daughter died after he left her in triple digit heat for hours. And you won't believe the two new developments in this case. Let's get into it.
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In the ongoing legal saga of Aaron Spencer, the man charged with killing an accused sex offender he found in a car with his 14 year old daughter.
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Spencer has pleaded not guilty, saying he acted to protect his child. He's currently out on bond while awaiting his murder trial set for early next year. Spencer announced his candidacy for Lonoke County Sheriff earlier this month. He tells voters he aims to bring trust, accountability and safety to the community. Hi, I'm Katie Ring, a true crime analyst, self defense instructor and fierce advocate for victims. And this is Crime House Daily, your essential true crime companion. Every weekday morning and night here at Crime House Daily, we dig into the true crime stories making headlines right now, where justice is unfolding, arrests are happening, and new evidence is emerging. Every morning, First Watch gets you up to speed on today's biggest cases. Every night, Night Watch takes you deeper. If you want to follow a case from the first 911 call to the final verdict, this is the place for you. Follow Crime House Daily Wherever you get your podcasts, leave a review and for ad free listening, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. For video, check out our YouTube channel Rimehouse Daily. This episode discusses active criminal cases and breaking news. The information we share is based on what's publicly available at the time of recording and may change as new evidence comes to light. We aim to inform, not to decide guilt or innocence, so everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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Today's first case is out of Lanoque County, Arkansas. It involves a dad who murdered his daughter's rapist and acted in a way you would never expect after a murder charge. In the wake of killing someone, most people will try and draw as little attention as possible. They'll dispose of evidence, keep their mouth shut and generally lay low for a little while. But the man at the center of this case isn't doing any of that. Aaron Spencer insists that he's done nothing wrong, but not because he denies killing anyone. It's because he believes the man he killed sexually abused his 13 year old daughter. And now Erin is running for sheriff. Let's talk about what got us here. Just past 1am on October 8, 2024, Aaron Spencer and his wife Heather wake up to their dog barking. The Spencers live on a farm in Cabot, Arkansas, a quiet city of about 27,000 people. It's not the kind of place with a lot going on late at night, so something must have had the dog spooked. Aaron is immediately worried and he has good reason to be. He decides to go check in on his 13 year old daughter and make sure everything is okay. But when he opens the door, she is nowhere to be seen. Erin and Heather panic. They're positive that someone has taken their daughter and call 911 to report her missing. And Aaron is pretty sure he knows who took her. 67 year old Michael Fossler. A few months earlier in July 2024, Fossler had been arrested and charged on 43 counts including sexual assault of a minor and Internet stalking of a child. And the child in question here is the Spencer's daughter. Despite the extensive list of alleged crimes, Fossler is out on bond. He's been given a no contact order on the Spencer's daughter, but Aaron is terrified that Fossler has violated it and has taken his crimes to a new height. The Spencer's daughter will be playing a crucial role in Fossler's upcoming trial and as the only witness to his alleged abuse, her testimony could put Fossler in prison for life. Aaron is afraid that Fossler has kidnapped her to stop her from testifying and that he could go to extreme lengths to prevent that from happening. Aaron's daughter's life could be in danger, and he's not waiting around for the police to do something about it. Aaron is an army veteran who served in Iraq as a paratrooper, so he knows how to handle things on his own. According to Aaron, here's what happened next. He jumps into his truck and speeds down the road, and he spots Fossler's white Ford F150 up ahead. Aaron pulls up right behind Fossler and is honking his horn and flashing his brights and to get him to pull over. But Fossler ignores him. Aaron's not going to let him get away, though. When they arrive at an intersection, Aaron rams Fossler's truck and sends him into a ditch. Then Aaron jumps out of his truck armed with a Glock 19 Gen 4 pistol. He yells at Fossler to come out and lay down in the ditch. Aaron can see that his daughter is trying to get out of the F150, but Fossler grabs her and stops her from leaving. Then he climbs out of the pickup himself. He's holding onto something in his hand, but in the darkness, Aaron can't tell what it is. All of a sudden, Fossler curses at Aaron and lunges at him. That's when Spencer shoots Fossler in the arms, chest and abdomen before jumping on top of him and pistol whipping him. Now that Aaron knows Fossler's not getting up, he runs to the F150 and gets his daughter into his own truck. Once he makes sure she's safe, Aaron calls 911 for the second time that night. He tells the dispatcher that he found his daughter and that the man who had kidnapped her is dead on the side of the road. Officers rush to the scene and take Aaron into custody on a preliminary charge of first degree murder. But even with this serious accusation, Aaron makes bail the next morning on a $150,000 bond. Aaron pleads not guilty, but makes absolutely no denial about shooting Fossler. He believes his actions were justified, and he's not backing down from that. Even when the charges are downgraded to second degree murder, which still entails a reckless disregard for human life, but doesn't include premeditation, Aaron stands his ground. His trial is scheduled for early 2020. 6. But as the trial approaches, Aaron does something nobody expects.
