On Tuesday, authorities announced that Bill Sparkman's death has been determined to be a suicide. Despite the fact that the Kentucky census worker was found naked, bound with duct tape and hanging from a tree with “fed” scrawled on his chest, evidence pointed to a suicide, they indicated. In effect, police said, Sparkman killed himself, but staged his death to make it look like a homicide.
Forensically, the evidence pointed to Sparkman being alone and self-inflicting the hanging scene upn himself, Kentucky State Police Capt. Lisa Rudzinski said. An analysis found that the word “fed” was written “from the bottom up,” which would have occurred if Sparkman was writing the word himself, from above. Additionally, Sparkman's feet were touching the ground. To live, “all Mr. Sparkman had to do at any time was stand up,” Rudzinski said, adding that “Our investigation, based on evidence and witness testimony, has concluded that Mr. Sparkman died during an intentional, self-inflicted act that was staged to appear as a homicide."
There was still more forensic evidence found pointing to Bill Sparkman being the only person involved. The police found no evidence of a struggle, and on the rag in his mouth, there was only his own DNA, none other. Finally, Sparkman’s hands were bound, but loosely, allowing him to move them shoulder-width apart.
It was not just forensic evidence that sealed the opinion of authorities. Police added that said Sparkman “told a credible witness that he planned to commit suicide and provided details on how and when.” While authorities declined to say the person who spoke to them regarding Sparkman's plan, they said that Sparkman talked about it a week before his suicide and the person in this case did not take him seriously.
Further evidence was found which pointed to a financial reason for his suicide. Sparkman had recently taken out two accidental life insurance policies for a total of $600,000. These policies would not pay for suicide. Also, if Sparkman had been killed while on the job, his family would have been be additionally eligible for up to $10,000 in death gratuity payments from the federal government.
Originally, the nature of Bill Sparkman's death raised concerns that he was killed due to anger over federal policies or anti-government sentiment. As a result of his death, census field work in Clay County in Kentucky was halted. Authorities have now said census field work would restart next month.
Written by Michael Santo
HULIQ.com
Posted November 24th, 2009 by Michael Santo
