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Bill Sparkman

Police: Sparkman Committed Suicide, Made It Look Like Murder For Insurance Scam

Zachary Roth | November 24, 2009, 2:19PM

Bill Sparkman

Census worker Bill Sparkman committed suicide and deliberately made it look like murder as part of an insurance scam, Kentucky state police have concluded.

State police, working with the FBI, said at a press conference moments ago that Sparkman had recently taken out two life insurance policies that would not pay out for suicide. It appears Sparkman hoped that the scheme would benefit his son, Josh Sparkman.

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Topics: Bill Sparkman, Census Bureau, FBI, Right-wing extremism

Census Bureau

Investigators Probing Whether Sparkman Manipulated Death Scene For Insurance Scheme: Report

Zachary Roth | November 13, 2009, 2:46PM

Bill Sparkman

The probe into the death of Census Bureau worker Bill Sparkman continues -- and authorities may now be considering a whole new theory of the case.

Two law enforcement sources tell the AP that investigators are considering whether Sparkman committed suicide, but intentionally made it look like murder in order to allow his son to make a life insurance claim. Most life insurance policies don't cover suicides, at least within a certain time frame after the policy begins.

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Topics: Bill Sparkman, Census Bureau, Right-wing extremism

AP: Authorities Look At Possibility Of Suicide In Death Of Census Worker

Justin Elliott | November 5, 2009, 4:21PM

Bill Sparkman

Anonymous officials tell the AP they are looking at whether Bill Sparkman, the Census worker found dead in rural Kentucky in September with the word "fed" written on his chest, may have committed suicide.

The wire service reports that investigators have recently "grown more skeptical that 51-year-old Bill Sparkman died at the hands of someone angry at the federal government." It continues:

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Topics: Bill Sparkman, Census Bureau

Bill Sparkman

KY Police: Speculation About Sparkman Death Has Hampered Probe

Zachary Roth | October 28, 2009, 10:00AM

Bill Sparkman

Are investigators edging away from the idea that Census Bureau worker Bill Sparkman was killed in an act of anti-government violence?

Kentucky police have been largely silent for weeks now on the probe of Sparkman's case, in which the part-time Census worker was found dead in a rural area of the state, blindfolded and gagged, with a rope around his neck and the word "Fed" written on his naked chest.

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Topics: Bill Sparkman, Census Bureau, Right-wing extremism

Bill Sparkman

Sparkman's Son: "He Didn't Do This To Himself"

Zachary Roth | September 29, 2009, 3:33PM

Bill Sparkman

The Associated Press has tracked down the son of the Bill Sparkman, the Census Bureau worker found dead earlier this month in rural Kentucky. And Josh Sparkman, 19, has no doubt his father was murdered.

"I look at it as disrespectful to be still throwing suicide and accident around," he said. "He didn't do this to himself. That's dishonorable. My dad was a good man. No person on this planet is going to fight cancer like he did, then turn around and kill himself a year or so later."

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Topics: Bill Sparkman, FBI, Right-wing extremism

Bill Sparkman

Witness: Sparkman Was Bound, Gagged, And Naked When Found

Zachary Roth | September 28, 2009, 2:25PM

Bill Sparkman

When Census worker Bill Sparkman was found dead earlier this month, he was naked and gagged, with duct tape over his eyes. Duct tape also bound Sparkman's hands and feet.

That's according to the man who found him, Jerry Weaver, who spoke to the AP over the weekend. Weaver, who lives in Ohio, was in Clay County, Kentucky for a family reunion, and was visiting some family graves with his wife and daughter when he found Sparkman's body on September 12th.

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Topics: Bill Sparkman, Census Bureau, Right-wing extremism

FBI

Coroner Confirms "Fed" Written On Sparkman's Chest

Zachary Roth | September 25, 2009, 9:28AM

Bill Sparkman

The local coroner has confirmed that the word "Fed" had been written on Bill Sparkman's chest when he was found dead earlier this month.

Jim Trosper, the Clay County coroner, confirmed the information to TPMmuckraker moments ago, adding that the word appeared to have been written in felt tip marker. He declined to give additional details.

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Topics: Bill Sparkman, FBI, Right-wing extremism

FBI

FBI: Sparkman Was Found Touching Ground, Not Hanging From Tree

Zachary Roth | September 24, 2009, 5:48PM

Bill Sparkman

Bill Sparkman, the Census worker found dead in Kentucky recently was not found hanging from a tree, according to an FBI spokesman. Rather, David Beyer told TPMmuckraker, Sparkman's feet were planted on the ground. A rope around Sparkman's neck was attached to a tree.

An anonymously sourced AP report said that Sparkman was hanging from a tree, and that he had the word "Fed" scrawled on his chest.

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Topics: Bill Sparkman, FBI, Kentucky, Right-wing extremism

Census Bureau

Dead Census Worker Was Warned To "Be Careful" In Rural Kentucky

Zachary Roth | September 24, 2009, 4:48PM

Bill Sparkman was warned about the danger of going into rural parts of Kentucky to conduct Census interviews, a retired state trooper who knew him told TPMmuckraker.

Gilbert Acciardo, who ran an after-school program at a southeastern Kentucky high-school where Sparkman was a substitute teacher, said that when Sparkman -- a Florida native -- first started doing the Census work, "I said, you're going into rural Kentucky, isolated areas. Be careful over there -- people may not understand that you're there to gather statistics."

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Topics: Bill Sparkman, Census Bureau, FBI, Kentucky, Right-wing extremism

Bill Sparkman

Census Worker Found Dead In Kentucky -- What Do We Know?

Zachary Roth | September 24, 2009, 2:54PM

Over the last 24 hours, we've been tracking a gruesome story developing involving the death of a Kentucky Census Bureau worker. The potential political implications of what happened are already generating a lot of attention around the internet -- so it's worth taking a moment to lay out what we know.

On September 12th, the body of Bill Sparkman, a 51-year old part-time Census worker and teacher was found in a remote area of the Daniel Boone National Forest, in Clay County, in rural southeast Kentucky. Sparkman reportedly had died on the morning of the day before.