At the Law Enforcement Appreciation Luncheon Thursday, Brownwood Police Chief James Fuller presented lifesaving awards to patrolmen James Holdar and Justin Hicks for stopping a suicide attempt.

Fuller also presented commendation medals to detectives Jared Spohn, Aaron Taylor, Scott Ferguson, Peyton Donahoo, Austin Carlisle and Patrick Weaver. The detectives’ work led to the rescue of a teenage girl, and the arrest of a man on an attempted kidnapping charge, following an Amber Alert.

Lifesaving awards

After calling Holdar and Hicks to join him and Assistant Chief Jesse Mares to the platform, Fuller read from a statement:

On November, 2025, Officers Justin Hicks and James Holdar were dispatched to an apartment complex on the south side of town.

They were there simply to conduct a welfare check on a citizen who did not show up for work. When they arrived, they located his vehicle in front of the apartment, and it was cool to the touch. There were, of course, obvious signs that the vehicle had not been moved, but no one would answer the door.

Officer Holdar contacted the apartment manager and the maintenance man so they could come to the complex with them, and (the officers) were able to conduct a welfare inspection of the property. (The officers) made entry into the apartment, and the manager went up the flight of stairs, and she screamed for the officers.

(The officers) went upstairs. They were able to open the door of the room. They went in, and they found a man hanging from his bedroom door.

The officers immediately noticed that he still had color in his skin. He still had a good tone.

Officer Holdar pulled out his knife and began cutting the rope to get him down, and both of them assisted the man to the ground. They were able to find just the faintest of a pulse (and) they applied a chest compression, and he woke up.

He took that deep breath, and he regained consciousness and (the officers) stayed with him. They kept poking him and moving him and helping him and kept him alert, kept him conscious until medical people could arrive, and it is quite literally the actions of these two officers that we have a citizen today that is alive.

And so it is my honor to provide Officer Holdar and Officer Justin Hicks with the Brown Police Department Lifesaving Awards.

Commendation medals

Fuller then called the detectives to the platform, saying the detectives worked “above and beyond” in the rescue of the teenage girl following the Amber Alert.

Fuller read from the statement:

On July 9, 2025, the detectives with the Brownwood Police Department were informed of a disappearance of a teenage female. These detectives, as a team, went to the scene, canvassed the area, and they found just very limited information at that time. All that they knew was that the female was last seen getting into an older model Mercury sedan.

The officers and detectives were able to find that last location where she was seen, and they also located her cell phone and her laptop in a nearby dumpster. These are key pieces of evidence. Our detectives went back to the office with these devices (and) examined digital evidence and located IP addresses.

They located various social media apps, and they located devices and things within those two devices. They located software that allowed this teenage female to communicate with an adult male. This led to five digital search warrants.

Five search warrants were written for companies such as AT&T, T-Mobile, Dish Network. These are not our local stores. They’re writing these subpoenas, these warrants, to companies that have no clue where Brownwood is. But all of this was done within a matter of hours.

They worked fervently. They worked diligently. And they worked emotionally, and it was fast-paced, but it led to a positive ID of a suspect. Through their computer work and the coordination that they had with our local Texas Ranger, they learned that the suspect drove that Mercury sedan from Pennsylvania to Brownwood with the sole purpose of picking up this young, impressionable, unknowing teenage girl and taking her back to Pennsylvania at that moment.

This man was fleeing the Brownwood area as fast as possible. Our detectives gathered such an amount of information that they knew.

They knew everything. They knew him. They knew where he lived. They knew the vehicle that he was driving. And they put out that Amber Alert, and it went throughout the entire state.

Our detectives, displaying all the core values that are embodied by our city’s motto of I Serve and the department’s motto of Service, purposed in their heart to find that victim. Their tireless work in writing these warrants and gathering the digital evidence allowed us to send an Amber Alert, and by the grace of our Lord, a police officer working in the suburbs of Texarkana saw the vehicle, clearly identified it, initiated a traffic stop, put that man under arrest, and he saved that little girl.

That all occurred within hours of one day. This story doesn’t happen nationally. This just simply does not happen.

But at the Brownwood Police Department, it happened. The victim was recovered in good health. She was returned home, and the suspect, he’s still in jail. So it’s a great honor for me to present these detectives the Brownwood Police Department Commendation Medal for outstanding service to our department and to our community.

Accolades for Detective Taylor

Fuller asked Taylor to remain on the platform and said, “Aaron Taylor has been employed with the Brownwood Police Department, a police officer for over 21 years. And Aaron Taylor is the reason we have the forensic tools capable of saving that young girl. Aaron Taylor has propelled our forensics to a level that’s national.”

Fuller went on to say that Taylor is leaving the police department and going to work for the Office of Inspector General.