Mystery in Kentucky: The Death of William Sparkman

September 28, 2009

William E. Sparkman, Jr., 51, affectionately known as "sparky" by some, of London, Kentucky, was found dead at about 6:30 p.m. in a remote area of the Daniel Boone National Forest, not far from a cemetery in southern Clay County on Saturday, September 12, 2009.  He reportedly had been hanged, and had "fed" written onto his chest with a felt pen.  The single father worked two jobs—one as a substitute teacher in the Laurel County school system, and also as a field representative for the U.S. Census Bureau.  He was also a Boy Scout leader.  The area where his body was discovered was described by Clay County Deputy Sheriff Gary Harris as "sparsely populated," and is known to have ongoing drug activity such as methamphetamine labs and outdoor marijuana growing operations.  The police at this time, however, are reporting that they have not yet found any links to Sparkman's death and the drug activity.

Although police have not yet confirmed many of the details surrounding Sparkman's death, his body was purportedly discovered by a man, his wife, and daughter who had paid a visit to the nearby cemetery.  Although his body was hanging from a tree, his feet touched the ground.  According to one of the witnesses, Sparkman's body was nude and his hands and feet were reportedly bound with duct tape.

"The only thing he had on was a pair of socks," the witness said.  "And they had duct-taped his hands, and his wrists.  He had duct tape over his eyes, and they gagged him with a red rag or something.  He was murdered.  There's no doubt….they even had duct tape around his neck…they had…his identification tag on his neck…duct-taped to the side of his neck on the right side, almost on his right shoulder."

His body was approximately 50 yards from a 2003 Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck.  The police were not yet saying who the truck belonged to, or whether it was even Sparkman's.

The question on the minds of his family and those who knew him, as well as that of detectives investigating his death, is:  Who would want to kill a middle-aged census-taker and teacher and scrawl "fed" on his chest?  Was the killer or killers trying to send some type of message?  If so, what was it?  Stay out of that area?

One of Sparkman's co-workers at Johnson Elementary School, a retired state trooper, had warned Sparkman to use caution "when you go over to eastern Kentucky to do your census work." His co-worker had purportedly told him that some of the people residing in that area may not understand that his business there was to simply collect statistics.

At this point, the circumstances of Sparkman's death remain a true mystery.  Sparkman's body has been sent to the state medical examiner's office for an autopsy, according to Clay County Coroner James Trosper, which will hopefully shed more light on the circumstances surrounding his bizarre death and will perhaps be able to officially determine the cause of his death.  Preliminary reports, however, said that he likely died from asphyxiation.

Kentucky State Trooper Don Trosper said that even though it was obvious that Sparkman's death was not a result of natural causes, investigators were not rushing to judgment and were consider all possibilities.

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"We are not able to rule out many scenarios at this time, and that is what makes this a difficult case," Trooper Trosper said.

"He loved the kids and always had a smile," said a staff member at Johnson Elementary School.  "He was a very conscientious employee who worked in the after-school day care programs at Bush and Camp Ground schools," in addition to working at Johnson Elementary School.

Sparkman had initially volunteered at the school, and was eventually hired as a teaching assistant.  Later, he was brought into the school district as a substitute teacher.  In 2005, he began taking online classes with Western Governors University in Salt Lake City, Utah, as he worked toward a bachelor's degree in mathematics education.  While studying for his degree, he was diagnosed as having non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a type of cancer.  Despite his health issues, Sparkman continued working at both jobs except for one day a week, Friday, when he went in to a local hospital for regularly scheduled chemotherapy treatment.  He received his degree two years later, in 2007, and had driven to Utah to participate in the university's graduation ceremony.  His cancer treatment ended in March 2008 and, according to those close to him, he seemed to be doing well at the time of his death.

A former student of Sparkman's described him as "well-loved."

"We at the high school called him 'Sparky,' though he didn't like it too much," the former student said.  "He always had a smile on his face, even when students prodded him about the 'toboggan' he would wear to cover his growing hair resulting from his treatment."

In an e-mail sent to other Census Bureau employees by Census Bureau Executive Director Dr. Robert Groves, Sparkman's death was described as "the victim of an apparent crime" and that he had "passed away…at the age of 51…I wanted all Census Bureau staff to know of this incident, and ask you to keep Mr. Sparkman's family in your thoughts and prayers."

