An Arkansas sheriff’s candidate who was alleged to have killed his teenaged daughter’s sexual abuser says he is focused on “family and getting back to a normal life” after the dismissal of a murder charge filed against him.

“I’m grateful this chapter is closed,” Aaron Spencer also said in a statement after the dismissal on Thursday.

Spencer’s statement added that he was “more committed … than ever” to the political race he is favored to win – and which he signed up for in the throes of a legal situation that captured attention well beyond his community of Lonoke county.

The US army combat veteran, 37, was charged with second-degree murder in the 8 October 2024 shooting death of Michael Fosler, 67, in Lonoke.

On the day of the killing, Spencer woke up at about 1am to find that his daughter – then 13 – was missing from her bedroom, and went searching for her in his truck. He ultimately found her in the passenger seat of a truck being driven by Fosler.

Spencer eventually forced Fosler’s vehicle off the highway. The men had an altercation; Spencer then shot Fosler and called first responders, records have stated.

Fosler at the time had been released on a $50,000 bond while faced with more than 40 criminal charges, including sexual assault, sexual indecency with a child, possession of child abuse imagery and internet stalking of a child. Spencer’s daughter was the sole witness connected to Fosler’s charges.

Prosecutors nonetheless charged Spencer with intentionally and illegally murdering Fosler, contending that the father could have summoned law enforcement rather than chasing the other man and otherwise taking things into his own hands.

Spencer pleaded not guilty. Though he never denied fatally shooting Fosler, he maintained that his actions were legally taken to protect his daughter from a predator.

An Arkansas state circuit court judge on Thursday dismissed the case against Spencer after authorities lost a dashboard camera memory card in Fosler’s truck that may have contained video of the deadly shooting. Judge Ralph Wilson said the loss of that evidence “was so egregious that dismissal of this case is warranted” – while also citing its “unique, specific and particular facts and circumstances”.

Meanwhile, saying he was motivated by his experience within the criminal justice system, Spencer moved to seek the office of sheriff in Lonoke county.

He defeated the incumbent Republican sheriff John Staley – who oversaw Spencer’s arrest – in a closed party primary in March.

That advanced Spencer to a November election in a heavily Republican county against Democratic sheriff’s candidate Brian Mitchell Sr.

The statement attributed to Spencer after the dismissal of the murder charge addressed those who supported him while the case against him was pending. “I want to thank the people … who stood with us when it would have been easier to look the other way,” the statement said.

Spencer’s statement also said that “there’s still work to do in Lonoke”.

“Together,” the statement continued, “we can build a safer and stronger … county.”

Marina Dunbar contributed reporting