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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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.
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The men’s group, which meets each Saturday at Lockhart’s location on Locust Street, is looking for members to join who are willing to mentor at risk youth and brainstorm different ways to keep teens positively entertained.
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In this afternoon’s press conference police said 12-year-old Devell Johnson, Jr. was killed and another juvenile was injured but has since been released from the hospital.
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The Davenport NAACP issued a press release earlier in the week urging the community to call on their senators to oppose a new bill that could impact food assistance to families in need.
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A Bettendorf man who forcibly grabbed and groped a woman at a Walmart in Davenport back in October has been sentenced on sex abuse charges.
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One student who says he was not directly involved in the making of the video claims he was unfairly punished. TV6 sat down with him and his family to talk about the incident.
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McAllister was 22 at the time of his disappearance, and his family and friends are desperate for answers.
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For Galesburg, a community of just over 30,500 people, the first two months of 2021 was a shocking reflection of a national trend.
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There is a heavy police presence in the Davenport historic district.
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In the presser, police did not say who the remains may belong to but said they have interest in ties to another investigation.
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Regarding the weekend’s arrests, Galesburg Police Chief Russ Idle stated, “officers with the Galesburg Police Department continually work to keep our community safe. I’m grateful for the dedicated service of our officers that led to positive outcomes during several challenging encounters this past week.”
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According to the release, 32-year-old Cordell McDowell was sentenced to two years in federal prison on Wednesday, March 17, for not reporting to the residential re-entry center in Davenport in 2020.
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According to the Davenport Police Department, 54 cars were stolen throughout the city in the month of January and 33 in February, making 87 cars in total that were stolen in Davenport between January 1 and February 28.
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In Mayor Acri’s letter on behalf of the city, she states that Moline has been waiting since 2004 for WIU to commit to expanding their presence in the Quad Cities to no avail.
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14-year-old Jamon Winfrey, referred to by friends and family as “Snoop,” was only in the 8th grade. Police believe Winfrey was involved with the situation surrounding the shooting—which occurred on the 1300 block of Farnum Street—however, it is important to remember that he was just a kid.
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One of the biggest impacts that COVID-19 has had on our country is job loss. Pandemic Unemployment Assistance--a program that provides temporary income to people who have lost their jobs to the pandemic under the CARES Act of 2020-- was put into effect to help those who were laid off or forced into quarantine over the past year.
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While these victims are not to blame for the outcome, the fact is that car theft is a major problem in our community right now and it forces us to have to be extra cautious.
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A homicide that occurred yesterday afternoon marks the second in Davenport so far this year.
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Iowans who apply for disability benefits might be mentally or physically unable to work, but state protocol requires each and every case to undergo an in-depth review when deciding whether or not the applicant should receive payment.
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35-year-old Ryan Muckelston has been missing for almost a month. His mother, Jennifer Muckelston-Nauman, says that she, his sister and three children are all worried sick, and say they fear he disappeared involuntarily.
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A woman accused of stabbing a 14-year-old back in December appeared in Rock Island County Court on Tuesday, February 9 for a preliminary hearing.
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According to court documents, 61-year-old Cindy Williams, of Moline, has been charged with Theft by the Rock Island County Court after it was discovered by her employers that she had stolen more than $10,000 dollars through an audit made in October.
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A locked car means a safer city, which is why police across 25 departments have partnered up for a new initiative called “Lock it Down, Quad Cities” to remind everyone to never leave their cars unlocked again.
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Last January, Illinois legalized recreational marijuana in the hopes that revenue from the sales tax would help fund state and local programs. KWQC spoke with local municipalities about those finances.
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The Knox County Sheriff’s Department made an arrest over the weekend following an incident of alleged kidnapping and assault, according to a press release on the department’s Facebook page.
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Police in Davenport took to the streets to raise awareness over the new “Lock It Down QC” initiative.
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5-year-old Taylor was full of smiles. Her mother Maggie says she was bright for her age and loved to read.
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The incident involving Blunk began around 4 a.m. Sept. 22.