In the meantime, the Census Bureau has suspended the door-to-door collection of information pending the outcome of the investigation.

Anyone with any information about this bizarre and unusual case is urged to contact Detective Donald Wilson at (606) 878-6622, or the Kentucky State Police at 800-222-5555.

Photo Credit: William Sparkman: AP Photo/The Times-Tribune

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Comments

[j.s.h.]

most certainly a murder, possibly a Political extremist style homicide, or just angered drug dealing rednecks offended by his position as a "Fed".

If it was a lone offender, he would likely had to have used a gun to gain complicity from the victim. (i didnt notice report of beating or blows to the head) If it was a group or two then they could have easily overpowered him though.

its wrong for the police to hold back such vital information as to what he was doing before his death. (was he out on a census run, did his family see him last? ect) but i understand their methods...rumors can cause a crapflurry of misinformation that has devastating effects on the community. It seems at face like an extremist motived thing , someone with a grudge against the government..the nudity could be a way of shaming the victim and creating shock value. (or to get rid of any physical/trace evidence if the offender was organized)....since the unsub(s) scrawled FED and left his identification badge taped to him it makes me wonder if he was on a run and knocked on the wrong door.(it dosent stipulate on the identification tag or whether it was the school he worked for or the census bureau) If his feet were touching the ground yet he died of asphyxia what would that be? 1) he was killed before being tied up ? 2) the duct tape around his neck (or gag in his mouth) caused the asphxiation? 3) the rope loosened?
sorry...one last thing...if this isnt drug dealers who have a grudge against the government, or political extremist homicide, then it would have to be a Personally motivated crime staged to look like anti-government types in order to throw the blues off scent....ty mr king good reporting...and you should sent me an email sometime....(I dont like attention but i Love information and dont make a spectacle of it)

[Gary C. King]

Dear j.s.h.,

Thanks for the thoughtful comment. You've raised several valid possibilities regarding this unusual case--it will be interesting to see how it actually turns out. We'll have to do an update at some point. In the meantime, feel free to e-mail me at readermail@garycking.com. I would e-mail you, but I don't have your e-mail address.

[Elizabeth]

I would bet that Mr. Sparkman ran into someone's meth lab. I bet if and when the monsters are found who committed this crime, one look at their teeth would tell the tale. I would guess at least one of them has really bad teeth.

[Kate Kobylarz]

I was saddened to read of Mr Sparkman's passing. Having worked for the cansus bureau in an area that was far less rural than Eastern Kentucky, I can say that the taking of statistical data from everyday citizens, even highly educated, is met with suspicion. Yes, I am leaning in the direction of 'murder' and most likely from someone or something he happened to stumble upon. Backwoods is backwoods.

I can remember driving into an area back in Montana, and I do mean back in. I can remember hostility coming in waves over me from two men who I merely asked for directions from. Now mind you there were no posted "No Trespassing" signs around, likely none were posted where Mr Sparkman was found either. However, I suppose I could have taken a warning from the dead snake hanging from the fence post out by the turnin to the drive. I guess those local missionaries just haven't reached all areas of the backwoods - eh?

So, what this means is that he had transgressed in the eyes of the locals and that could mean that he was an unwelcome sight. Probably saw something that he wasn't supposed to and that was that...

I feel the most saddened for his two children and I sincerely hope that a fund was creatd to help them offset the expenses of future costs.

Doesn't sound like a suicide in the least and I suspect that the police know something that they are not telling. Certainly not a suicide... try again.

[Tom Hurt]

A classic example of streotyping. Again, people have tried to portray the people of Eastern Kentucky as murderous hillbillies and should be avoided by people outside of the area.

While I agree the way the individual was found raised suspicions, the case still had not been thouroghly investigated. Everyone assumed, because of the area, that Mr. Sparkman had apparently seen or heard something he should not have and was murdered for it.

After the investigation into the death of Mr. Sparkman, it was determined he had committed suicide and staged it to look as if he had been murdered. He was ill and had openly spoke of ending his life with people he knew just weeks before he was found. He had also taken out life insurance polocies totally in the ammount of $600,000:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/24/AR2009112403778.html