Man finds he was married without his knowledge, woman arrested
Beverly Hills, Tx (FOX 44) – UPDATE: A 36-year-old woman is being held on felony stalking charges in a bizarre case where a wedding was held without the groom present and without his knowledge.
Beverly Hills Police Chief Kory Martin expressed he’s never seen anything like this.
“I was here Friday evening when this came in. When I was talking to the lieutenant, I said, ‘I don’t I don’t think in 23 years I’ve ever heard of anybody who managed somehow to get married to someone who wasn’t present for a ceremony.'”
“At first, we were really considering that it may be some forged documents. However, once we made contact with the reverend who ended up signing the actual ceremony, showing that they were unified, he basically, you know, solidified the fact that, yeah, the groom was not present when that occurred,” he continued.
Kristin Marie Spearman was arrested and booked into the McLennan County Jail.
Chief Martin said his office was contacted by a 42-year-old man on Friday, who said that he found a package from his ex-girlfriend at his home which included a copy of a marriage certificate – showing he was married.
The victim told police he had been in a relationship with the suspect, and they got a marriage license around June 2, but broke up before a wedding took place. Chief Martin said the investigation determined that the woman convinced a pastor to certify the marriage without the groom being present. Chief Martin said she then went to the County Clerk’s Office and filed the certificate.
The Chief explained that he has spoken with the victim, who expressed that he’s going through a significant process to try and fix the situation, “I’ve talked to the victim, and he’s going through a significant process to try to have to fix this at this point, and so that’s a whole ‘nother situation….is not only the concern of, ‘What does that mean for my safety, my property,’ you know, which is a huge conversation in this, but also what I have to do to fix it, you know, and it’s looking like the process is going to be quite lengthy.”
Chief Martin explained how this situation has been a rare occurrence and how they’ve been handling it.
“I had to do some research on this, and you know, going through the family code and looking at the sections of marriage, there was only one caveat that I could locate, which was, you know, active military overseas unable to make it,” he explained. “You still had to have a proxy stand in, and that also has to be part of like the licensing itself, is all of that stuff has to be there — So the groom should have been there. A proxy wouldn’t have worked. And that should have been witnessed by the executive, you know, executing that and having that authority to actually witness that document.”
Chief Martin said that with the assistance of the Hewitt Police Department, the suspect was located at her residence near Hewitt. Police had obtained an arrest warrant for third-degree felony stalking, and Spearman was transported to the McLennan County Jail.
Chief Martin said his department was not releasing any information on who officiated the ceremony, as of Monday, as they move forward with the case.
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