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

[i.b.nora]

An early article from September 15th:

Updated: 6:43 PM Sep 15, 2009
Questions surround Laurel County man's death
Bill Sparkman was found death Saturday night in rural Clay County.
Posted: 5:32 PM Sep 15, 2009
Reporter: Phil Pendleton
WKYT

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.

http://www.wkyt.com/news/headlines/59386962.html

There is a video there, too.

 

[i.b.nora]

Here is a link to the newspaper in Manchester, Kentucky

http://www.themanchesterenterprise.com/

might need to be a subscriber to read the online version

 

[wolfscratch]

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

In another article and a segment of Fox News where the local Sheriff was interviewed, it was reported that suicide hasn't been ruled out.

I am at a lost for words....

 

[i.b.nora]

Well, it does look like there are at least a few people in Clay County that might not like federal government people very much.

CLAY COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTION OFFICIALS ARRESTED AND INDICTED

Department of Justice
MARCH 19, 2009

CLAY COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTION OFFICIALS ARRESTED AND INDICTED FOR RACKETEERING AND VOTER FRAUD CONSPIRACY

LEXINGTON—The United States Attorney’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation jointly announced today that five Manchester, Ky. officials, including the circuit court judge, the county clerk, and election officers were arrested pursuant to a federal indictment that accused them of using corrupt tactics to obtain political power and personal gain.

The 10-count indictment, unsealed today, accused the defendants of a conspiracy from March 2002 until November 2006 that violated the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). RICO is a federal statute that prosecutors use to combat organized crime. The defendants were also indicted for extortion, mail fraud, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to injure voters’ rights and conspiracy to commit voter fraud.

According to the indictment, these alleged criminal actions affected the outcome of federal, local, and state primary and general elections in 2002, 2004, and 2006. The indictment accused the defendants of the following criminal actions.

It goes on to name all the indicted people. The indictment of a person by a grand jury is an accusation only, and that person is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

 

[mysteriew]

Whoever did this wanted him found. He was evidently hung very near the cemetary since a guy there to visit family graves saw him. There are many more isolated areas if they didn't want him found. And it isn't like there weren't any other trees to hang him from. So they wanted him found. And the condition the remains were found in, they are sending a message.

The info about this being similar to hangings in Mexico is interesting. So is the observation about there not being any media coverage for a period of time after his body was found. I may be able to explain part of that. In many rural areas there is no TV coverage, maybe only 1 radio station and the newspapers are often published just once a week. So depending on when (what day of the week) he was found, it could have been another week before it came out in the paper. It may have taken another week for other media to have picked it up because they don't pay much attention to the more rural areas, then it hit National news.

 

[wolfscratch]

Whoever did this wanted him found. He was evidently hung very near the cemetary since a guy there to visit family graves saw him. There are many more isolated areas if they didn't want him found. And it isn't like there weren't any other trees to hang him from. So they wanted him found. And the condition the remains were found in, they are sending a message.

The info about this being similar to hangings in Mexico is interesting. So is the observation about there not being any media coverage for a period of time after his body was found. I may be able to explain part of that. In many rural areas there is no TV coverage, maybe only 1 radio station and the newspapers are often published just once a week. So depending on when (what day of the week) he was found, it could have been another week before it came out in the paper. It may have taken another week for other media to have picked it up because they don't pay much attention to the more rural areas, then it hit National news.

Thanks for your insight mysteriew. I am a little confused as to when the TOD actually was and whether he was simply displayed at the cemetery location or actually hanged there. It seems decomposition had began.
Yes, his body was definitely staged to send a distinct message. Just not sure what the intention of what the message was. Could have been to confuse Investigators leading them down a false trail. The tailgate being down on his truck would indicate that he may have been transported and the actual murder may have taken place at another more isolated location. The motives could be simple robbery or many others.
The duct taped hands and legs leads me to believe that he was held hostage for a period of time before being tortured and murdered by multiple suspects.

 

[Kat]

Well, it does look like there are at least a few people in Clay County that might not like federal government people very much.

Bolded respectfully by me for clarity of a response.


http://spectator.org/blog/2009/09/26/official-internet-morons-cause

..."Yes, we are concerned about what people are saying on the blogs," a Kentucky law enforcement official said Saturday night, speaking on condition of anonymity...

..."You'd be surprised what some of these morons write on the Internet . . . that they wouldn't say to somebody's face,"

 

[tater]

As a moron who writes on the internet let me say the death bears looking into. Let me say that this guy worked for the census since 2003. He wasn't a newbie and should have been aware of what he was doing. These people have gone through census counts before so what is so different now? Did the previous workers just not bother to go to the more rural areas? If these people get mail, or Social Security benefits either old age or disablility or supplemental income, then they can't hate the government that bad. Something if off here.

Those people that were brought up on charges were all elected officials?

