Suicide Not Ruled Out For Dead Census Worker; He Was In Contact With The Ground
I’ve got some more detail for you on the case of the Bill Sparkman, the U.S. census worker who was found dead of hanging, reportedly with the word “fed” scrawled on his chest:
1) Kentucky state police have not ruled out the possibility that the death was a suicide or even that it was accidental, according to police spokesman Don Trosper.
2) His death has been ruled “asphyxia,” Trosper said in an interview. “There was a rope around his neck. It was attached to a tree,” Trosper continued, adding this intriguing detail: “He was in contact with the ground.”
That raises the possibilty that the cause of death was not hanging. Asked if this were possible, Trosper said: “Nothing is being ruled out.”
3) Trosper said the initial AP story on the death contains “flaws and errors.” That means it’s possible that the AP’s claim, based on an anonymous source, that he had the word “fed” scrawled on his chest could be false. Asked if that were the case, Trosper declined to comment.
So that’s where we are. Much more from Zachary Roth in his very useful rundown on where the case stands.
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And why did this become a story in the last two days when he was found on September 12? You lefties are shameless in smearing your political opponents.
Baby Hugo: The story only went national in the last two days when AP reported the alleged “fed” scrawl.
AP?…. that really sums it all up. They are very nearly Always Pathetic.
Greg, I left a comment about 10 minutes ago and it’s still not here. Just to let you know.
Imsinca – this place is so strange – I’m actually having better results with my posts showing up today. I probably have your bandwidth or something.
LOL
All I can say about this very strange story is that at first they called it suicide and I thought it looked like murder because of the writing on the body. If the writing wasn’t there, then the whole thing is completely ambiguous.
lmsica, apologies. I’ll let the tech people know. can you keep me posted?
Domestic Terrorist Arrested, Attempted to Blow Up Federal Building
http://springfield.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/2009/si092409.htm
Michael C. Finton aka “Talib Islam”
Do your thing Greg! Go get us some info plzzzz!
He was a resident of Decatur, IL.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/census_worker_found_dead_in_kentucky_–_what_do_we.php
“Henrie Sparkman also said that investigators had told her the body was decomposed, and it would be better for her son to be cremated.
She added to the AP that she didn’t know what had been behind her son’s death. “I have my own ideas, but I can’t say them out loud. Not at this point,” she said.”
The decomposed body could explain why it was touching the ground. Being decomposed will make it much harder to determine if foul play was involved.
Another good article, prob the best one yet with details:
http://www.sj-r.com/breaking/x1128380368/Decatur-man-arrested-for-attempting-to-bomb-Springfield-federal-building
Liam — it’s worth keeping in mind that the police spox said the AP story had “errors.” The idea that there was a hanging, and that the word “fed” was scrawled on his chest, were both attributed to an anonymous source
“The decomposed body could explain why it was touching the ground. Being decomposed will make it much harder to determine if foul play was involved.”
Nice observation – you’re right.
I’ll just post again. I said on an earlier thread that we need to wait for the results of the investigation before we jump to conclusions. It will be interesting to follow and I hope you’ll keep us informed Greg. On the other hand, it is interesting reading Bachman’s census comments in light of the situation.
Also, here’s an interesting Bob Cesca article in his usual tongue in cheek, sort of but not really, style. He lays out his perspective on the difference between the lefts criticism of Bush and what is occuring now from the right. The Obama bashing is much more mainstream, such as 100 plus GOP reps signing on to the Czar legislation and some signing onto the birth certificate bill among other things.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/the-impeachment-of-presid_b_297330.html
Imsinca – damn – get out of my head. I was just going to post that Cesca article on the main point, about the GOP impeaching Obama – and here you are.
I think the idea is not farfetched at all:
“In a lengthy speech on the House floor today, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) declared that President Obama is “the star of ACORN, the lead, chief organizer.”
Railing against ACORN, King mentioned Obama’s comment on Sunday that he hasn’t paid much attention to the scandal. ”
http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/rep-king-obama-is-the-star-of-acorn.php?ref=fpb
Y’all have to see the picture this Rep had with him for this speech.
