An Arkansas police officer drowned after entering a river to rescue his fiancée just hours after proposing to her.
Fred Marsh, 24, of the Rogers Police Department, entered Missouri’s Elk River on Saturday, July 18, to help another swimmer and did not resurface, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. His fiancée’s mother, Sheryl Padgett, identified the swimmer as her daughter, Hailey.
Marsh’s body was recovered Sunday, and he was pronounced dead after he had proposed to Hailey earlier that morning.
The couple had been together for three years and shared what Padgett described as a loving relationship.
“They had been together for three beautiful years, and they had a very beautiful, loving relationship,” Padgett told KHBS. “Even though legally he was not my son-in-law, he will forever be my son.”
The couple were canoeing with another pair on the river near Noel, Missouri, when Hailey entered the water and began struggling against the current while attempting to return to the boat.
Marsh and another Rogers police officer who was with the group jumped into the river to help her, Padgett said. They were able to get Hailey to safety, but Marsh became exhausted and went underwater. He never resurfaced, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
“He saw the love of his life in distress, and he was going to help his friend and do what a good human would do,” Padgett said. “He gave his life helping someone else.”
Padgett described Marsh as loving, hardworking and deeply guided by his Christian faith. She said he was someone who never hesitated when others needed help.
“There’s nothing he wouldn’t do for anyone,” she said. “You didn’t have to tell him. You didn’t have to beg him. He was willing to jump in and do whatever it took to help someone.”
Padgett said she had lost her only son in a fatal accident four years earlier and began calling Marsh her son soon after he started dating her daughter.
“We instantly made a connection and a bond,” she said. “I called him son, and he called me mama.”
A motorcade escorted Marsh’s body through Northwest Arkansas on Monday as community members lined the route to pay tribute. Padgett said the outpouring of support from law enforcement and residents reflected the impact Marsh had on those around him.
“They made it very clear that Fred was not just their family, but so was my daughter, my family and, even more importantly, Fred’s family,” Padgett said.
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