Two people have been arrested in connection with the death of a 27-year-old man in Jacksonville last summer.
Keenan Sparks’ body was found on Sydney Street near Willowbranch Park. He had been shot. Dana Smith and Elizabeth Bell were arrested because they were linked to his death. Smith is being charged with murder, and Bell is being charged with being a party to the murder after the fact.
Sparks had just come to Jacksonville three months before he was killed, a close family friend told Action News Jax.
When they heard about the arrests, a close family friend said, “We are so happy.” “We didn’t think it would happen at all.”
They were worried that the case was going cold, but they had hoped this day would come.
She said, “I hope the justice system does its job.”
The friend of the family didn’t want to be named, but she did say that her son has been best friends with Sparks since he was 10 years old.
“He was a silly kid. She said, “Keenan was always laughing and smiling; he was the clown of our group of friends.” “He was so much fun to hang out with.”
When they put out arrest warrants for the suspects, the police said that they were already in jail on charges that had nothing to do with the crime. Action News Jax found arrest reports related to the murder case that said there was also proof of a robbery.
The car Sparks used for work was stolen and was still being driven nearly 24 hours after he was killed, according to the report. In another story about the case, it says that Smith and Bell were among the three people found in the car the next day.
Based on where witnesses were sitting, a search order for the car showed that there was crystal meth in a lunch box near where Smith was sitting.
The close family friend we talked to said that when they heard Sparks had died, they were heartbroken.
She said, “He could make light of any situation with a joke. Keenan didn’t have a mean bone in his body.”
She said that knowing this is true is scary.
She said, “If it can happen to Keenan, it can happen to anyone, and that’s a scary thought.”
The close friend hopes that Sparks’ family can find some peace in the fact that Keenan will get what’s coming to him.
Smith’s next court date is April 26, and Bell’s is May 5.
