Cause of death, murdred.
Mary was beaten to death by her boyfriend.She was born and raised in the small Delta town of Indianola. She and her family moved to Rankin County when she was a freshman in high school.
She graduated from Northwest Rankin High School in 1997, having been named "Most Beautiful" and playing basketball there until she tore her anterior cruciate ligament in her senior year.After high school, Spencer worked her way through college, earning a business degree in 2003 from Belhaven College.
She loved her cat, Gypsy, and her dog, Hobie, a cross between a Pekingese and a poodle called a peekapoo.She wanted to see the best in him. Because that's the kind of person she is: She sees the best in everyone," said her mother. "She thought with her help, she could make him a better person."
Experts say that is common.
"People in that situation, all they see is that they love the person and they feel that they can change the person," said Wendy Seals, executive director of Angel Wings, a Jackson shelter for battered women. Too often, Seals said, what happens is exactly what police say happened to Spencer: The victim is killed by the man she loves.
George Bell III, pleaded guilty in February to the Sept. 10, 2007, attack in which investigators say he kidnapped, sexually assaulted and beat and strangled his girlfriend.He was sentenced to life in prison without parole for capital murder and 30 years for kidnapping.
Rankin Ledger
Mary Heather Spencer, 28, died Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007, in Jackson. Funeral services were Sept. 14 at the Ott & Lee Funeral Home Chapel in Brandon with burial in Floral Hills Memory Gardens in Pearl. Minister Danny Dodd officiated.
Heather was a member of Meadowbrook Church of Christ in Jackson. She graduated from Belhaven College with a business degree.
Heather loved music and sports. She enjoyed making jewelry, arranging flowers and cooking for friends and family. Heather enjoyed living life to the fullest.
She is survived by her mother, Linda Francomb and stepfather Philip of Cedar, Mich.; father, Dan Spencer of Byram; brother, Xan Spencer of Raleigh, N.C.; grandparents, Jay and Mary Henley of Brandon and Carl and Vera Spencer of Byram; and many uncles, aunts, cousins and friends.
Pallbearers were Michael Phillips, Bert Phillips, Hunter Henley, Jay Herrington, Nate West and John O'Levary.
Mary was beaten to death by her boyfriend.She was born and raised in the small Delta town of Indianola. She and her family moved to Rankin County when she was a freshman in high school.
She graduated from Northwest Rankin High School in 1997, having been named "Most Beautiful" and playing basketball there until she tore her anterior cruciate ligament in her senior year.After high school, Spencer worked her way through college, earning a business degree in 2003 from Belhaven College.
She loved her cat, Gypsy, and her dog, Hobie, a cross between a Pekingese and a poodle called a peekapoo.She wanted to see the best in him. Because that's the kind of person she is: She sees the best in everyone," said her mother. "She thought with her help, she could make him a better person."
Experts say that is common.
"People in that situation, all they see is that they love the person and they feel that they can change the person," said Wendy Seals, executive director of Angel Wings, a Jackson shelter for battered women. Too often, Seals said, what happens is exactly what police say happened to Spencer: The victim is killed by the man she loves.
George Bell III, pleaded guilty in February to the Sept. 10, 2007, attack in which investigators say he kidnapped, sexually assaulted and beat and strangled his girlfriend.He was sentenced to life in prison without parole for capital murder and 30 years for kidnapping.
Rankin Ledger
Mary Heather Spencer, 28, died Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007, in Jackson. Funeral services were Sept. 14 at the Ott & Lee Funeral Home Chapel in Brandon with burial in Floral Hills Memory Gardens in Pearl. Minister Danny Dodd officiated.
Heather was a member of Meadowbrook Church of Christ in Jackson. She graduated from Belhaven College with a business degree.
Heather loved music and sports. She enjoyed making jewelry, arranging flowers and cooking for friends and family. Heather enjoyed living life to the fullest.
She is survived by her mother, Linda Francomb and stepfather Philip of Cedar, Mich.; father, Dan Spencer of Byram; brother, Xan Spencer of Raleigh, N.C.; grandparents, Jay and Mary Henley of Brandon and Carl and Vera Spencer of Byram; and many uncles, aunts, cousins and friends.
Pallbearers were Michael Phillips, Bert Phillips, Hunter Henley, Jay Herrington, Nate West and John O'Levary.
