Darren Reid Sarvis, a 58-year-old white male from Shelby, North Carolina, passed away on February 20, 2017. Born in Cleveland County, NC, Darren was a United States Navy veteran and a gifted mechanic known for his ability to repair anything. He was also a loving father, son, brother, and unselfish friend.
The circumstances surrounding Darren Sarvis's death were tragic and involved a violent altercation with his son, Kelly Reid Sarvis.
On February 21, 2017, the Kings Mountain Police Department received a 911 call from Kelly Sarvis, who reported that his father was unresponsive in his shop. When officers arrived at the scene, they found Darren Sarvis face down in a pool of blood, surrounded by several white rags with what appeared to be blood on them. It was evident that someone had attempted to clean up the crime scene.
As the investigation unfolded, detectives began to question Kelly Sarvis about his father's death. Initially, Kelly claimed that he and his father had worked in Darren's shop behind their home until sometime in the night on February 20, 2017. However, when Kelly woke up the next morning, he found his father unresponsive in the shop. Police were suspicious of the timeline and took Kelly in for an interview. During the interrogation, Kelly confessed to shooting his father with a 9 mm handgun after the two got into a physical altercation on the afternoon of February 20, 2017. The autopsy report revealed that Darren Sarvis died from a bullet that entered the back of his head and exited through the right side of his face.
Following the shooting, Kelly Sarvis allegedly took the 9 mm handgun and a 12-gauge shotgun to his friend Trevor Flores's home to dispose of the weapons. Trevor Flores was charged with common law obstruction and accessory after the fact and was still awaiting trial at the time of the report.
Kelly Reid Sarvis, who was 21 years old at the time of his father's death, was initially charged with first-degree murder. However, he later took a plea deal in Cleveland County Superior Court, pleading guilty to second-degree murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon, larceny, and obtaining property by false pretenses. Kelly Sarvis was sentenced to 35 to 45 years in prison and began his sentence in Polk County Correctional Institution on July 24, 2019.
