Investigators: Kentucky census worker's death a suicide

[Rachuk]

A Kentucky census worker found naked, bound with duct tape and hanging from a tree with "fed" scrawled on his chest killed himself but staged his death to make it look like a homicide, authorities said Tuesday.

Bill Sparkman, 51, was found Sept. 12 with a rope around his neck near a cemetery in a heavily wooded area of the Daniel Boone National Forest in southeastern Kentucky. Authorities said his wrists were loosely bound, his glasses were taped to his head and he was gagged.

Kentucky State Police Capt. Lisa Rudzinski said an analysis found that "fed" was written "from the bottom up." He was touching the ground, and to survive "all Mr. Sparkman had to do at any time was stand up," she said.

"Our investigation, based on evidence and witness testimony, has concluded that Mr. Sparkman died during an intentional, self-inflicted act that was staged to appear as a homicide," Rudzinski said.

Authorities said Sparkman alone manipulated the suicide scene. Rudzinski said he "told a credible witness that he planned to commit suicide and provided details on how and when."

Authorities wouldn't say who Sparkman told of his plan, but said Sparkman talked about it a week before his suicide and the person did not take him seriously.

Sparkman had recently taken out two accidental life insurance policies totaling $600,000 that would not pay out for suicide, authorities said. If Sparkman had been killed on the job, his family also would have been be eligible for up to $10,000 in death gratuity payments from the government.

Sparkman's son, Josh, previously told The Associated Press that his father had named him as his life insurance beneficiary. Josh Sparkman said earlier this month he found paperwork for the private life insurance policy among his father's personal files but wasn't sure of the amount.

The Census Bureau suspended door-to-door interviews in the rural area after Sparkman's body was found, but a spokesman said normal operations would resume in Clay County next month.

Anti-government sentiment was initially one possibility in the death. Authorities said Sparkman had discussed perceived negative views of the federal government in the county.

A friend of Sparkman's, Gilbert Acciardo, previously told AP that he warned Sparkman to be careful when he did his census work. Acciardo, a retired Kentucky state trooper, said he told Sparkman people in the rural area would perceive him differently because he worked for the federal government.

"The death of our co-worker, William Sparkman, was a tragedy and remains a loss for the Census Bureau family. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends," said census spokesman Stephen Buckner.

Sparkman's mother, Henrie Sparkman of Inverness, Fla., has said her son was an Eagle scout who moved to the area to be a local director for the Boy Scouts of America. He later became a substitute teacher in Laurel County and supplemented that income as a census worker.

Friends and co-workers have said that even while undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, Sparkman would show up for work smiling with a toboggan cap to cover his balding head. They said he was punctual and dependable.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...BlP6gD9C63JGG0

[Saison]

This is crazy! How odd that he would go to such lengths to make it look otherwise...

[BooRadley]

That's really sad. The guy was probably going to die anyway, and must have thought he could avoid the pain, and make some money for his family by staging a murder.

[86Dude]

Yep, too bad the feds had to ruin it.

[Nicholae]

That is really just sad.

[Snouter]

In the end, that selfish, pathetic POS, probably suffering from some kind of "leftist guilt" ends up smearing an entire demographic of dem hill people, wasted time and money, and had the intention of having some poor sap spend life in prison.

[soylentgreen]

This sucks. Now we can't blame the death on hillbilly racists anymore.

[jwreck]

I'm sure the conspiracy nuts will be all over this obvious attempt by the government to cover up the murder and mahem perpetrated by racist domestic terror cells.

[86Dude]

I really thought some deliverence type shit had gone down there.

[Lulu]

Wow that is wild (and sad). Who knew the guy had cancer? Why don't people just crash a car to collect insurance. I didn't pay that much attention to this story when it happened but figured it was some hillbilly meth lab maker who killed him.

[jwreck]

Originally Posted by Lulu

Wow that is wild (and sad). Who knew the guy had cancer? Why don't people just crash a car to collect insurance. I didn't pay that much attention to this story when it happened but figured it was some hillbilly meth lab maker who killed him.

Because crashing your car is not even remotely a surefire way to kill yourself.

[Lulu]

Originally Posted by jwreck

Because crashing your car is not even remotely a surefire way to kill yourself.

Um off a cliff or head on at 100 MPH would do it. True, driving into a lampost or a lake might not do it. If someone is going to hang themselves and put a little sign on himself, they mean to do it. It drew too much attention whereas driving off of something would not have and his family would have the life insurance money now.

[Cd.]

Maybe it was not a suicide. Maybe its all a conspiracy....