Cause of death, murdred.
Mary was beaten to death by her boyfriend.She was born and raised in the small Delta town of Indianola. She and her family moved to Rankin County when she was a freshman in high school.
She graduated from Northwest Rankin High School in 1997, having been named "Most Beautiful" and playing basketball there until she tore her anterior cruciate ligament in her senior year.After high school, Spencer worked her way through college, earning a business degree in 2003 from Belhaven College.
She loved her cat, Gypsy, and her dog, Hobie, a cross between a Pekingese and a poodle called a peekapoo.She wanted to see the best in him. Because that's the kind of person she is: She sees the best in everyone," said her mother. "She thought with her help, she could make him a better person."
Experts say that is common.
"People in that situation, all they see is that they love the person and they feel that they can change the person," said Wendy Seals, executive director of Angel Wings, a Jackson shelter for battered women. Too often, Seals said, what happens is exactly what police say happened to Spencer: The victim is killed by the man she loves.
George Bell III, pleaded guilty in February to the Sept. 10, 2007, attack in which investigators say he kidnapped, sexually assaulted and beat and strangled his girlfriend.He was sentenced to life in prison without parole for capital murder and 30 years for kidnapping.
Rankin Ledger
Mary Heather Spencer, 28, died Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007, in Jackson. Funeral services were Sept. 14 at the Ott & Lee Funeral Home Chapel in Brandon with burial in Floral Hills Memory Gardens in Pearl. Minister Danny Dodd officiated.
Heather was a member of Meadowbrook Church of Christ in Jackson. She graduated from Belhaven College with a business degree.
Heather loved music and sports. She enjoyed making jewelry, arranging flowers and cooking for friends and family. Heather enjoyed living life to the fullest.
She is survived by her mother, Linda Francomb and stepfather Philip of Cedar, Mich.; father, Dan Spencer of Byram; brother, Xan Spencer of Raleigh, N.C.; grandparents, Jay and Mary Henley of Brandon and Carl and Vera Spencer of Byram; and many uncles, aunts, cousins and friends.
Pallbearers were Michael Phillips, Bert Phillips, Hunter Henley, Jay Herrington, Nate West and John O'Levary.
Mary was beaten to death by her boyfriend.She was born and raised in the small Delta town of Indianola. She and her family moved to Rankin County when she was a freshman in high school.
She graduated from Northwest Rankin High School in 1997, having been named "Most Beautiful" and playing basketball there until she tore her anterior cruciate ligament in her senior year.After high school, Spencer worked her way through college, earning a business degree in 2003 from Belhaven College.
She loved her cat, Gypsy, and her dog, Hobie, a cross between a Pekingese and a poodle called a peekapoo.She wanted to see the best in him. Because that's the kind of person she is: She sees the best in everyone," said her mother. "She thought with her help, she could make him a better person."
Experts say that is common.
"People in that situation, all they see is that they love the person and they feel that they can change the person," said Wendy Seals, executive director of Angel Wings, a Jackson shelter for battered women. Too often, Seals said, what happens is exactly what police say happened to Spencer: The victim is killed by the man she loves.
George Bell III, pleaded guilty in February to the Sept. 10, 2007, attack in which investigators say he kidnapped, sexually assaulted and beat and strangled his girlfriend.He was sentenced to life in prison without parole for capital murder and 30 years for kidnapping.
Rankin Ledger
Mary Heather Spencer, 28, died Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007, in Jackson. Funeral services were Sept. 14 at the Ott & Lee Funeral Home Chapel in Brandon with burial in Floral Hills Memory Gardens in Pearl. Minister Danny Dodd officiated.
Heather was a member of Meadowbrook Church of Christ in Jackson. She graduated from Belhaven College with a business degree.
Heather loved music and sports. She enjoyed making jewelry, arranging flowers and cooking for friends and family. Heather enjoyed living life to the fullest.
She is survived by her mother, Linda Francomb and stepfather Philip of Cedar, Mich.; father, Dan Spencer of Byram; brother, Xan Spencer of Raleigh, N.C.; grandparents, Jay and Mary Henley of Brandon and Carl and Vera Spencer of Byram; and many uncles, aunts, cousins and friends.
Pallbearers were Michael Phillips, Bert Phillips, Hunter Henley, Jay Herrington, Nate West and John O'Levary.
