Punta Gorda pair accused of throwing woman off bridge

PUNTA GORDA -- Two men trusted to work among elderly Punta Gorda residents were accused Friday of binding and gagging a woman, driving her to Sarasota and pushing her to her death from a bridge.

Duane Lee Sparks, 42, and Joseph Lee Zavadil, 21, were charged Thursday with kidnapping Lisa M. Ardine, a homeless woman who frequented the Cooper Street area.

A Sarasota County judge signed an arrest warrant Friday afternoon that charges both men with first-degree murder.

Authorities found Ardine's body on Jan. 18 floating in a foot of water along Interstate 75 about a mile south of University Parkway. Her mouth was still covered and her wrists were still tied when officials pulled her decomposing body from the water.

Ardine's head had several cuts across it, and her right foot was severely lacerated, officials said.

Zavadil, who came forward Wednesday, also is charged in Charlotte with sexually battering the 45-year-old woman.

Zavadil told detectives about both his and Sparks' involvement in Ardine's death in detail, according to the sheriff's arrest report.

"It weighed so heavy, whatever happened, on his heart, he had to say something," Zavadil's mother, Jennifer Kennedy, said Friday.

Zavadil, who lives with his mother on West Grace Street, had been acting strangely for several weeks, Kennedy said. He went to his mother Wednesday and told her he needed to talk to someone.

Kennedy said she asked a friend of the family to come over. The friend helped Zavadil go to the Sheriff's Office, Kennedy said.

"I'm getting thrown all of this stuff in my face," Kennedy said. "It's not my boy. He wouldn't hurt anybody."

Although Zavadil first told sheriff's detectives that he wasn't there when Sparks tied Ardine up and killed her, he later confessed that he was present and helped Sparks, according to an arrest report.

The men, who were maintenance workers at the Punta Gorda RV Resort, first spotted Ardine walking around in the trailer park, the report states. When she asked them for "beer money," the men took her to a liquor store.

Then, all three went to Sparks' home, which is in the RV park, and started drinking, Zavadil told detectives. Zavadil said he and Sparks also smoked marijuana.

Zavadil was present when Sparks, upset by a sexual experience he had with Ardine, tied the woman's arms and legs with duct tape, according to the report. Zavadil told officials that Sparks struck Ardine, causing her to lose consciousness.

"Zavadil said that while the victim was unconscious and bound, both he and Sparks had sexual intercourse with the victim at separate times," the report states.

Zavadil told detectives that he helped Sparks put Ardine in Sparks' brown Chevy van, according to the report. When Ardine told the men she "needed to pee," Sparks pulled over on a bridge and said "this is as good a spot as any."

Zavadil helped Sparks put Ardine on a concrete retaining wall, the report states. As she pleaded to be released, the men pushed her off the bridge.

After hearing her body make a splash, the men got back into Sparks' van and went back to his home in the 3000 block of Baynard Drive.

Sparks' neighbors said they often heard arguing coming from his mobile home and that he had many women coming and going from his place.

They said they never wanted to interfere with the neighbor they described as "a nice guy, but kind of strange."

Nancy Bever, the office manager at the Punta Gorda RV Resort, said Sparks was the park's maintenance manager for several years and Zavadil has been working under Sparks for about four months. The park, which houses many older residents, has never had a problem with either one.

"We're all one big, happy family here," Bever said. "That's why all of this was such a surprise."

Neither Sparks nor Zavadil has a previous criminal record in Florida. Both men's family members said neither has ever been in any serious trouble.

Sparks' father, Rodney Sparks, said his son was acting perfectly normal when he stopped by earlier this week. The two talked about how much the younger Sparks enjoyed his job. Then Duane Sparks agreed to mow his father's lawn, only a few blocks from his own home, during the summer.

Rodney Sparks, 62, said he first heard rumors of his son's involvement in the murder Thursday.

"I've just heard things here and there, and I don't like what I heard," he said. "I didn't raise him this way.

"It doesn't look good."

Zavadil's mother said she has only spoken to her son once since his arrest. He kept saying he was sorry and that he just wanted his family to continue to love him.

The young man who helped people get back in their homes after Hurricane Charley and dreamed of joining the Marines was a hard worker and a "good person," Kennedy said.

"If you're reading this, mom loves you," she said.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070303/NEWS/703030440/1417/RSS02