Inset: Frederick Spears (Arlington police). Background: Home in Arlington, Texas, where Spears allegedly killed his estranged wife (WFAA).
A 57-year-old man in Texas will spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing his estranged wife, attacking her outside her home where he repeatedly stabbed the victim and left her body for her son to find.
A Tarrant County jury needed just 17 minutes of deliberation Wednesday to find Frederick Garland Spears, 57, guilty of capital murder in the September 2025 killing of his 53-year-old wife, Mary Spears. The judge immediately imposed the mandatory sentence of life in a state correctional facility without the possibility of parole, authorities announced.
"She was slaughtered and left for dead," Assistant District Attorney Allenna Bangs said in a statement following the verdict.
According to a press release from the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office, Frederick Spears had been arrested days before his wife's murder after he allegedly threatened a family member with two kitchen knives. An emergency protective order issued after his release barred him from going to Mary's home or contacting her and other family members.
But as Law&Crime previously reported, Arlington police made a critical mistake after Frederick Spears bonded out. He went to the public safety center and asked an officer to take him back to Mary Spears' home so he could retrieve his vehicle. An officer arranged the ride despite the protective order.
Frederick Spears got into an argument with family members after arriving, and the officer ordered him to leave and stay away from the family.
Instead, prosecutors said, Frederick Spears went out and purchased what Assistant District Attorney Chase Payne referred to as a "murder kit" — which included a knife and a saw — before returning to Mary Spears' home early Sept. 22, 2025.
He waited in the backyard near the side of the house until Mary Spears came out. When she saw her estranged husband, prosecutors said, she likely asked: "What took you so long?" Frederick Spears then attacked, repeatedly stabbing her and "pushing her to the ground before plunging the knife into her heart."
Mary Spears' son later found her motionless body in her backyard.
Though his wife weighed just 83 pounds, prosecutors said there was evidence that she attempted to defend herself.
"She tried to fight back," Payne told jurors, adding, "She was unsuccessful."
Prosecutors said the killing came after years of threats from Frederick Spears.
"He made good on the promise he had been making (to Mary) for years," Bangs said during the trial. "He always said, 'I'm going to kill you.'"
After the murder, authorities located Frederick Spears behind a church in Arlington. When officers approached, he began stabbing himself and attempted to stab a police K-9, according to prosecutors.
Officers ultimately subdued him and took him to a hospital for treatment before placing him under arrest.
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