A woman has given an unsparing account of how her fairytale marriage fell apart after she discovered her ‘Teacher of the Year’ husband was a compulsive cheater and sex predator who targeted her teenage pupils.
Hulu’s new true crime doc Infidelity: The Perfect Husband follows convicted sex offender Spencer Heron’s marriage to Jennifer Faison, from their college romance to his shocking arrest that sheds light on his double life.
Based on Faison and producer Andrea Gunning’s podcast of the same name, the three-part ABC News Studios production features interviews with multiple women who claim to have been taken advantage of by the former teacher.
Describing theirs as an ‘ideal marriage’ until Heron was arrested in 2018 for allegedly sexually assaulting a student, she said, ‘I never imagined the extent of what he did.’
Jennifer Faison opens up about her marriage to convicted sex offender Spencer Heron in the new Hulu docuseries Betrayed: The Perfect Husband
Faison found out her ‘Teacher of the Year’ husband was leading a double life after he was arrested in 2018 for allegedly sexually assaulting a student.
The former couple met when he transferred to Berry College, a private liberal arts institution in Mount Berry, Georgia, to study communications for his junior year.
Herron, a senior, was the manager of the school’s television station.
Their college friend Josh Villains described him as having a ‘boy-next-door, Eagle Scout’ quality, saying he was the kind of guy who would help you move a couch into your third-floor dorm room.
‘He was just one of those people who had an outgoing and charismatic personality,’ he explained.
Faison and Herron began dating almost immediately and fell madly in love. He said it was the ‘perfect college relationship’, noting there were no red flags.
He wrote her sweet love notes and made her mix tapes. Even his family was smitten with Heron when he brought him home to visit them.
Despite their love for each other, Faison broke up with Harn after graduation because she couldn’t see their relationship working out while in school.
After receiving his diploma, he moved home and worked at a radio station for three years before relocating to Los Angeles to become a television producer.
Faison and Herron fell in love when she transferred to Berry College, a private liberal arts institution in Mount Berry, Georgia, for her junior year.
Harron was a year older than Faison, and she broke up with him after graduation because she didn’t think they could make their relationship work while in school.
Faison’s first work on television was with Judge Judy, which earned her two Emmy nominations. He went on to serve as a producer on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Breakthrough with Tony Robbins, and Jersey Shore.
While she was making a name for herself in Hollywood, Heron married and had children. He remained in Georgia, where he worked as a freelance videographer, taught video production at a high school and played in an Air National Guard band.
Faison dated other people, but she never met anyone who compared to her college sweetheart. 20 years later, Heron, a divorcee, contacted her on Facebook.
As luck would have it, they were traveling to New York City at the same time and planned to meet while there.
‘The night I met Spain again in New York was magical,’ she recalls, adding that their reunion seemed ‘meant to be’.
‘We really believed we were soul mates,’ she said.
Faison decided to move across the country to be with Heron, who asked her to marry him after getting her parents’ blessing.
They tied the knot on December 30, 2012 in front of their family and close friends, and they went on to buy a wine bar in downtown Acworth, Georgia.
Heron taught video production at Kell High School, where he was twice named ‘Teacher of the Year,’ and he continued on occasional deployments with the Air National Guard Band.
Herron stayed in Georgia, married and had children, while Faison became a television producer in Los Angeles.
20 years apart, Heron contacted Faison on Facebook after her divorce. They reconnect in New York City and fall in love again
Until his arrest on June 1, 2018, Faison thought they had a ‘great marriage’. He recalled how he had excitedly driven home to see her after finishing work in Nashville that day.
‘I pulled into the driveway of our house hoping he would come out to greet me, and nothing this time,’ she said. ‘Little did I know I was married to a man who did something that would destroy our lives and change us forever.’
When he walked in, Heron was sitting on the couch shaking his head, saying, ‘It’s all over, it’s all over.’
Faison recalled seeing a search warrant on the table, saying she only remembered the words ‘sexual assault’ and ‘student’.
When police arrived and arrested Heron, he was charged with five counts of sexual assault and held on $55,220 bail.
Faison initially believed there must be some sort of misunderstanding, but two days later, he stumbled across his email and clicked on a folder labeled ‘Photos’.
After finding dozens of pictures of naked women, he is faced with the hard truth that the man he married is a compulsive cheater.
Faison decided to move across the country to be with Heron and they married on December 30, 2012 in front of their family and close friends.
Faison thought they had a ‘great marriage’ until his arrest on June 1, 2018. He was accused of sexually assaulting a student named Rachel.
‘I just kept looking and it was woman after woman after woman,’ she said. ‘And then I found emails and messages between him and these women. He lived a double life. Who was this hunter I married?’
Faison was blind and desperate for answers. He created timelines and charts tracking his infidelity, finding messages from ‘over 60 women’.
She described her ex-husband as essentially using their wine bar as a ‘brothel’ when he wasn’t there, sleeping with everyone from prostitutes to mutual friends.
Heron had two to three year-long relationships with about half a dozen women at the same time.
‘He even cheated on me the week of our wedding,’ she said.
Not only was Heron living a secret life, but he escalated his behavior and became sexually predatory.
Throughout 2016 and 2017, he sexually assaulted a student named Rachel, who later reported him to authorities. He started grooming her when she was 15 and had sex with her when she was 16.
When Faison looked through Heron’s emails, she found that he was a compulsive cheater who carried on relationships for years and had sex with everyone from prostitutes to mutual friends.
Faison was horrified to learn that her seemingly ‘perfect husband’ was a sex predator
‘I was just a child. I remember feeling really sick to my stomach about it,’ she said on the Traitor podcast.
Prosecutors said he arranged to be alone with his victim ‘under the pretense of meeting a non-existent school club.’
Heron pleaded guilty to sexual assault charges in January 2019 and was sentenced to five years in prison and 15 years of probation. He was granted parole in 2022 and required to register as a sex offender
The arrest warrant states that he had sex with two other students multiple times between 2016 and 2018.
The age of consent in Georgia is 16, but it is illegal for a teacher in the state to have sex with a student regardless of their age. He was charged with sexual assault instead of statutory rape.
Rachel struggled with both the aftermath of the sexual assault and victim shaming from community members who believed Herron was innocent.
‘I went from a happy, anxious, and hopeful teenager to a frantic, angry and depressed teenager,’ she said during a speech engagement featured in the series.
‘I shut myself off from people completely. I withdrew from my family and my friends and by the time I was a senior, I had no contact with anyone I was involved with at school. I felt like I didn’t deserve anything good in my life.’
Heron pleaded guilty to sexual assault charges in January 2019 and was sentenced to five years in prison and 15 years of probation. In 2022, he was granted parole and required to register as a sex offender.