Justice for Sparkle

Keith Morrison Correspondent • Profile

It could have been round any corner here in her own big city. Could have been in the very next class at the college from which she was meant to get a degree.

Not that she was looking for love, but it was looking for her. Capricious, inconvenient, forbidden.  And it announced itself, as love will, 400 miles from home, to everyone's surprise.

And if she saw only the promise, the sparkle of it, well- she was young.  What could she know of the powers arrayed against so fine a pairing as hers?

Bennet Reid: I never would have-- never would have thought in a million years this would have been the direction that this actually went.

Who could?  Certainly not her father.  And not Sparkle. That was her name, by the way, Sparkle.

Her name and her attitude.  Effervescent is what she was. In high school a cheerleader. In college, enthusiastic.   For a while. And then it was the summer of 1998 and Sparkle was 20. And she was, she announced, ready for life. Whatever that might be.

Donna Lowry: It's that age.  You know, where they think they're ready to grow up and she had spent two years at college on her own, and just wasn't ready to come back home and live, you know, under the rules of the house necessarily. 

So Sparkle packed her bags, said good-bye to her hometown of Atlanta, Ga. and announced where she was going when she got there.

Bennet Reid: We get a call, "I'm in Louisville!"  "Where are you stayin'?"  "I'm stayin' with Grandma."  I said, "Okay, that's fine."

This is Sparkle's father.  His name is Bennet Reid, he's retired army, was an infantry officer. Her stepmother is Donna Lowry, a television reporter with WXIA in Atlanta. They were at home in bed a few months after Sparkle left when she called with more news.

Bennet Reid: I guess it was about 10:30, maybe 11:00 at night.  We were all asleep in the house. She calls to tell me she's pregnant. And I'm thinking, "Gee, couldn't you call me at a better time."  And of course, I'm not happy that she's pregnant to start with.

Keith Morrison: How well did you know that young man by then?

Donna Lowry: We didn't know him at all.

But was she in love?  Oh, yes. The young man, she told them, was Ricky.  Ricky Rai. A college dropout just like Sparkle. She met him at his father's hotel in Louisville, where he was the manager and she'd found a job working the front desk. Oh, and by the way, he was even younger than she was.  Just 18.  And about to be a father to their baby. Sparkle's baby .

Donna Lowry: Yeah.  You know, unwed and young.  And, you know, hadn't finished college.  So, we had some concerns.

They felt a little better when Sparkle and Ricky moved to Atlanta.  That way Bennet and Donna could help when the baby came.

Keith Morrison: They really did care for each other?

Donna Lowry: Yeah, that was obvious.

Sparkle's father: Yes, sir.

Donna Lowry: They loved each other a lot.

And as they got to know Ricky he opened up a little, admitted he was a bit of a black sheep; the rest of the five children in his family of Indian immigrants were piling up advanced degrees in college. He, the dropout, obviously wasn't... But he certainly seemed proud of his family. After all, his father had been a math professor and later a successful businessman.

Bennet Reid: But I always asked him, "Well, what do you do. How are you gonna take care of the baby and her." I was always concerned that they were just getting by.

What's a parent to do?   Ricky's parents worried, too, apparently.  But they seemed to blame Sparkle for running off with their son before he'd finished college.

Donna Lowry: They did not like the fact that they were together.  They did not like that she was pregnant. 

In fact, when the baby was born, Ricky's family did not come to visit.

Keith Morrison: Was there any sign of his parents at all during this period of time?

Donna Lowry: Uh-uh, no.

But Ricky and Sparkle were ecstatic. They named their little girl Analla, which in Hindu means 'fiery one.' And all the while that young love just seemed to grow.

Donna Lowry: That's the thing that kept us going was that he-- he loved her.

And then, just as the young couple was getting used to parenthood, Ricky came to his in-laws with dreadful news.

Donna Lowry: It was October of 1999 that he-- told us that his father died from diabetes-related complications.

There was to be a traditional funeral, the burial would be in India. Ricky flew there to be part of it.

Donna Lowry: He was gone for just a few days.  And we remember thinking, "Wow, that was a quick trip to India." 

But bad news can come in batches.

Within just days of Ricky's return from the India burial...

Donna Lowry: There was a cyclone in India.  Thousands of people killed.  It was a big news story and he said his mother, who was still in India, had been killed in that cyclone. And-- we were devastated for him.  It was just horrible.

Keith Morrison: Oh my.  What a tragedy.

Donna Lowry: This poor kid. He lost his dad and his mom in just a few weeks.

It was the following spring, the first spring of a new millennium, a new life. Ricky and Sparkle made their relationship official.  They got married.

Sparkle's father: Well, we thought it would work. As long as they were both putting forth their best effort.

So there was simply no warning, no way to prepare for what happened next.

April 26, 2000.

Donna Lowry: I got a call from Rick who said Sparkles been attacked.

He'd just come home and found her, he said.  She heard, but his words didn't quite make sense.  She ran to her car.

Donna Lowry: I remember driving thinking, "Attacked." I mean, I'm thinking we're gonna take her to the hospital. "She's gonna be okay. I remember thinking, I'll take the baby. You know, we'll-- we'll make sure everything's okay.

There are times when a parent cannot make anything right. By the time Donna arrived at Sparkle's apartment, Sparkle's father was already there.

Bennet Reid: And I kept asking, "Is she dead or is she alive? What happened?"  Finally, someone would come down and tell that she wasn't alive anymore. 

She was dead.  Murdered.  She'd been strangled and stabbed to death. Her six-month-old baby was unharmed, just a few feet away from Sparkle's body.

Donna Lowry: As a reporter, I've covered homicide scenes.  I've watched families fall apart.  And it was surreal to be on the other end of it. And then dealing with just everything going on with that. What had happened?  Who had done this? 

A detective named Lee Brown looked carefully at that horrific scene.

He could not yet know who the murderer was, or the incomprehensible design behind it.

But he did know this.

Lt. Lee Brown: It appeared somebody was mad at this girl.

Keith Morrison: This is rage, then?

Lt. Lee Brown: Right.  This is rage.

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