Greensboring :: Outside The Media. Beyond The News.

WASHINGTON AP— The FBI is investigating the hanging death of a U.S. Census worker near a Kentucky cemetery, and a law enforcement official told The Associated Press the word 'fed" was scrawled on the dead man's chest.

The body of Bill Sparkman, a 51-year-old part-time Census field worker and occasional teacher, was found Sept. 12 in a remote patch of the Daniel Boone National Forest in rural southeast Kentucky. The Census has suspended door-to-door interviews in rural Clay County, where the body was found, pending the outcome of the investigation.

Investigators are still trying to determine whether the death was a killing or a suicide, and if a killing, whether the motive was related to his government job or to anti-government sentiment.

Concern..and worry gripped the staff of Johnson Elementary last Thursday when Bill Sparkman didn't show up for his after school work assignment.

“He was always where he was supposed to be, when he was supposed to be. He didn't call..he didn't show up,” said Johnson Ele. Family Resource Center Director Gilbert Acciardo.

The 51-year-old Sparkman had recently beaten the odds in an often fatal form of cancer. That was while he spent two years earning a teaching degree while holding down two jobs. And school staff say he was always dependable. Then on Sunday..his body was found more than 30 miles away..in a rural part of Clay County.

“We have the same questions everybody else does..what happened to Mr. Sparkman? Because we know what police have told us,” said Acciardo.

Police are not saying how Sparkman died or even what kind of injuries he had, and they say at this point they are not ruling anything out.

Police aren't saying whether the investigation is leaning towards an accidental death..or a homicide.

Besides his job in education...friends say Sparkman also worked for the US Census Bureau..which could explain why he was in such a rural part of Clay County. But police say his family doesn't know for sure.

Police say the exact cause of death is pending autopsy results.

A Person wrote:

WASHINGTON AP— The FBI is investigating the hanging death of a U.S. Census worker near a Kentucky cemetery, and a law enforcement official told The Associated Press the word 'fed" was scrawled on the dead man's chest.

The body of Bill Sparkman, a 51-year-old part-time Census field worker and occasional teacher, was found Sept. 12 in a remote patch of the Daniel Boone National Forest in rural southeast Kentucky. The Census has suspended door-to-door interviews in rural Clay County, where the body was found, pending the outcome of the investigation.

Investigators are still trying to determine whether the death was a killing or a suicide, and if a killing, whether the motive was related to his government job or to anti-government sentiment.

Dazed&Confused wrote:Why is this noose classified as possible "anti-government sentiment"? Seems like every other noose is classified as a HATE CRIME. Where is Al Sharpton? Why isn't he speaking up for this man?

BIG CREEK, Ky. — A part-time census worker found hanging in a rural Kentucky cemetery was naked, gagged and had his hands and feet bound with duct tape, said an Ohio man who discovered the body two weeks ago.

Jerry Weaver of Fairfield, Ohio, told The Associated Press on Friday that he was among a group of relatives who discovered the body of 51-year-old Bill Sparkman on Sept. 12.

"The only thing he had on was a pair of socks," Weaver said. "And they had duct-taped his hands, his wrists. He had duct tape over his eyes, and they gagged him with a red rag or something.

"And they even had duct tape around his neck. And they had like his identification tag on his neck. They had it duct-taped to the side of his neck, on the right side, almost on his right shoulder."

Weaver said he couldn't tell if the tag was a Census Bureau I.D. He said he didn't get close enough to read it.

State police Capt. Lisa Rudzinski would not confirm Weaver's description of the crime scene. Two people briefed on the investigation said various details of Weaver's account matched the details of the crime scene, though both people said they were not informed who found the body. The two spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.

Both of the people briefed on the investigation said, for instance, that a Census identification badge, which Census workers are instructed to wear when they go on door to door work, was found taped to his head and shoulder area.

Authorities have released very few details on the death. Coroner Jim Trosper has said the word "fed" was written on Sparkman's chest with what was likely a felt-tip pen. Weaver said he was not close enough to see anything written on the body's chest.

deepshade wrote:He must of walked up on somebody's still or hemp patch. There are some very mean places in the backwoods of Kentucky/Tennessee/West Virginia.........The movie Deliverance comes to mind.....I know shame on me for stereotyping.... sorry. It is a sad story.