 

[TallCoolOne]

So, is the Census information entered into his laptop? What I'm getting at, if he entered the information directly into his laptop, they would be able to know the last information entered and that should at least help narrow things down as to the last place visited as well as possibly the next place on his agenda.

 

[wolfscratch]

So, is the Census information entered into his laptop? What I'm getting at, if he entered the information directly into his laptop, they would be able to know the last information entered and that should at least help narrow things down as to the last place visited as well as possibly the next place on his agenda.

Exactly, TCO, this would indicate that if it was someone from the area that he was working, the identification of suspects would have been completed. It has been aprox. 3 weeks now, with no arrests announced.
I am leaning towards random, stranger on stranger crime of opportunity.
The proximity of his body hanged from the tree to the cemetery, with the tailgate of the truck being down, his feet touching the ground, would indicate that he was murdered in a more secluded place, transported to this location where it is more likely that he would be found by people visiting the graves..very brazen, IMO. as in the Kristi Cornwell abduction which occured due south, only weeks before this incident near Blairsville, GA.
http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=B...,-83.956404&sspn=0.03267,0.055189&ie=UTF8&z=7

 

[Sharedspirit]

I was going to apply for a census job here in WV and didn't for this very reason. A friend of mine who is in law enforcement told me it's very dangerous now, expecially with all the rural meth lab activity. I took his advice.

 

[SuziQ]

As a moron who writes on the internet let me say the death bears looking into. Let me say that this guy worked for the census since 2003. He wasn't a newbie and should have been aware of what he was doing. These people have gone through census counts before so what is so different now? Did the previous workers just not bother to go to the more rural areas? If these people get mail, or Social Security benefits either old age or disablility or supplemental income, then they can't hate the government that bad. Something if off here.

Those people that were brought up on charges were all elected officials?

In recent years there has been a backlash against the census bureau for not getting complete counts of homeless, illegals and people living on the fringe. They are now required to go places and account for people that they never had to before. IMO, the anti-govt sentiment out there is the worst I've seen in my life. We've got preachers wanting Obama to die. Combine that with meth labs and pot farms......

 

[Snick1946]

In recent years there has been a backlash against the census bureau for not getting complete counts of homeless, illegals and people living on the fringe. They are now required to go places and account for people that they never had to before. IMO, the anti-govt sentiment out there is the worst I've seen in my life. We've got preachers wanting Obama to die. Combine that with meth labs and pot farms......

Just last week a local 'Christian' radio station aired a sermon by some tub-thumping ignoramous in the course of which he prayed that God would rid this nation of our 'vile' leaders, 'no matter what it takes, oh Lord'. I called the station as soon as I was able and got nowhere of course, some teen-sounding person there told me that is not their opinion, they dont try to edit what is said in their programs. I don't think she had any idea why I was upset. That to me was the most frightening part- they are so used to living in fear and hate that they don't get it.
I seem to recall hearing some of the AM radio hate mongers talking about the census and how it was all part of the 'plot.'
I truly fear for our country.

 

[Snick1946]

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

In another article and a segment of Fox News where the local Sheriff was interviewed, it was reported that suicide hasn't been ruled out.

I am at a lost for words....

The local sheriff moved to the top of my suspect list after I read that one.
It reminds me of years ago in the deep south when a civil rights worker was found dead in a pond chained, beaten and weighted down by a concrete block. The local sheriff there said he thought it was suicide.

 

[KAE]

Just last week a local 'Christian' radio station aired a sermon by some tub-thumping ignoramous in the course of which he prayed that God would rid this nation of our 'vile' leaders, 'no matter what it takes, oh Lord'. I called the station as soon as I was able and got nowhere of course, some teen-sounding person there told me that is not their opinion, they dont try to edit what is said in their programs. I don't think she had any idea why I was upset. That to me was the most frightening part- they are so used to living in fear and hate that they don't get it.
I seem to recall hearing some of the AM radio hate mongers talking about the census and how it was all part of the 'plot.'
I truly fear for our country.

I came across this article today while looking for info about census workers and GPS.

http://www.infowars.com/census-gps-a-missile-at-your-door/

It makes the claim that census workers are gathering GPS co-ordinates so the government can target individual citizens with a missile.

Please be warned - this is a very frightening site and the views expressed are not my own!

 

[SuziQ]

Kae and Snick, this is the kind of hate stuff I've been seeing too. What is scary is how many people believe this stuff. You can only imagine what they'd do to a live census worker if one happened to knock on their door.

 

[ThoughtFox]

Clint Van Zandt the profiler was on The Ed Show on MSNBC this afternoon, and the transcript should be up on MSNBC tomorrow.

I'm taking it with a grain of salt, but he said the reason it couldn't be ruled out as a suicide is that the hands were bound in front of the victim and the word "Fed" was written in Felt Pen and not cut into the skin or something more horrible.

He implied that this guy had money troubles so he did it for insurance reasons, but I think that's a stretch. He has a son, and he wouldn't want his son to hear about him dying in this humiliating way. It doesn't ring true.

