Phone Bill Gets Son Off Hook in Mother’s Death

A telephone bill has vindicated a physically handicapped teen-ager who was jailed for more than a month on charges that he beat his mother to death.

Charges were dismissed against Patrick Sparks, 17, when the bill found by his brother, Brad, 30, indicated that their mother was still alive when the youth left home on the morning of the slaying, police said.

Telephone records show that Beatrice Sparks, 54, phoned two out-of-state relatives shortly after 7 a.m. Oct. 2, about half an hour after Patrick boarded a school bus.

Patrick, an 11th-grader who suffers from cerebral palsy and epilepsy, was released from Juvenile Hall last week, a few days after the discovery of the records.

‘Emotionally Drained’

“What we now believe is that Patrick Sparks is not responsible,” Alex Michaelis, Department of Public Safety commander said Wednesday. “Our investigation is branching out in other areas.”

The youth was “emotionally drained” although “he’s doing better now that he’s out,” the elder Sparks said of Patrick, who sat in silence at his older brother’s apartment during an interview.

Patrick was arrested by police shortly after he reported finding his mother’s bloodied body in her bedroom. Witnesses said he rode the bus and did not miss any classes that day.

The teen-ager lived alone with his mother. Four older brothers and sisters live elsewhere. The father has been in a nursing home since suffering a stroke earlier this year.

Brad Sparks, a legal researcher, said he found the crucial telephone bill in a stack of his mother’s mail at the post office.

“I kept looking at that phone bill over and over again because I couldn’t believe my eyes,” he said. “I was ecstatic with joy, praising God for bringing that evidence to my attention.”