lit a candle 5h agoPassed through Arcata on a bike trip years back, caught a local access show he'd put together about the forest trails. He said something like, the forest doesn't belong to anybody, it belongs to everybody who walks it. Seventy five years old. Leaves it there.
Their story
This page was created 1h ago, as soon as Bill’s death was reported. The full story, with chapters and answers to the questions people ask, is being written now and should appear within the hour. You can already light a candle or leave a tribute.
Bill Spenceley was a 75-year-old retired educator from Arcata, California, who died on October 5, 2026, eight months after he was severely beaten while hiking alone in the Arcata Community Forest. He was the former director of the Humboldt Community Access and Resource Center , and he was found brutally…
Bill Spenceley was a 75-year-old retired educator from Arcata, California, who died on October 5, 2026, eight months after he was severely beaten while hiking alone in the Arcata Community Forest.
He was the former director of the Humboldt Community Access and Resource Center
, and
he was found brutally attacked in the Arcata Community Forest eight months before his death
.
After attending Humboldt State University in the early 1970s, he dedicated his life to education, equity, and service, beginning as a preschool teacher and later teaching Indigenous students on reservations in the Northwest, bringing compassion, patience and joy to every classroom he entered.
He was described by his family as
a pillar of the Arcata, California community.
On the morning of January 30, 2026,
officers with the Arcata Police Department were dispatched to Trail 5 in the Arcata Community Forest, between Diamond Drive and California Avenue, after receiving a report of an adult male with serious facial injuries, and responding officers located the man, an Arcata resident, with significant head trauma.
His family said in a GoFundMe appeal that
he had suffered severe, life altering injuries, including possible brain trauma, and was fighting for his life.
A suspect, Shawn Kolpak, was arrested;
investigators said Kolpak and Spenceley each hiked in the community forest every morning and exchanged good mornings, and that Kolpak had become fixated on a man he called 'stick guy' after a friend had told police Spenceley would often move sticks off the trails.
Kolpak was charged with attempted murder and aggravated mayhem, with an enhancement due to the age of the victim; aggravated mayhem is punishable by life imprisonment in state prison.
In March 2026,
a judge found there was enough evidence to continue proceedings against Kolpak, but downgraded one charge from aggravated mayhem to simple mayhem.
Spenceley spent months fighting to recover; as of March 2026 he
remained unable to speak, in the ICU at a UC Davis hospital after serious head injuries sustained in the Jan. 30 attack.
His family continued to raise money through a GoFundMe campaign, which by the time of his death
had raised $35,000
toward his care.
He died on October 5, 2026.
In an update on the GoFundMe page fundraising for his extensive medical care, a family member named Christine Peter wrote that he died Monday morning.
She wrote that
looking back, the family now understood just how important it was to Bill to come home, to the place he loved and where he truly wanted to be, and that he was able to spend a week in his own home.
She added that
knowing Bill was surrounded by love, with the person he loved beside him, brought the family a great deal of comfort.
The GoFundMe page said a memorial to honor Spenceley's life will be held, with more information to come.
The fund, which had raised $35,000, will continue to be used for his medical costs and final expenses.
Suspect Shawn Kolpak remains in custody, awaiting trial for attempted murder.
Biography adapted from News reports and the sources cited on this page; death reported by Lost Coast Outpost.
Photos
1by People Forever
That sounds exactly like something he'd say.