Officer Fred Marsh, 24, proposed to his girlfriend of three years, Hailey Lummus, on the morning of July 18, 2026. She said yes, and the couple set off with friends for a canoe trip on the Elk River near Noel, Missouri, to celebrate.
Later that evening, Hailey entered the water and began struggling against a strong current while trying to make it back to the group. Marsh, a first-year officer with the Rogers Police Department in Arkansas, immediately went in after her along with a fellow officer who was also on the trip.
Together they pushed Hailey to safety. But Marsh himself became caught in the current, grew exhausted, and went under. He did not resurface.
His body was recovered the next morning. He was pronounced d3ad by the McDonald County coroner.
Marsh had graduated from the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy just three months earlier. Colleagues remembered him as selfless and quick to help others, on duty and off. His fiancée’s mother said she had already come to think of him as a son.
He proposed to the love of his life, then gave his life saving her, within the same day