KY - Bill Sparkman, census worker, found dead in Clay County cemetery

LovingTheChaos

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AP source: Census worker hanged with 'fed' on body
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.​

http://www.wkyt.com/wymtnews/headlines/60797072.html

The Census has suspended door-to-door interviews in rural Clay
County, where the body was found, pending the outcome of the
investigation. An autopsy report is pending.


Bill Sparkman, Single Father, Eagle Scout, murdered for working for the census?

The title should be KY, not WV, I am not sure how to edit titles.
 
Hopefully they will find who did this and it will turn out that the 'Fed' angle was a ruse to cover up a more personal motive.
If not then this may be a portent of what may come while we go through this rough passage of madness in this country.
I was a government worker for 25 years. I have a long memory that includes some of the threats of violence against government workers and their families during the hayday of the 'militas' in the mid 90's. These people are still out there. It should worry and concern all of us, right or left or inbetween.
 
This is just terrible. Prayers to his family.

There have been a few crimes against Census Workers in the past few years. Makes sense if you think about having to knock on random strangers doors in what might be isolated or dangerous areas. And I think now they count homeless too don't they? Although I don't know where or how they get those numbers. Do they go to homeless camps or shelters? Anyways, I recall hearing Census workers having guns pulled on them, getting attacked by dogs, robbed, and sometimes they are abducted and murdered. One case I think is from Kansas City. I can't recall the woman's name off hand. She disappeared and they found her body a couple of years later.
 
Since his computer was in his vehicle, let's hope there may be some clues about where he was planning to go that day.

VB
 
Here's more on it.

My guess is he stumbled upon some bootleggers or marijuana growers. JMO
 
The title needs editing, it was KY not WV. I lived close at one point not but about 1hr from there and there are some shady people you don't want to run into in the back woods there. TBH, the bootleggers are the ones you have to worry about most of all, imo.
 
Here's more on it.

My guess is he stumbled upon some bootleggers or marijuana growers. JMO

My God! I am so sorry for his family! They were told it would be better to have him cremated because of the decomposition.
 
http://abcnews.go.com/US/census-interviews-suspended-worker-found-hanged-kentucky/story?id=8659585

They are saying the area is known for it's marijuanna growers and it's meth labs. They didn't mention bootleggers but I wondered about them. I've always heard that if you get lost in Eastern Ky you didn't want to turn around in anyone's driveway because that might get you shot.

Online blogs are saying there is a possibility that it is suicide, and that he was found with his toes touching the ground. In the above article that I posted they worded it something like they are investigating to determine if it was foul play. His mother indicated that she might have some ideas, but she wasn't going to talk until she heard from the FBI.

http://www.courier-journal.com/arti...40361/Census+worker+s+mysterious+death+probed
 
God bless his family!! When I heard about it this morning I was dumbstruck to believe that a person could be so heinously slain!!!! The fact he was PT'ing as a census worker to subsidize his teachers salary really made me sick to my stomach!! This poor man's family!! What the "H" is happening to this country? I just heard in the town I live in "Decatur,IL" that a man was arrested for terroristically trying to blow up the Federal Court House in Springfield, IL. Fed's had been following him for 2 years and planted inactive bombs in his car and he was going to blow up that courthouse today if it was real??? What the Hay??? And, a massive murder took place not even 15 miles from here just on Sunday night??? Scary what is happening!!!
 
"Gilbert Acciardo, a former state trooper, said he warned his friend Sparkman to be careful while going door-to-door gathering data as a part-time employee of the Census Bureau.

“What I said to him was, ‘Bill, you're going over to an isolated area, you're going over to a rural area. The people that you're going to be talking to may not understand that you're just collecting statistics, so be careful,'” Acciardo recalled."

http://www.courier-journal.com/arti...40361/Census+worker+s+mysterious+death+probed

If you read further into this article, it states it's a dangerous time of year to be going into that area - marijuana harvesting time.


Then, there's this statement (IMO dumb) by the Census Bureau...

"The U.S. Census Bureau said it had no information that Sparkman's death was related to his work with the bureau."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/25/census.worker.death/index.html
 
http://abcnews.go.com/US/census-interviews-suspended-worker-found-hanged-kentucky/story?id=8659585

They are saying the area is known for it's marijuanna growers and it's meth labs. They didn't mention bootleggers but I wondered about them. I've always heard that if you get lost in Eastern Ky you didn't want to turn around in anyone's driveway because that might get you shot.

Online blogs are saying there is a possibility that it is suicide, and that he was found with his toes touching the ground. In the above article that I posted they worded it something like they are investigating to determine if it was foul play. His mother indicated that she might have some ideas, but she wasn't going to talk until she heard from the FBI.

http://www.courier-journal.com/arti...40361/Census+worker+s+mysterious+death+probed

The suicide angle is interesting- however how would you explain the "FED' thing? I am not clear yet if this was a sign on his body or if carved on it someplace. I think this indicates someone else was there when the body was placed.
I have not spent much time in the area of eastern Kentucky or WV but have driven though a few times on my way elsewhere. No offense to anyone in those fine states, but I never felt entirely safe while there. There is a kind of darkness perminating this area. Maybe it's poverty but it also seems to be something else. This poor man had no idea what he was walking into.
 
OK...now I will show my complete ignorance here...what is the significance of his toes touching the ground mean?
 
He could have stood up and then there would be no pressure of the rope on his neck. He could have saved himself by just standing up. Unless someone was standing by him strangling him with the rope. Then it wouldn't have mattered whether his toes were touching the ground or not.
 
He could have stood up and then there would be no pressure of the rope on his neck. He could have saved himself by just standing up. Unless someone was standing by him strangling him with the rope. Then it wouldn't have mattered whether his toes were touching the ground or not.

Oh, thanks for explaining. I was thinking that over time, the weight of his body dragged him down, letting his feet touch the ground, and I couldn't see what the significance of that was, other than probably an original hanging point that wasn't very high up.
 
I really want to know how many crimes and other bad incidents have happened against census workers. I bet there have been plenty. I know I recall plenty.
 
http://www.mytwocensus.com/2009/04/24/urgent-census-workers-lostand-found/

(snip)
After two Census Bureau employees went missing earlier today, one wonders: Why aren’t GPS systems installed in the handheld computers that all Census Bureau enumerators must carry? Why was there such a lack of communication between supervisors and their employees that the precise location of the employees could not be determined until many hours after they went missing and search efforts were underway from state police, firefighters, and troops?
 
I still can't remember the name of the poor lady who had the misfortune of knocking on a sex offenders door. LE is pretty sure his house was the last one she called on, but they could never prove it and bring charges. Does anyone remember that case? She has a thread at WS. She was in her 50's I think and had red hair. Pretty lady.

http://blog.taragana.com/n/census-t...nment-workers-should-tread-cautiously-178224/

(snip)
Although the Census Bureau could not immediately offer statistics on violence against its workers, such incidents are not unheard of.
In 2000, a Milwaukee-area man was charged with battery for allegedly trying to shove a 74-year-old census worker down a flight of stairs. And in 2002, a Sacramento businessman was sentenced to a year in prison for violently dragging a 68-year-old widow off his property as she tried to explain the count’s importance.
 

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