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After killing his daughter's alleged abuser, Aaron Spencer is charged with second degree murder. But these charges don't make him an outcast in his Arkansas community. Instead, some think he's a hero. A lot of people don't trust law enforcement in Lanoque County. Many of the Spencer's neighbors see Aaron as someone who stood up and took a stand where the police failed. But the prosecution was determined to keep moving forward with the case. And in December 2024, they get a judge to issue a gag order preventing anyone involved from talking about it, including Aaron. So he appeals the decision to the Arkansas Supreme Court. Aaron's sister in law sets up a fund to support the Spencers as they navigate Erin's legal situation. As of this recording, she's raised over $92,000 and a petition calling for the murder charges to be dropped has gotten more than 360,000 signatures. And in May of 2025, the Arkansas Supreme Court makes its ruling in Aaron's favor. They strike down the gag order for being too broad and overly vague. So while this means that his case will still move forward, Aaron is allowed to talk about it again. He takes full advantage of that freedom. And on October 10, 2025, Aaron posts a video on his Facebook announcing that he's running for sheriff of Lanoque County.
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Let's check it out 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. That's why I'm announcing my candidacy to run for Loanoke County Sheriff.
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It's simple and straight to the point. Aaron acknowledges what he's gone through, and it's given him a unique experience with the justice system. Aaron believes the justice system is failing people constantly, and he doesn't want other families to have to go through what he has, which is why he wants to run for sheriff. It'll be interesting to see how his charges impact his campaign. While there's a lot of quiet support for him in the community, there's no guarantee that he'll win. He has to get through a primary election in March 2026 first, if he even makes it that far. Aaron's trial is set to take place about six weeks, weeks before the primary. If he's convicted, he understandably won't be eligible to run, and Aaron's announcement could complicate that even further. Criminal defense attorney John Wesley hall, who's not affiliated with the case, told CNN that if Aaron was his client, he would advise against this. Hall thinks that this campaign will come up in cross examination if Aaron takes the stand. If he doesn't hold up under scrutiny, it could call his motives and character into question. Hall also thinks that all of the publicity could work against Aaron if the judge thinks the jury pool has been tainted, which could lead to a trial being moved to a different county. On the other side of it, there's the question of Aaron running against John Staley, the sheriff whose officers arrested him, and whether Staley might want to take retribution against him. For his part, Staley has stated that he personally hasn't asked for any specific charges to be brought against Aaron, and he's vowed to stay out of the trial as much as possible. Staley says he'll be leaving all decisions in the hands of the prosecutors and won't do any jockeying behind the scenes. As of this recording, Aaron's next court appearance is scheduled for December 2025, and his trial is slated to start in January. We'll be keeping a close eye on this case to see if the campaign for sheriff has any impact on the proceedings and if the jury decides that Aaron's actions were justified or if this is simply just murder. Let us know what you think about this one. There's a lot to consider here. We'll be monitoring for any major updates, and we'll be sure to Bring them here to you. Our next case is out of Arizona and also involves a father and his child. But this time, instead of coming to his daughter's rescue, Christopher Schulz is accused of causing her death. And on October 15, a judge ruled that prosecutors couldn't tell the jury in his trial some key information that casts serious doubts on his character. His trial was set to begin on October 27, but just five days before it was set to begin, there was an unexpected twist and Christopher accepted a plea deal. But that's not all. Last week, on November 5th, the day Christopher was expected to turn himself in to await sentencing, Christopher was found dead. Obviously, there's a lot of twists and turns in this case, so let's unpack how we got here. Around 12:30pm on July 9, 2024, 37 year old Christopher Schultz pulls into his driveway after running errands with his youngest daughter, 2 year old Parker. Christopher and his wife Erica have two other daughters who are 6 and 9 at the time. But today it was just him and Parker who went out together. Even for Arizona, this summer day is excessively hot with temperatures rising over 110 degrees Fahrenheit. But when they get home, Parker is asleep and Christopher says he doesn't want to wake her up, so he decides to leave her in the hot car with the air conditioning blasting while he goes inside to put away groceries. He gets distracted though, and Christopher fires up his PlayStation, cracks a drink and begins playing video games. Allegedly, it has also just come out that he was also looking at porn, all while his two year old daughter Parker is still in the car outside in the driveway. Three hours go by and Christopher still doesn't go out to get her. Somehow it just slipped his mind. I understand as a parent, things can slip your mind, but leaving a child in a burning hot car for three hours is absolutely unforgivable. And when Christopher's wife, Dr. Erica Schultz, gets home at 4pm, she's furious and terrified because leaving their daughter for that long all by herself is bad enough. But here's what makes it even worse. Christopher's car automatically shuts off after a half hour of idling, which means little Parker has been stuck in what's basically an oven for hours. Erica finds Parker in the car and immediately calls 911. She uses her medical training and gives her little girl CPR until first responders arrive and rush her to the hospital. But there's no saving her and tragically, Parker dies. This is the ultimate nightmare for any parent and for Christopher, it's about to get a lot worse because when police arrive at the Schulz house, they tell him the incident is being treated as a crime scene and Christopher is being looked at for murder.
