Union City, Georgia | April 26, 2000
She had been married for one month.
She was the mother of a 7-month-old baby girl.
She was only 22 years old.
On April 26, 2000, Sparkle Michelle Rai was found just inside the front door of her Union City apartment.
Her husband, Rajeeve “Ricky” Rai, had returned home when he made the horrific discovery.
Sparkle had been strangled with the cord from a vacuum cleaner.
She had also been stabbed more than a dozen times.
Their infant daughter was still inside the apartment.
She was alive.
She was physically unharmed.
A Planned Killing
Investigators quickly realized this was no random act of violence.
Years later, prosecutors alleged the murder had been carefully planned.
According to the evidence presented at trial, Sparkle’s father-in-law, Chiman Rai, arranged a contract killing because he disapproved of his son marrying an African-American woman.
Prosecutors argued that he believed the interracial marriage had brought “shame” upon the family and paid $10,000 to have Sparkle murdered.
The Investigation
For years, the case remained unsolved.
Then people began talking.
In 2004, witnesses started coming forward.
In 2006, investigators received a major break when Clinique Jackson, who had been arrested on unrelated charges, told detectives she had witnessed the murder as a teenager.
Her testimony helped investigators piece together what happened inside the apartment that day.
Justice for Sparkle
In June 2008, Chiman Rai was convicted of felony murder and burglary.
He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The man identified as the killer, Cleveland Clark, was convicted in 2009 and initially sentenced to death.
In February 2025, he was resentenced to life in prison plus 25 years after being removed from death row.
Two other men, Willie Fred Evans and Herbert Green, pleaded guilty to lesser charges and received probation in exchange for their testimony.
Investigators ultimately concluded that Sparkle’s husband, Rajeeve “Ricky” Rai, was not involved in her murder.
Sparkle Michelle Rai was only 22 years old.
She had been married for just one month.
She was raising a 7-month-old daughter.
Her life was stolen inside the place where she should have been safest.
Her daughter grew up without her mother.
© The Vivid Faces of the Vanished
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