More details are now emerging in the grizzly death of part-time Census worker Bill Sparkman. Sparkman was found hanging from a tree in Daniel Boone National Forrest on September 12. The word “fed” had been scrawled across his chest with a felt marking pen. Sparkman was performing work for the Census Bureau at the time of his death.
Authorities have now released information indicating that Sparkman died of asphyxiation. The FBI has been called into the case because it is a federal crime to harm a federal worker while he is on the job. A local family that had been visiting a local cemetery when they discovered Sparkman’s body. Police have not said whether they consider the death to be homicide, suicide or accidental, but Jerry Weaver, one of those who discovered the body believes it was a clear case of murder. “He was murdered,” Weaver said. “There’s no doubt.”
Weaver told the Associated Press that Sparkman had been stripped naked except for a pair of white socks, gagged, blindfolded with duct tape, and his hands and feet bound with duct tape. Weaver also says that an ID tag had been tied to the side of Sparkman’s neck, possibly his Census ID card. ”I thought he could have been killed somewhere else and brought there and hanged up for display, or they actually could have killed him right there. It was a bad, bad scene,” said Weaver.
Many have speculated that Bill Sparkman is a victim of anti-government violence spurred by the economic recession and the ascension of the Democratic Party to power. Authorities have also pointed to the possibility of drug-related violence, since there are known to be meth labs and marijuana fields throughout the area. Clay County is an economicly depressed rural county with a long history of criminal activity and anti-government sentiment reaching back to the old “moonshine” days.
One former Census worker said many of those he canvased wondered why the federal government had an interest in them. ”You meet some strange people,” said George Robinson. “Nothing is a surprise in Clay County.”
Bill Sparkman is remembered by those who knew him as a quiet, kind man with a fondness for children. He had a long association with the Eagle Scouts, including full time work with the national organization, before moving to Kentucky and gaining work as an educational assistant. Finding he liked teaching, Sparkman returned to school and gained a degree in mathematical education, all while working full time at a school and part-time for the U.S. Census Bureau.
Despite a recent bout with non-lymphoma Hodgkin’s Disease, Sparkman continued to work as a substitute teacher as well as a part-time Census Bureau worker.
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