Washington, September 30: US police today continued to probe the death of a 51-year-old census worker and teacher who was found hanging from a tree in a Kentucky forest with “Fed” written across his chest.
“We’re continuing our investigation into the death of William Sparkman to determine whether it was accidental, suicide or homicide,” Kentucky state police Captain Lisa Rudzinski said.
“The preliminary cause of death was asphyxia and we are awaiting the final autopsy results which include toxicology,” she said.
Sparkman was reported missing on Saturday, September 11 to the state police by co-workers at the school in London, Kentucky, where he worked as a substitute teacher.
His body was found, strung from a tree, reportedly with his feet still touching the ground, the following evening in the woods in Daniel Boone national forest in Clay County, south of the main county town of Manchester.
The word “Fed,” for “federal agent” had reportedly been scrawled on his chest in red felt-tip pen.
News of the grisly finding was not reported until two weeks after Sparkman was found.
The circumstances of his death have given rise to speculation in the US media that Sparkman was killed because of his connection to the federal government at a time of rising dissent against what some see as Washington meddling in people’s daily lives.
Some reports have also theorised that Sparkman’s work for the Census Bureau – which is a federal government agency – linked him in the minds of his killers in conservative, mainly white rural Kentucky with President Barack Obama, the first black US president.
—Agencies