David Sparks Pleads Guilty to Killing Kentucky Mom Savannah Spurlock

The mom disappeared in January.
Savannah Spurlock

David Sparks pleaded guilty to killing Savannah Spurlock over a Zoom conference call where he appeared before Garrard County judge Hunter Daugherty

A 25-year-old Kentucky man pleaded guilty Tuesday to the murder of Savannah Spurlock, the woman who was found dead last year following what was her first night out after giving birth to twins, according to reports. Spurlock was last seen alive on surveillance footage leaving a bar in Lexington with three men, Inside Edition Digital previously reported.

David Sparks pleaded guilty to murder, tampering with physical evidence, and abuse of a corpse over a Zoom conference call, where he appeared before Garrard County judge Hunter Daugherty, according to court documents.

Court documents indicate that Sparks acted alone when he intentionally killed Spurlock, bound her legs, and wrapped her body in plastic bags in the early morning of Jan. 4, 2019.

Sparks then took her body to his parent's home in Garrard County and buried her in their backyard with "the intent to elude apprehension for the murder and to impair" evidence that could incriminate him, according to court documents and WKYT.

Spurlock, a mother of four, was seen leaving the Other Bar and then reportedly rode in the backseat of a car with two of the men she left with, with the third man trailing in a car behind them, Inside Edition Digital previously reported.

By July, investigators found her human remains buried in a shallow grave. Police arrested Sparks shortly after. He was held in Garrard County without bond.

Initially, Sparks told police that Spurlock was asleep in his bed and that he fell asleep on the couch after the other two men left his home, detective Tye Chavies testified, according to the Lexington-Herald Leader. Sparks then said Spurlock had woken him up in the morning, asking for his address so she could be picked up by a cab. He then said he went back to sleep and she was gone by the time he woke up.

After finding Spurlock's remains, investigators later discovered that her body was buried with a rug similar to one in Sparks' home, the detective testified. It was also learned that Sparks had texted his sister the day Spurlock went missing asking where to buy a replacement rug similar to the one she had bought him.

“I think justice was served, and most importantly for our office, and I think and hope for the family, was that for the longest time everyone thought this case was a big mystery, but it wasn’t,” prosecutor Andy Sims told the Lexington-Herald Leader. “I knew from the beginning he killed her, and it was important for me that he stood in court and admitted it.” 

Sparks faces up to 50 years in prison for his crimes. Sparks will be officially sentenced Dec. 17.

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