FBI Probe US Census Worker, Bill Sparkman's, Hanging in Rural Kentucky Cemetery, Was a Homicide or Suicide

The FBI has launched an investigation into the hanging death of Bill Sparkman, a part-time U.S. Census worker near a Kentucky cemetery, and it is being reported that a law enforcement official said the word 'fed" was scrawled on the dead man's chest. Mr. Sparkman's body was found September 12 in a remote patch of the Daniel Boone National Forest in rural southeast Kentucky. As a result of this horrific turn of events, the Census has suspended door-to-door interviews in rural Clay County, pending the outcome of the investigation. We must exercise caution in ruling this as a homicide because Sparkman may have very well committed suicide.

Investigators are still trying to ascertain 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.

Census employees were told Sparkman's truck was found nearby, and a computer he was using for work was found inside it, she said. He worked part-time for the Census, usually conducting interviews once or twice a month. He has worked for the Census since 2003, spanning five counties in the surrounding area. Much of his recent work had been in Clay County, officials said. Door-to-door operations have been suspended in Clay County pending a resolution of the investigation, Scurry-Johnson said.

There are some really sick people out there whose mission is to wreak havoc and harm innocent people. I hope that law enforcement will solve this crime and bring the perpetrators to justice if this was a homicide. We must also be mindful of the fact that Mr. Sparkman may have committed suicide and was not the victim of a homicide.