By The Associated Press, AP
LANCASTER, Ky. (AP) A Kentucky man was sentenced Thursday to 50 years in prison for killing a young mother whose remains were found buried in a shallow grave six months after she disappeared.
David Sparks, 25, pleaded guilty earlier this month to charges of murder, tampering with physical evidence and abuse of a corpse in the death last year of Savannah Spurlock, 23. Spurlock was last seen in January 2019 leaving a Lexington bar with Sparks and two other men.
Garrard Circuit Judge Hunter Daugherty handed down the sentence recommended by Commonwealth’s Attorney Andy Sims during a short virtual hearing, news outlets reported. Sims said the sentence was at the high end of what Sparks could have faced if the case went to trial.
David Sparks was sentenced to 50 years in prison for killing Savannah Spurlock
Sparks was arrested in July 2019 after the mother-of-four s remains were discovered on a property in rural Garrard County owned by his parents
Spurlock went missing on January 4 after leaving a bar in Lexington with Sparks and two other men; her body was found in a shallow grave six months later
In a Facebook post, Spurlock s family said that investigators are still unsure how she died and why Sparks killed her
Sparks will be eligible for parole after serving 20 years of his sentence