Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By: Casey Roberts

Contributing Writer

 

Nearly nine years after Desiree Sparks was found dead in the woods of Lincoln County, the man long accused in her death has entered an Alford plea in connection with the case.John Gordon Stamper Jr., 27, of Stanford, entered the plea as part of an agreement that reduces his charge from murder to first-degree manslaughter. The Alford plea, which does not require an admission of guilt, allows Stamper to acknowledge that sufficient evidence exists for a conviction while maintaining his innocence. The manslaughter conviction carries a 12-year sentence.Sparks, 22, was last seen in Danville on Sept. 27, 2016. She was reported missing the same day, and her body was discovered several days later by ATV riders at the end of West Skyline Drive in Lincoln County. The autopsy was deemed inconclusive, with no official cause of death determined, according to Lincoln County Coroner Farris Marcum.Stamper was arrested in 2020 and indicted by a Boyle County grand jury on a murder charge in connection with Sparks’ death. The indictment alleged that Stamper caused her death on or around the day she disappeared.In a separate and unrelated case, Stamper was indicted by a Lincoln County grand jury in May 2024 on multiple charges involving a minor. He faces two counts of unlawful use of electronic means to induce a minor to engage in sexual activity and one count of promoting human trafficking. The charges stem from a 2023 investigation in which Stamper allegedly used a messaging app to solicit explicit photos from a girl under the age of 16.If convicted on all counts in the 2023 case, Stamper could face an additional 10 to 20 years in prison.

He is scheduled to be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, May 30, in Boyle County.