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His two other daughters tell investigators that their father would repeatedly leave them in the car unattended. And they don't just have to take the girl's word for it because as Parker was being rushed to the hospital, Christopher's wife Erica sent him a string of texts. In one of them, Erica tells her husband, quote, I told you to stop leaving them in the car. How many times have I told you? Which means not only has Christopher done this before, he's forgotten his girl so many times, it has become a persistent issue. For his part, Christopher seems to realize what a horrible thing he's done. In a text back to Erica, he says, I killed our baby. This can't be real. Not long after, the state of Arizona reaches the same conclusion. They arrest Christopher. On July 12, 2024, three days after his daughter's death, Christopher is facing two charges, first degree murder and intentional child abuse. However, prosecutors offer him a plea deal. They'll drop the child abuse charges if he's willing to plead guilty to a lesser charge of second degree murder. This would Mean, he admits that he's responsible for killing Parker, but it wasn't premeditated, which would line up with his reaction to her death. Unless he was putting on a show. Either way, the deal would have carried a sentence of 10 to 25 years in prison. But Christopher rejects the prosecution's offer. Instead, he pleads not guilty. He's going to fight the charges, even though he's facing life in prison or even the death penalty. And the craziest part is that Christopher's wife is supporting him. At a court hearing shortly after his arrest, Erica begs the judge to release him. She says, quote, I'm just asking you to allow him to come home to us so that we can all start the grieving process so that he can bury our daughter with us. Maybe he should have thought about that before he left his daughter in 100 plus degree weather in a burning hot car. But the judge agrees. And not only that, she also allows them to go on vacation to Hawaii together. I cannot even fathom this decision. After a man kills his child with neglect and the judge allows him to go on vacation in Hawaii. It just doesn't make sense to me. The case is set to go on trial on October 27, 2025. And just a couple weeks before then, on October 15, the judge hands Christopher another glimmer of hope. The prosecution wants to introduce evidence of Christopher's alleged porn search, which would raise some character issues, but the judge won't allow it. At this point, I'm starting to question whether the judge and this husband are sleeping together because these decisions are just insane. Or maybe he's just paying her a lot of money. But they are blowing my mind because she says prosecutors can't bring the porn up at all. And neither can any witnesses after this. Christopher's trial looms just a few days away. But on October 22, just three days before it's slated to begin, the Pima County Attorney's office makes a shocking announcement. Christopher has changed his mind and agreed to a plea deal. However, this one is harsher than before. Now Christopher has to agree to plead guilty to second degree murder and intentional or knowing child abuse under circumstance likely to cause death or serious physical injury. And Instead of facing 10 to 25 years behind bars, Christopher will receive 20 to 30 without the possibility of early release. His official sentencing is scheduled for November 21st. This means that at least as far as the state of Arizona is concerned, the case is closed. But on the morning of November 5th, the day Christopher was scheduled to turn himself into custody to await sentencing, another shocking twist happens. He was found dead by Phoenix police and they are treating his death investigation as a suicide. We'll bring you any updates into the investigation of Christopher's death as it unfolds, and we hope that Parker's family can get some closure into the death of their little girl. If you're a parent, I understand it can be tempting to let your child rest in the backseat while you bring in groceries and put them away, but you cannot leave them in there for three hours and turn on a video game or porn. If you are a parent that just feels overwhelmed and you need a second or your brain feels scattered, the CDC recommends techniques like keeping a stuffed animal in the car seat when your child isn't in it, then moving the toy to the front as a reminder when they are. Any little thing can help. We can all get distracted sometimes, but this case shows that when the distraction crosses the border into criminality, innocent people pay the price. What did you think of today's cases? Drop your thoughts and theories in the comments. See you next time. If you haven't already, subscribe to our YouTube channel @Crime House Daily and follow us on social media rimehouse247 for real time updates. Because the pursuit of justice never stops. Foreign Looking for your next Crime House listen? Don't miss Crimes of with Sabrina Diana Roga and Corinne Vien. Crimes of is a weekly series that explores a new theme each season from Crimes of the Paranormal, unsolved murders, mysterious disappearances, and more. Their first season is Crimes of Infamous the true stories behind Hollywood's most iconic horror villains. And coming up next is Crimes of the Paranormal, real life cases where the line between the living and the dead gets seriously blurry. Listen to Crimes of every Tuesday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to your podcasts.