# Greg Sargent | September 24th, 2009 at 04:54 pm
Liam — it’s worth keeping in mind that the police spox said the AP story had “errors.” The idea that there was a hanging, and that the word “fed” was scrawled on his chest, were both attributed to an anonymous source
……………………..
Greg,
I am aware of that. Since he was just a part time census taker, and was also supposed to recently have become a boy scout leader, I doubt if he was killed for being a census taker. We really do not know much about his personal history. We will just have to wait and see what is uncovered.
This reminded me of the case of David Kelley, the WMD specialist, who told the BBC that the government had sexed up the WMD claims, to bolster the reasons for invading Iraq.
Recall that he was supposed to have slashed his own wrists.
The odd thing about that story was; Scotland Yard/MI5 had grilled him, and held him in a safe house for more than a day. The then let him go home to his place in the countyside, where it is claimed that he went for a walk and slashed his wrists. The report was that they searched for more than six hours before finding his body, and there was no real pool of blood found at the scene.
Here is the part of the story, that I still wonder about.
If Scotland Yard/MI5 had grilled him, and held him in a safe house, because he had leaked top secret intel. to the media, when they released him, would they not be expected to monitor his comings and goings, and who he was getting in contact with.
That being the case, then why would they not have known where he was, as soon as it was reported that he went missing.
That whole story of Dr. Kelley killing himself, always smelled fishy to me. I think he may have been killed to stop him from revealing more about how the government cooked up the false Iraq intel dossier.
Liam – yeah, when it comes to Dr. Kelley, the idea makes sense. But this guy was just a census worker/teacher/boy scout leader.
And frankly, the boy scout leader part set off the bells for me, and if the body had had something else written on besides supposedly “FED” I might have thought something else was going on.
Now I don’t have any opinion.
who knows? maybe tomorrow they might correct the story again and say that no one died…
@Tena,
I was not making any comparison between the two incidents. It just brought back to mind, the puzzling death of Dr. Kelley, and how it just did not seem plausible that he was not under close surveillance at the time that he was supposed to wandered off alone, to kill himself.
As for the boy scout leader, that possibility crossed my mind.
FED and PED are very close, and on a scrawled sign on a decomposed body, exposed to the elements, PED could be mistaken for FED.
edit:
supposed to have wandered off…
Having often traveled in that part of Kentucky where many a still once ran (and may yet!) I immediately thought “I think the locals would have scrawled ‘revenuer’!”
Damn, you’re right again.
It is close.
And I agree with you about Kelley. I always did think it was terribly unlikely the way it was described.
Re: “Bob Cesca article…He lays out his perspective on the difference between the lefts criticism of Bush and what is occuring now from the right.”
You might be interested in this link – it’ll only take 15 seconds:
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/09/24/the-obligatory-ed-schultz-goes-bonkers-over-health-care-post/
Won’t click? Okay then, here’s the quote from Ed Schultz on MSNBC:
“Hold it right there! The Republicans lie. They want to see you dead! They’d rather make money off your dead corpse! They kinda like it when that woman has cancer and they don’t have anything for her!”
I’m shocked they havent blamed Andrew Breitbart for the hanging yet. Give it time. The AP will get to it.
If he could stand up and not be hung, and he died by hanging. Well that is a suicide. So all is a farce.
If you know anything about homicide investigation you’ll know that the neck of any hanging victim who’s been there for a while will stretch to the point where the feet could reach the ground.
The left plans to milk this for all it’s worth on Page One while eventually correcting the record somewhere in between the ‘Help Wanted’ and ‘Public Notices’ pages.
Tena, thanks for the link to the Rep. King story. Looks like King is the star of his own reality show. This is exactly what Cesca is referring to, the infiltration of the congress by the extreme right wing of the party.
I love the conclusions that keep getting drawn on nothing:
“The left plans to milk this for all it’s worth on Page One while eventually correcting the record somewhere in between the ‘Help Wanted’ and ‘Public Notices’ pages.”
