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A 24-year-old Arkansas police officer proposed to the love of his life just hours before making the ultimate sacrifice — drowning while trying to save her from a raging river.
Officer Fred Marsh of the Rogers Police Department had just asked his girlfriend, Hailey, to marry him Saturday morning before the couple headed out canoeing with friends on Missouri’s Elk River.
“He proposed to my daughter on the day he passed away, early that morning, and he made her his fiancée,” the fiancée’s mother Sheryl Padgett told 40/29.
The joyful celebration quickly turned into heartbreak when Hailey entered the river and began struggling against the powerful current.
Marsh and a fellow Rogers police officer immediately jumped into the water and managed to pull her to safety. But in a cruel twist, Marsh was swept away by the fast-moving current and never resurfaced.
The young couple had been together for three years.
Padgett said she had formed a close bond with Marsh after the two connected over devastating personal losses.
“I lost my only son, four years ago, to a fatal accident in my hometown so we instantly made a connection and a bond. I called him son, and he called me mama,” she also added.
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On Monday, a motorcade carrying Marsh’s body traveled through Northwest Arkansas as members of the community lined the route to pay tribute to the fallen officer.
Funeral arrangements are being handled by Marsh’s family, who expect a large turnout of officers, former classmates and childhood friends from across the state, according to Padgett.
Marsh graduated from the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy in April and was serving his first year with the RPD.
He also played college baseball at Eccelsia College, where one of his teammates described him as a “God-fearing man” and a teammate that was “there for everybody.”
A GoFundMe has been created by Hailey’s sister to support her through the loss of her fiancé.
“Due to this sudden loss, it has left Hailey in overwhelming need. With a new lease, bills, and more unforseen expenses, it is now left all on her shoulders,” the sister wrote.