My questions? Did they find a felt pen on the victim with his own fingerprints on him? And why did he need to write FED if he also put his Cenus-taker's ID on him?

The original hunter who found him felt it was murder, and I believe him over Cliff Van Zandt any day.

I feel sorry for all the Census Workers out there. People who demonize them are working against their own self-interests for where money is allocated for various projects and schools. As someone who has done genealogy work from the Census, it's also a record for our future descendents, a record that we existed as citizens, so it's historical. People need to think instead of mindlessly follow others down a slippery slope like sheep. :furious:

Most of the people I know who have taken Census jobs really needed the money, and it's a thankless job even without this layer of senseless hatred.

 

[wolfscratch]

The local sheriff moved to the top of my suspect list after I read that one.
It reminds me of years ago in the deep south when a civil rights worker was found dead in a pond chained, beaten and weighted down by a concrete block. The local sheriff there said he thought it was suicide.

I don't suspect the Sheriff of complicity, but simply concluding the improbable, if not the impossible.

The laytex gloves, shown in the video have me scratching my head.

 

[wolfscratch]

Clint Van Zandt the profiler was on The Ed Show on MSNBC this afternoon, and the transcript should be up on MSNBC tomorrow.

I'm taking it with a grain of salt, but he said the reason it couldn't be ruled out as a suicide is that the hands were bound in front of the victim and the word "Fed" was written in Felt Pen and not cut into the skin or something more horrible.

He implied that this guy had money troubles so he did it for insurance reasons, but I think that's a stretch. He has a son, and he wouldn't want his son to hear about him dying in this humiliating way. It doesn't ring true.

My questions? Did they find a felt pen on the victim with his own fingerprints on him? And why did he need to write FED if he also put his Cenus-taker's ID on him?

The original hunter who found him felt it was murder, and I believe him over Cliff Van Zandt any day.

I feel sorry for all the Census Workers out there. People who demonize them are working against their own self-interests for where money is allocated for various projects and schools. As someone who has done genealogy work from the Census, it's also a record for our future descendents, a record that we existed as citizens, so it's historical. People need to think instead of mindlessly follow others down a slippery slope like sheep. :furious:

Most of the people I know who have taken Census jobs really needed the money, and it's a thankless job even without this layer of senseless hatred.

Thought Fox, normally I have a lot of confidence in Clint Van Zandt's profiling
abilities and instincts but in this case the suicide for financial gain; motive, doesn't hold water, IMO
****************************
In Appalacia where I live, it's a genealogist's nightmare. In the 1800's when many migrated here, many were illiterate. The census workers would spell their name according to the way it sounded. Many families last names are spelled different in this region although they are related.

 

[mysteriew]

Clint Van Zandt the profiler was on The Ed Show on MSNBC this afternoon, and the transcript should be up on MSNBC tomorrow.

I'm taking it with a grain of salt, but he said the reason it couldn't be ruled out as a suicide is that the hands were bound in front of the victim and the word "Fed" was written in Felt Pen and not cut into the skin or something more horrible.

He implied that this guy had money troubles so he did it for insurance reasons, but I think that's a stretch. He has a son, and he wouldn't want his son to hear about him dying in this humiliating way. It doesn't ring true.

My questions? Did they find a felt pen on the victim with his own fingerprints on him? And why did he need to write FED if he also put his Cenus-taker's ID on him?

The original hunter who found him felt it was murder, and I believe him over Cliff Van Zandt any day.

I feel sorry for all the Census Workers out there. People who demonize them are working against their own self-interests for where money is allocated for various projects and schools. As someone who has done genealogy work from the Census, it's also a record for our future descendents, a record that we existed as citizens, so it's historical. People need to think instead of mindlessly follow others down a slippery slope like sheep. :furious:

Most of the people I know who have taken Census jobs really needed the money, and it's a thankless job even without this layer of senseless hatred.

You bring up an interesting point though. Even though it has been more than a week since the murder, LE is still saying they are trying to determine if it is suicide or homicide. I don't get that, the autopsy would be done by now it shouldn't be that hard to determine. So if they know and are keeping it quiet, then why?

To me LE has been very cagy about this case. The news doesn't get out for two weeks, they can't determine if it is suicide or homicide, they even seem to be unsure why he was in the area that day.

I think part of the reason info is so slow is because this would be a federal crime, the FBI would be involved in the investigation. They traditionally don't give out much info even to local LE. But even taking that into consideration they are holding back a lot on this investigation. For instance has anyone ever seen what the autopsy says he died from? How long had he been dead before he was found? Was it determined that he was doing a census in the area? Had his computer been tampered with?

One point about the "possible suicide" theory. If it is determined that he was in the area working on the census, then that will pretty much rule out a suicide theory. You don't pack a suicide kit, then stop to do a census interview shortly before hanging yourself. Not even if you were trying to disguise the suicide. If you are contemplating suicide you aren't in any shape to interact with strangers and do a task.