About that Census worker? The one the ‘angry mob’ must have killed?
FRANKFORT — A U.S. Census worker found dead in a secluded Clay County [Kentucky] cemetery killed himself but tried to make the death look like a homicide, authorities have concluded.
Bill Sparkman, 51, of London, might have tried to cover the manner of his death to preserve payments under two life-insurance polices that he had taken out. The policies wouldn’t pay off if Sparkman committed suicide, state police Capt. Lisa Rudzinski said.
(snip)
Sparkman’s nude body was found Sept. 12 by people visiting the cemetery. There was a rope around his neck tied to a tree, and he had what appeared to be the word “fed” written on his chest in black marker.
His census identification card was taped to his head.
The bizarre details of the death caused a firestorm of media coverage and widespread speculation on the Internet, including that someone angry at the federal government attacked Sparkman as he went door to door, gathering census information.
There has been some anti-census sentiment in the country this year. However, FBI spokesman David Beyer said at a Frankfort news conference that there was no indication Sparkman was trying to play on that as part of his ruse. Sparkman had discussed with acquaintances recent federal investigations of alleged public corruption in Clay County, Beyer said.
One doubts that this corrective will catch up to the original story.
(H/T: Hot Air)
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54 comments Add your comment
David Axelfraud
November 25th, 2009
11:04 am
Peter, did you know this week is a holiday week? I wonder if it ever occurred to you that people use vacation time. My wife is actually out shopping for food for a big feast tomorrow. It’s supposed to snow.
Aquagirl
November 25th, 2009
11:53 am
@ Quaint, thanks for clarifying the daily kos link.
saywhat?
November 25th, 2009
12:50 pm
Kyle Wingfield
November 25th, 2009
10:31 am
saywhat: What was “egregious” in this case was assigning blame to right-wing media personalities, which slanders them and demeans their listeners as a bunch of weak minds just waiting to carry out the talkmasters’ coded bidding.(You mean like happened in Tennessee and Pittsburgh?) And I would say that, unlike the SNL skit, this misreporting was reflective of the “left-wing elite perception.”(Whereas the SNL skit was reflective of “right-wing down-to-earth real-American perception”?)
It comes down to the (probably worn out by now) “shouting fire in a crowded theater” argument.When you already have examples of panicky stampedes at theaters because somebody shouted fire, one would tend to assume that when the third stampede happens, the reason was likely the same. In this case, it was intentionally meant to look that way. When something looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, please forgive people if they assume its a duck, even if it later turns out to be somebody in a duck suit.
Rob
November 25th, 2009
3:59 pm
The San Jose, Calif. Police Department said they would investigate when they were was notified in June 2009 that there was new information in the suicide or assisted-suicide death of a priest on jury duty, Fr. James Chevedden, S.J. The death was a few minutes walk from the downtown police headquarters. The San Jose police never asked for the new information and soon said they found nothing new in their investigation.