Dad Hunts Down & Executes Daughter's Rapist, Faces Murder Charge| Crime Alert 8PM 09.05.2025

Is it a case of a father's fury or a righteous act?  A dad hunts down & shoots his teen daughter's accused rapist in a roadside clash...after the family says he kidnapped her. 

An innocent dad is finally freed after 3-decades behind bars for a crime he did not commit. The star witness in the case, has now confessed to the brutal crime. Plus, Amanda Knox up to some funny business...but it's no laughing matter to some! Jennifer Gould reports.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Alart hourly update, breaking crime news Now. I'm Jennifer Gould.
In a terrifying clash of a father's rage and a
monster's depravity, an Arkansas man is accused of shooting and
killing his fourteen year old daughter's alleged rapist after finding
the teen in the suspects car. The lethal encounter followed

(00:22):
a relentless pursuit on a rural highway, ending with a
violent road side execution that has sparked debate over vigilanteism
and justice. The father, Aaron Spencer, thirty seven, a former
Army soldier, now faces second degree murder charges, even as
his wife insists he was acting as any parent would

(00:46):
to save their child. Lonoke County Sheriff Jay Staley posted
this on the department's Facebook page.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
I have not, nor will I advocate for any specific charge.
This is a tragic situation and my thoughts and prayers
are with all those.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
In the harrowing ordeal began in July of twenty twenty
four when the team was allegedly targeted, groomed, and raped
by sixty seven year old Michael Fossler, a boyfriend of
a family friend. Fossler was charged and arrested for rape
and internet stalking, and despite the charges, he was released

(01:20):
on a fifty thousand dollars bond with a no contact order.
Months later, though, at midnight on October eighth, the parents
found that their daughter was gone. After a frantic nine
one one call, they took matters into their own hands,
driving through the night until they spotted Fossler's vehicle with
their daughter in the passenger seat. According to court documents,

(01:43):
Aaron Spencer made a U turn and relentlessly pursued Fossler,
eventually rear ending his car and forcing it off the road.
The father told police he saw his daughter trying to
exit the car, but Fossler grabbed her. He yelled for
Fossler to get out, but the older man allegedly lunged
towards him with something in his hand while screaming an expletive.

(02:06):
In that moment, the former soldier emptied his gun into
Fossler until he ran out of bullets. Then, in a
savage frenzy, he jumped on the man and pistol whipped him.
Immediately after, a breathless Aaron Spencer called nine one one,
telling the dispatcher the kidnapper was quote dead on the
side of the road end quote, adding that he quote

(02:29):
had no choice end quote but to shoot him. He
was initially charged with first degree murder, but Lono County
prosecutors later reduced the charge to second His wife, Heather,
has staunchly defended her husband. She insists Aaron is a
peaceful person who does not deserve to be treated as
a criminal, and says he is in fact a hero.

(02:52):
The Spencer's case has captured the nation's attention, with some
praising Aaron's actions, while others argue the parents should have
let police handle the situation. Various petitions demanding charges against
Aaron b dropped have been signed by over thirty five
thousand people. Aaron Spencer's trial is set for January of

(03:13):
twenty twenty six. More Prime in Justice news after this.
For twenty seven agonizing years, Brian Hooper Senior languished in
a Minnesota prison, a man convicted of a savage murder
he did not commit. His freedom came not from a

(03:34):
new DNA test or a fresh alibi, but from the
confession of the very person who put him behind bars.
On September fourth, the fifty four year old father walked
out of Stillwater Correctional Facility a freeman after the prosecution's
star witness, Chileika Young, admitted she was the one who

(03:56):
brutally murdered and Presniak back in nineteen ninety eight, shattering
a conviction built on a foundation of lies and tainted testimony.
Hooper addressed the media after his release.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Hopefully good things happen from here. I mean, that's what I'm.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
Looking for it.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
So what's the next story event, Spend time with my
family as much time as thoughts to us. That's you
first and foremost. What comes after that to be continued.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
The crime was horrific. In April of nineteen ninety eight,
the body of seventy seven year old Ann Presniak was
found in her Minneapolis apartment, grotesquely bound with garbage bags
and Christmas lights inside a cardboard box. Her death was
ruled asphyxiation at the time. Hooper, who admitted to being
in the apartment and whose fingerprints were found on unrelated items,

(04:49):
was convicted of premeditated murder, felony, murder during burglary, and kidnapping.
He received three concurrent life sentences. His fate hinged on
the testimony of Schleka Young, then twenty three, who claimed
Hooper forced her to act as a lookout and assist
in the crime, a story she now admits was entirely fabricated.

(05:11):
Young was not the only one. Four other witnesses later
exposed for receiving incentives from prosecutors also falsely pointed the
finger at Hooper. The bombshell dropped on July nineteenth, when Young,
now fifty and serving an eight year sentence for aggravated
assault in a Georgia prison, penned a remarkable seven page confession, saying, quote,

(05:35):
I can't live with an innocent man in prison for
what I did end quote. She credited sobriety and a
newfound faith for her change of heart. She didn't stop there,
doubling down on her confession in recorded calls with investigators
and even her own family. Her admission was further corroborated
by fingerprints found on tape at the crime scene that

(05:55):
investigators determined were hers. Hennepin count attorney Mary Moriarty, working
with the Great North Innocence Project, moved to overturn Hooper's conviction.
On September third, the judge declared the case quote tainted
by false evidence end quote, paving the way for Hooper's
immediate release. The case is now back with Minneapolis police

(06:19):
for further investigation. Young is expected to be released from
prison on the unrelated charges in about four years. She
has not yet been charged in Presniak's murder. And finally,
Amanda Knox is back on the spotlight. But this time
it is no laughing matter to some. The woman at
the center of a shocking international murder case is now

(06:42):
cracking jokes on the stand up stage, telling a packed
house that being a mom is tougher than serving four
years in an Italian prison for a crime she was
ultimately acquitted of. She posted some of her act on
X take a listen now rough when.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
You know you know right right? It really wasn't that
long ago that I was trapped in a dark day room,
surrounded by a gentleness and now.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
The jokes landed at the Tacoma Comedy Club in Washington,
where Knox, then known as Foxy Knoxy, now a mom
of one, took aim at her own past. She equipped
that her daughter has a favorite game called Mommy Goes
to Italy, which involves the kid clutching playground bars and
screaming let me Out. The audacious material is part of

(07:43):
her new routine, which also compares the four years spent
in jail to the four years she spent producing a
HULO show about her ordeal and her four years of motherhood.
It's unclear if Knox sees her life as a punchline,
but from the laughter of the audience and she's slated.
For the latest crime and justice news. Follow the Crime

(08:04):
Alert hourly update on your favorite podcast app with this
Crime Alert. I'm Jennifer Gould.