What does the left have to do with anything? The AP reported this. The “left” had nothing to do with it and we don’t control pages one to infinity in any major newspaper or any other media outlet.
sbj
I’ve only seed the Ed show a couple of times, he’s a little over the top for me.
An old favorite – Pete Stark on the House floor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsGaNR9dVPM
Imsinca – yeah it is – exactly what he’s saying. Cesca’s one of my favorite writers because he makes direct hits on the truth through humor.
And really there’s remotely funny about this. But what can you do if elected representatives are bringing pictures like that into Congress and making the most outrageous damn claims that one never used to see outside the internet?
“But what can you do if elected representatives are…making the most outrageous damn claims that one never used to see outside the internet?”
Did you watch the Stark clip?
there’s nothing remotely funny about this.
sbj – “But everybody does it, Ma! And I want to be a jackass too, just like Pete Stark and everybody else.”
By all means, don’t raise yourself above the level you find the lowest, GOP.
The fringe media (formerly MSM) has to spash something on the front page daily even if they know its a lie. They’re the cover for the crazies in congress, led by the crazy anti-american communist/islamic man in the white house. Keep your head buried in the sand and one morning you awake and freedom disappeared during the night. The next civil war is just around the corner and will make the first one look like childs play.
Whoosh! And the point goes sailing over tena’s head!
# tailgunner | September 24th, 2009 at 05:46 pm
If you know anything about homicide investigation you’ll know that the neck of any hanging victim who’s been there for a while will stretch to the point where the feet could reach the ground.
The left plans to milk this for all it’s worth on Page One while eventually correcting the record somewhere in between the ‘Help Wanted’ and ‘Public Notices’ pages.
……………………..
Yes, it would be as shame if the left started to treat this like The Right treated The Suicide of Vincent Foster.
Can you steer us to the publication where The Right Apologized for their behavior in the Vince Foster death? Thanks much. I know that you can steer us to all those published retractions.
Scrapiron reminds me of someone we haven’t heard from in several day.
sbj – yeah, I’m dense. You have to excuse me.
you wouldn’t know a point if it bit you on your fundament. That’s established.
“Scrapiron reminds me of someone we haven’t heard from in several day.”
“It’s 4 PM, do you know where your sock puppets are?”
Baby Hugo, why would you assume that the person who did the killing was on the right? Interesting that you would go there.
Hvaing grown up in Barbourville, Ky just outside Manchester, it’s most likely that this man stumbled upon a marijuana operation and his Fed census credentials were mistaken for DEA. Drug operations (just as moonshine was in the earlier decades) are rampant in that area. In the past few years, even the marijuana field operators have been killed by their own hand. One died after being bitten by the “guard” rattlesnakes posted around the property. Make no mistake, this man was murdered, but not for the nefarious reasons that activist are trying to persuade us with.
“, but not for the nefarious reasons that activist are trying to persuade us with.”
Mofo! What activists? The AP are sure damned odd activists.
“If he could stand up and not be hung, and he died by hanging. Well that is a suicide. So all is a farce.”
How? Seriously – the fact (reported by the FBI, cf Greg’s post above this one) that his feet were planted makes it very difficult for me to understand how he hung himself. How does one plant one’s feet and then hang oneself?
Odd indeed…..journalism used to involve collecting and verifying the facts prior to publication.
Uh, perhaps the wet rains we experienced during the estaimated time of death caused the limb to bow enough for his feet to touch. It doesn’t take but an inch of clearance to cause body weight to asphyxiate ones self. Wet tree limbs bow farther than that.
John – read the post – the FBI says “Planted.” They say nothing about rain or decomposition.
He was killed by someone running a marijuana farm and THEN they strung him up and scrawled Fed on his chest – as a warning to the DEA?
Hell, it could be any one of a million reasons. It has been reported that no one knows what he would even being doing in that area, which means he was not sent their on any official business.
