FRANKFORT, Ky. — On the surface it all seemed like a gruesome hate crime in a rural part of Kentucky with a history of disdain for the government: a census worker found bound with duct tape and hanging from a tree, the word "fed" scrawled across his chest.
Investigators said Tuesday what they had been hinting at for weeks, that Bill Sparkman's hanging was a ruse to mask his suicide for a big insurance payout.
Sparkman, a former Boy Scout leader and substitute teacher who lived in the southeastern Kentucky town of Manchester, was supplementing his income as a part-time census field worker.
Sparkman had taken out two accidental life insurance policies since late 2008 totaling $600,000 that would not pay out for suicide, authorities said. Rudzinski said the insurance payout was one motive for suicide, but Sparkman had also told "a credible witness" that he believed his lymphoma, which he had previously been treated for, had recurred.
Sparkman's son, Josh, previously told the AP that his father had named him as his life insurance beneficiary. Josh Sparkman said earlier this month he found paperwork for the private life insurance policy among his father's personal files but wasn't sure of the amount.
In addition, Rolf said the autopsy found no signs of a recurrence of Sparkman's cancer, so his cancer fears were unfounded.
Sparkman's mother has said her son was an Eagle scout who moved to the area to be a local director for the Boy Scouts of America. He later became a substitute teacher.
Friends and co-workers have said that even while undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, Sparkman would show up for work smiling with a toboggan cap to cover his balding head.
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Associated Press writer Hope Yen in Washington contributed to this report.
Kentucky Census Worker Committed Suicide, Investigators Say
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