Bill Sparkman Found Naked, Gagged And Bound

BIG CREEK, Ky. — A part-time census worker found hanging in a rural Kentucky cemetery was naked, gagged and had his hands and feet bound with duct tape, said an Ohio man who discovered the body two weeks ago.

Authorities have also said the word "fed" was scrawled with a felt-tip pen across 51-year-old Bill Sparkman's chest, but they have released very few details about the case and said investigators have not determined if it was a homicide, suicide or an accident.

Federal, state and local authorities have refused to say if Sparkman was at work going to door-to-door for census surveys in the time before his death, but his Census identification tag was found taped to his body.

Jerry Weaver of Fairfield, Ohio, told The Associated Press on Friday that he was among a group of relatives who made the gruesome discovery on Sept. 12.

"The only thing he had on was a pair of socks," Weaver said. "And they had duct-taped his hands, his wrists. He had duct tape over his eyes, and they gagged him with a red rag or something."

"And they even had duct tape around his neck. And they had like his identification tag on his neck. They had it duct-taped to the side of his neck, on the right side, almost on his right shoulder."

Two people briefed on the investigation said various details of Weaver's account matched the details of the crime scene, though both people said they were not informed who found the body. The two spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.

Weaver said he couldn't tell if the tag was a Census Bureau ID because he didn't get close enough to read it. But both of the people briefed on the investigation confirmed Sparkman's Census ID was found taped to his head and shoulder area.

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Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/25/bill-sparkman-found-naked_n_300659.html

It's a horrid crime.

K&R

Only in Kentucky can you bind and gag yourself by accident. This is a nightmare. The poor man and his family.

"Only in Kentucky can you bind and gag yourself by accident."

Death by autoerotic asphyxiation is a lot more common than lynchings.

So far, the reasons given here on DU for why the authorities haven't ruled out:

The authorities are incompetent (in comparison to amateur online detectives) and don't know what they're doing.

and

The authorities are a bunch of red neck hicks and support the obvious murder of Bill Sparkman.

Neither explanation strikes me as satisfying.

while working feverishy to solve the crime BUT this is not a detecive novel.

How could a person hang themselves with their hands and feet bound with duct tape? This is clearly a murder, if he wanted to kill himself he would not have made it so difficult by immobilizing his hands and feet before he put the noose around his neck. The only thing less credible than a suicide is the suggestion in the article that this could be an accident. People don't accidentally get naked scrawl "Fed" across their chest and then bound, gag and hang themselves.

card to your neck? Also, if it was a bizarre suicide, there would be duct tape and over evidence near the body.