We know nothing about the guy. It could have even been a drug deal gone bad, or he owed some people a lot of money for previous deals. He sure seemed to move around a lot, and one thing we do know for sure is, the people who grow the stuff, or set up labs to make the stuff, or set up the stills to brew the stuff do so to sell it.
Hell, for all we know, he might even have been an undercover agent, or an informer.
His own family was told the body was decomposed. The State Police say his feet were “in contact” with the ground. Finally, I don’t need an FBI report to tell me we’ve had rain everyday the past 2 weeks. I may be a hillbilly, but I sure nuff know when its a rain’in.
sbj – that’s entirely possible – or people running a meth lab – which is just as likely.
Goddamn, Zachary – read the Happy Hour post above this one. In it you will see that the FBI was firm: his feet were Planted.
Damn man!
“An FBI spokesman confirms to Zach Roth what I reported: The census worker was in contact with the earth. The FBI spox, however, adds the detail that his feet were planted on the ground.”
What a surprise! Some errors in APObama’s reporting.
I see Michelle Bachmann’s fans are in damage-control mode.
Last night I was surfing the radio and heard some comrades on Air America blaming this ‘hanging’ and the word ‘fed’ scrawled on this guys chest on the right, specifically conservative talk radio. They were going crazy with the story. Of course they had to talk about the toxic hate being spewed at healthcare meetings. Calling it the result of conservative toxic talk. I wonder if they have ever taken the time to listen to tapes of their words and others on Air America. This is no different than when the Democratic headquarters in Denver got trashed a few months ago. Immediately they were blaming it on the right. Turned the guy who did it was a Democrat, worked the campaign for guess who (hint, his name starts with an O).
We will have a FULL REPORT tonight on AC369.
YES WE CON!
YES WE CON!
Pass KennedyCare – http://www.inlibertyandfreedom.com/mjk.htm
What could possibly go wrong?
I SERVED IN VIETNAM – http://www.liveshot.cc
FWIW…I had a roommate in college that was from manchester, clay county, ky. What has not been said, is that it is the top pot producing county in a state whose largest export is pot. It’s getting close to harvest season. May not have anything at all to do with this, but I suspect that it may have. People in those parts take their privacy..very serious. Just saying what went through my head when I first read the story and the location.
He must have been reading my manual!
I wonder if Rachel Maddow with his/her very serious news program will run a snarky graphic that makes up a word that combines Fed and Palin, like Palin-ed or Falin, while reporting this story, because MSNBC is unable to leave Palin or the term “Republican” out of ANY story they cover.
AP (and all of the main stream media) is/are the same as Orwell’s Ministry of Truth.
At least one thing is for certain…he didn’t die hungry.
This happened in Clay county? That’s one of the worst places in KY because of drugs and drug related crime. They don’t call it “Claybodia” for nothing.
New Yorker mag is blaming Rush, World Net Daily and any other Conservative they can think of! It’s the reporters we have now, that are to blame…they take sides, then blow up a story or put in fake details..anything to rile up people!
So beware, do not disagree with the government no matter what. Should you be so foolish you will be declared guilty of inspiring some freeking psychotic dufus in the back woods who is out stringing up census workers. Now go quietly.
Wow, Liam was right. He was just up on the Happy Hour thread, telling us that this thread had de-evolved with all the troll comments. As he said – all it takes is a body, apparently, and the creatures comes crawling out from the woodwork.
well well isn’t this typical! once again the batdoodo crazy left launches an attack on their enemies based on lies!
I agree with John_Z, this poor man ran upon some dope makers or growers. the “source” more than likely took the rahm route and not let a good crisis go to waste!
hehe funny lying lurch kerry et all!!
suicide? “fed up”
How does one bind one’s own feet and hands, and then commit suicide?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKZXZ2K443w&feature=player_embedded
the “source” for the FED and bound and gagged is the guy who was visiting the cemetery and found the body.
Reason the story took so long to break was LEO and the local press sat on it to try and keep idle speculation from running amok.
It’s a local story here so we have a bit of a different perspective.
http://www.kentucky.com/latest_news/story/952080.html