{"id":4865,"date":"2025-10-15T13:38:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T13:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/4865\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T13:38:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T13:38:17","slug":"family-mourns-mothers-death-as-arlington-police-review-ride-given-to-murder-suspect-she-was-an-amazing-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/4865\/","title":{"rendered":"Family mourns mother’s death as Arlington police review ride given to murder suspect: “She was an amazing woman”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ashton Spears is mourning his mother, who was found stabbed to death<\/a> just days after Arlington police gave her estranged husband \u2014 Ashton’s father, now accused of murdering her \u2014 a ride to the home he was legally barred from. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old wants people to remember 53-year-old Mary Spears not for how she died, but for how she lived: as a kind, loving mother and an extraordinary person.<\/p>\n

As his family grieves, Arlington police are investigating how department policies may have contributed to the tragedy \u2014 and taking steps to ensure it never happens again.<\/p>\n

Ring video shows earlier threat<\/p>\n

Ashton Spears shared Ring camera footage<\/a> with CBS News Texas showing the Wednesday, Sept. 17, incident that police say led to his father, Frederick Spears, initially being charged with aggravated assault-family violence.<\/p>\n

The video shows Frederick Spears holding a knife and threatening him.<\/p>\n

He said his father has a long history of violence.<\/p>\n

“You have to walk on eggshells with him. You don’t want to make him mad,” he told CBS News Texas.<\/p>\n

\"knife.png<\/p>\n

Mary Spears Family<\/p>\n

At that time, he said he told his mother he was tired of being pushed around. <\/p>\n

“I was like, you know, ‘Mom, I’m tired of him pushing me around and trying to terrify me,'” he said. “And she was like, ‘Please, I don’t want him to hear us’ – and he came running out of my mom’s room and he was just cursing, screaming, and yelling.”<\/p>\n

Ring camera footage captured what happened next.<\/p>\n

“My mom, she’s like, ‘Ashton, he has knives,’ and that’s when I realized he had two knives. He had one in each hand,” he said.<\/p>\n

Protective order issued after arrest<\/p>\n

Frederick Spears bonded out the next day, Thursday, Sept. 18, and was under an emergency protective order barring contact with Mary Spears and her family.<\/p>\n

Police said he requested a ride to retrieve his vehicle from Mary Spears’ home, where he was legally banned from being, and an Arlington officer drove him there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“People need to know about that, and you know we are going to take legal action, we are going to sue them,” Ashton Spears said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Investigators said he was then told to leave after getting into another argument with relatives.<\/p>\n

\"dawnfamilyphoto.png<\/p>\n

Mary Spears Family<\/p>\n

Victim found stabbed in backyard<\/p>\n

Days later, on Monday, Sept. 22, Mary Spears was found unresponsive in her backyard with multiple stab wounds. She was later pronounced dead at the hospital.<\/p>\n

“She was just staring straight, and she had a towel over her neck, and that’s what really hurts my feelings,” Ashton Spears said. “As far as I know, she was out there struggling trying to stop the blood.” \u00a0<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Sept. 23, Frederick Spears was located by Arlington police, Grand Prairie police, and U.S. Marshals in the 1600 block of North Davis Drive.<\/p>\n

As officers approached, he began stabbing himself with a knife. Officers used tasers, less lethal rounds, and a K-9 to subdue him. He was hospitalized and is recovering, according to police.<\/p>\n

Murder charge and possible review<\/p>\n

Frederick Spears is now charged with murder. Police have not said whether additional charges will be filed following the arrest.<\/p>\n

Department launches internal investigation<\/p>\n

As a result, the Arlington Police Department has initiated a comprehensive internal review to assess whether adjustments to its policies and procedures are necessary “to ensure this does not happen again.”<\/p>\n

“The department acknowledges that the officers should not have arranged transportation back to the home,” Arlington police said in a news release.<\/p>\n

\"maryspears.png<\/p>\n

Mary Spears Family<\/p>\n

Son chooses forgiveness<\/p>\n

Despite the trauma, Ashton Spears said he is choosing to forgive his father.<\/p>\n

“I wouldn’t wish this upon anyone; I wouldn’t even wish it upon him,” he said. “I don’t want to do anything that would jeopardize me going to heaven \u2014 the only way I will get to see my mom again.”<\/p>\n

He said he’s holding onto her love and kindness.<\/p>\n

“She was an amazing woman,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ashton Spears is mourning his mother, who was found stabbed to death just days after Arlington police gave…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151,430,27],"class_list":{"0":"post-4865","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arlington","8":"tag-arlington","9":"tag-arlington-headlines","10":"tag-arlington-news","11":"tag-north-texas","12":"tag-texas"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}