Darby Sparks
Investigative Reporter
Davenport, Iowa
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Darby Sparks is an investigative reporter who comes to the Quad Cities from Altoona, Pennsylvania where she worked at the CBS affiliate WTAJ.
Darby’s specialty is in long form reporting with a focus in crime, malpractice and misconduct. During her two and a half years of experience prior to coming to KWQC, she worked on a missing persons series called “Have You Seen Me.”
Darby’s main goal is to dig beyond the surface, to find the “why.” Her favorite kind of stories are character driven and full of detail. She is always looking for a new lead so don’t hesitate to email her at darby.sparks@kwqc.com.
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TV6 has confirmed with the Moline Police Department that for the first time they will be releasing the names of persons of interest during a press conference Wednesday.
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The victim's brother says that he thinks this was a random incident, stating he was “at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
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Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki both weigh in on the strike happening at John Deere
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Health care workers say they expect the number of flu cases to rise this year due to relaxed guidelines for social distancing and mask wearing.
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The USDA gathered a 7 to 12 percent inflation rate for meat and dairy products in the past year alone and its the middle man selling the finished product that makes the profit.
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October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and marchers came together on the morning of October 5 dressed in purple to support the cause at the Rock Island Arsenal.
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During a 3 to 2 vote, the council decided to place Nees on leave along with giving him a “stern warning” in his personnel file due to a complaint from an Eldridge resident that he had behaved unprofessionally during a project.
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To help stave off internet predators, the ICAC task force has introduced a new mobile unit to help generate digital evidence while in the field for working on cases.
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The Eldridge City Council voted 3-2 Tuesday to terminate Kotter.
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54-year-old Julie Bowser was in the hospital with what police said were “extensive brain injuries”.
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It is part of a challenge called “Devious Licks,” that involves students filming themselves vandalizing school property and anonymously posting it online.
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He is being held without bond in the Scott County Jail.
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During a “black out night” game between Danville and New London last Tuesday, a student was shown wearing black face and a nun costume.
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Family members of 36 year old Justin Douglas Chambers--who has been missing since November 2020--said on social media Friday that his remains have been identified.
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The gun crime surge is remarkable enough to cause Crime Stoppers of the Quad Cities to increase their reward offer for more information by double.
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City officials say that the severity of the fire was the result of precautionary measures not being taken as well as a lack of fire safety knowledge.
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While Welford’s biological mother, Victoria Tanner, thinks what happened to Brantley was an accident, his aunt Jenna Bruck says she is seeking tougher charges on Diericx in relation to the death of the little boy.
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Experts say that the difference between monoclonal antibodies and the vaccine is the fact that the monoclonal infusion carries synthetic antibodies, while the vaccine helps the body’s natural system develop an immunity.
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Starting on September 5th, all teachers and healthcare workers must have at least one dose of the vaccine or get tested once weekly, said Governor J.B. Pritzker in a press conference Thursday morning, stating, “if you are unvaccinated, you are getting the people in your care sick.”
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35-year-old Dylan Diericx was arrested and charged on August 24 with Neglect of a Dependent Resulting in Death, a Level 1 Felony, after police found a 4-yea-old boy unresponsive and with injuries in Diericx’s truck.
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Student in six different districts across Iowa and Illinois are sitting inside classrooms that have no air conditioning, and with the unusually high temperatures schools are forced to cut their hours.
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An audio recording taken during the board meeting depicts what sounds like Ladd Mayor Frank Cattanis referring to a local creek, which is named after a derogatory racial term, by an even more derogatory, offensive slur, calling it the “N-word Creek.”
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For the 25th anniversary of her disappearance, TV6 Investigates takes a deep dive into the Trudy Appleby case, speaking to family, friends, police and even persons of interest.
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The rates show a general population decline both county and city-wide on the Illinois side, and a general gain in population on the Iowa side.
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The program has been talked about in Scott County for years as a preventative measure meant to help intervene with troubled youth and keep them out of the Juvenile Detention Center.
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On July 1, 2020, witnesses say they saw then 18-year-old Davijon Robinson, of Kewanee, shoot 17-year-old Caleb Conrath and his mother Tasha Hilmes at their home in Hillview Trailer Park in Princeton. Caleb died in the hospital of his injuries.
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Crundwell was sentenced in 2013 to 19 years, seven months in federal prison.
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Currently Iowa has a set cap of 272 beds maximum available to juvenile facilities across the state. Scott County Juvenile Detention Center holds 18 of them.--a number that most officials agree needs adjustment.
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Set in motion by a federal mandate that will no longer allow youthful offenders to house with adults by the end of this year, the multi-million dollar project would triple the size of the Scott County Juvenile Detention Center from its current 18 bed maximum to 40 beds.
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Despite the effort that the media and multiple departments around the Quad Cities have put into raising awareness over locking your car, thefts continue to be on the rise.
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The newly filed motion to compel evidence will be heard Thursday morning.
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Located on your car’s underbelly, a catalytic converter is a small lump of metal that turns harmful exhaust gasses, like Carbon Monoxide, into Carbon Dioxide and water vapor. The process is handles through its honeycomb-like interior, which is coated in precious metals like Palladium, Rhodium and Platinum, which purify the toxic gasses.
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Eighteen years later, no one has been charged with Jone Knapton’s death.
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Police believe Robinson is somewhere in Kewanee, Chicago, or Georgia.
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TV6 investigates obtained data through an open records request to see where these incidents are occurring throughout the city. As of May 31, there have been at least 92 confirmed incidents where gun shots have been fired. Most of them occur over the weekend, namely early on Sunday morning.
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According to a Friday morning email from the city to TV6, the city of Davenport said the project started out as a simple manhole replacement at the beginning of May and turned into something larger than anyone expected.
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“We feel great. This was the verdict we wanted, the verdict that the evidence demanded. It’s great for all parties that justice was served,” says Bart Klaver, Poweshiek County attorney.
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Jury deliberations will resume Friday morning.
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Cristhian Bahena Rivera, who stands charged with first degree murder, stated during his testimony on Wednesday afternoon that he did not give police the full story of what really happened on July 18, 2018.
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When asked to describe how Bahena Rivera was as a father in general, his baby's mother stated that, “he was a really good father. He was responsible and he always looked after his daughter.”
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The prosecution rested its case in the trial for Cristhian Bahena Rivera, the man accused of killing Mollie Tibbetts, on Monday after calling in experts to talk about Tibbetts’ cause of death.
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The most powerful testimony thus far in the trial came from former Iowa City Police Officer Pamela Romero, who came to the stand and talked about the interview that led to Bahena’s confession.
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The most bombshell piece of evidence came about this afternoon as the prosecution was questioning Tara Scott, a criminalist in the DNA section of the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation’s crime lab.
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Today was the first day of testimony for the high profile trial of Cristhian Bahena Rivera, the man accused of fatally stabbing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts in Brooklyn, Iowa back in July of 2018.
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After the selection process continuing throughout the morning, all 12 jurors and three stand-ins were chosen and sworn in around 12:30 p.m. at the Davenport River Center.
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The body of 35-year-old Ryan Muckelston, of East Moline, has been found after having been missing for four months.
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The Quad Cities River Bandits gave a press release Friday morning stating that they have updates their own safety guidelines including lifting the face mask mandate and taking away the buffer zones.
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With the Center’s for Disease Control now allowing the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 12 through 15, the end of the pandemic may be in sight. However, schools in our area are still dealing with positive cases.
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Dinkins has been in custody since July 10 on unrelated sex offender registry violation charges.