Mother of Cass County escapee charged in federal court

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The mother of a Missouri fugitive who was caught last week has been charged with helping her son escape from jail.

Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri said Trevor Sparks and Sergio Perez-Martinez escaped from Cass County Jail on Dec. 6, 2022. Both men were being housed at the jail awaiting sentencing on federal convictions.

On Nov. 7, 2022, a federal jury found Sparks guilty of leading a criminal enterprise linked to two murders and multiple violent assaults, as well as methamphetamine distribution across Missouri.

According to court documents, prosecutors claim Sparks called his mother, identified as Dawn Branstietter, several times from the jail, and they discussed his impending escape.

During one such call, Sparks allegedly told Branstietter, “You are probably going to pick me up real soon. Real, real, real soon… just be ready.”

Sparks later contacted Steven Lydell Williams Sr. and asked him to get in touch with his mother, because Branstietter had not answered his calls for several days. Sparks eventually convinced Williams to pick him up after the escape. Prosecutors claim Williams picked up both Sparks and Perez-Martinez at a local Casey’s General Store.

Williams, 64, was charged on Dec. 7, 2022, with aiding or assisting an escape from confinement.

Authorities interviewed Branstietter on Dec. 9, 2022, to discuss her son’s escape. She allegedly told investigators that she would not turn her son over and that she would rather go to prison, so he could stay free.

Investigators searched Branstietter’s Facebook and found messages between her and Nicholas Parris, who was the ex-boyfriend of Sparks’ sister. The messages included talk of going to Texas, where Sparks’ sister lives. Prosecutors claim many of the messages were cryptic or vague, or voice or video communications.

Sparks was arrested on the morning of Friday, Dec. 30, 2022, in Kansas City, along with Branstietter and Parris.

Branstietter and Parris were each charged with aiding or assisting an escape from confinement.

Meanwhile, Perez-Martinez remains at-large. He pleaded guilty to drug-trafficking conspiracy and illegal possession of firearms in July 2022.