KY - Bill Sparkman, census worker, found dead in Clay County cemetery

[laura08]

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/ne...rker-killed-himself-lwf-200911241259096213663 He did commit suicide and had told someone he was planning on killing himself. Prayers for the family.

 

[Carla Lashelle]

It does seem like a suicide. Suicides can take different forms and have different motivations...

Looking at details...

The writing on his chest seemed to be written by him...

his glasses were taped to his head so he could see what he was doing and so they wouldnt fall off...

Possibly he was dying and was at least ill with cancer and undergoing chemo

took out two life insurance policies that wouldnt pay for suicides

had a work payment if he died on the job

told someone he was planning on doing it

made sure to put his id with his body (with tape) so he could be identified

Sad...

 

[Missizzy]

This is so so sad. I've watched this case quietly and was really surprised by the ending. Having a dear friend with lymphoma, though, causes me to understand a little more. Lymphoma almost always comes back. Mr. Sparkman was obviously trying to take care of his son. I think to his last moment, he was a good and caring man. I can't judge him for what he did. I hope his son and mother can now have closure and peace.

 

[Gray]

Well I was definitely wrong.

It's on CNN now.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/24/kentucky.census.worker.death/index.html

That is so sad. All he wanted was for his son to be cared for.

 

[mysteriew]

No wonder LE was so quiet on this one. They must have suspected, but they didn't put it in the media until the investigation was final. I too was wrong and this is a total surprise to me. He wanted to care for his family after he was gone and didn't intend to or seemingly realize what he would put them through by going this route. Bless the family because they need special attention now.

 

[Missizzy]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100116...uX2hlYWRsaW5lX2xpc3QEc2xrA3BvbGljZWt5Y2Vucw--

Police: Ky. census worker had told of suicide plan

"FRANKFORT, Ky. – An eastern Kentucky census worker found naked, bound and hanging from a tree had told a friend he intended to kill himself and that he had chosen the time, place and method to do it, police records show.

Those records about the death of Bill Sparkman were released Friday to The Associated Press by the Kentucky State Police."

 

[mysteriew]

I still feel for the family. Some of the shock and confusion they were feeling has probably worn off by now, but they are still left with the questions. I just hope they are able to eventually accept that he did it out of love for them, not a desire to hurt them the way they were hurt.

 

[jjenny]

This is so so sad. I've watched this case quietly and was really surprised by the ending. Having a dear friend with lymphoma, though, causes me to understand a little more. Lymphoma almost always comes back. Mr. Sparkman was obviously trying to take care of his son. I think to his last moment, he was a good and caring man. I can't judge him for what he did. I hope his son and mother can now have closure and peace.

His autopsy showed he didn't have cancer.
I have no idea as to why he would think he was going to die of cancer since he didn't have it.
Also, since his death is ruled suicide, if he did it so his family would get insurance, it will not work. His policy doesn't cover suicide.

 

[Missizzy]

jjenny--I'm unclear on the cancer diagnosis. Mr. Sparkman had been treated for Non-Hodgkins lymphoma, correct? It was my understanding that it was in remission at the time of his death. Is that what you are referring to? Read a little bit about lymphoma. It can be insidious. It is an interesting cancer. Some of the most common types can be put into remission but will always come back, often in another part of the body. That's what I was referring to.

I also think that the elaborate staging was intended by Mr. Sparkman to point away from suicide. Surely, he had carefully researched his policy coverage. He, it seems, wanted his death to be recorded as a murder so that his family could make a claim. I honestly do not believe that he would have ever committed suicide in such a way, knowing the pain it would cause his family. I believe he truly wanted it to appear as a murder related to the work he was doing for the Census Bureau. JMO

 

[jjenny]

jjenny--I'm unclear on the cancer diagnosis. Mr. Sparkman had been treated for Non-Hodgkins lymphoma, correct? It was my understanding that it was in remission at the time of his death. Is that what you are referring to? Read a little bit about lymphoma. It can be insidious. It is an interesting cancer. Some of the most common types can be put into remission but will always come back, often in another part of the body. That's what I was referring to.

I also think that the elaborate staging was intended by Mr. Sparkman to point away from suicide. Surely, he had carefully researched his policy coverage. He, it seems, wanted his death to be recorded as a murder so that his family could make a claim. I honestly do not believe that he would have ever committed suicide in such a way, knowing the pain it would cause his family. I believe he truly wanted it to appear as a murder related to the work he was doing for the Census Bureau. JMO

I am referring to his autopsy results that show no evidence of any cancer or any other terminal illness. So he was in remission. I find it strange that he would kill himself because there was a possibility the cancer would come back. At the time of his death it didn't come back, so why kill himself?

 

[colette]

I am referring to his autopsy results that show no evidence of any cancer or any other terminal illness. So he was in remission. I find it strange that he would kill himself because there was a possibility the cancer would come back. At the time of his death it didn't come back, so why kill himself?

Maybe in his mind he thought the cancer had come back. People think they have illnesses they don't actually have all the time.

 

[Missizzy]

Or, possibly, he had researched the cancer and found that it was highly likely to return and kill him at some point. IMO, he wanted to financially help his son and mother. It breaks my heart that he would think that money would take the place of their loved one.

There's also the possibility that a number of factors were at play. He could have been depressed, wanted the insurance money for family, and known that his days were numbered so he decided to take care of all the issues with the one action. In my reading about the man, he doesn't seem to have had a flair for the dramatic in the past. His motives will likely never be fully known.

It's a very disturbing and sad situation all around. I guess it really proves that you just don't really know people--even your loved ones.

 

[jjenny]

Or, possibly, he had researched the cancer and found that it was highly likely to return and kill him at some point. IMO, he wanted to financially help his son and mother. It breaks my heart that he would think that money would take the place of their loved one.

There's also the possibility that a number of factors were at play. He could have been depressed, wanted the insurance money for family, and known that his days were numbered so he decided to take care of all the issues with the one action. In my reading about the man, he doesn't seem to have had a flair for the dramatic in the past. His motives will likely never be fully known.

It's a very disturbing and sad situation all around. I guess it really proves that you just don't really know people--even your loved ones.

We are all going to die at some point. Maybe the cancer would return, and maybe it wouldn't. I just find it very strange someone would commit suicide over it. And if his motive was for his family to get the insurance money, that will not happen now since his death was ruled a suicide.

 

[lizzybeth]

jjenny, that's not always true about not receiving insurance payout if death is a result of suicide. I think it depends on how long the policy is in force. If this man had life insurance polices that he had bought way before he had cancer (cancer can cause it to be difficult to obtain insurance without paying a large premium), it might still have paid his family.

People can convince themselves that they are ill. Speaking from experience once you have cancer, it always seems to be in the back of your mind whether it will come back or not. Maybe he didn't want his family to go through him having cancer again, emotionally or financially. Suicide is never the answer, but there are those that feel they have no other option.

 

[MeoW333]

The ip address would change it is specific to ones interent provider and not the computer itself so off his network it would be a different ip address.

I too think he was murdered but I wanted to tell ya that alot of people do commit suicide in the nude and from what I can tell no one has been able to figure out why they do. I read something on it once it was interesting to read but ironic as well in the perspective that the psychologist were debating on why people killed themselves in the nude but not why they killed themselves at all KWIM? I get stuck on things sometimes.

If that laptop turns up online, then they can find out where the location is by the IP. As long as the laptop is registered, which it would registered being it was for census/govt work.

 

[MeoW333]

How far is this from where Haleigh Cummings was abducted?Just thinking about the rat in the mailbox and the message left on his chest.????

so sad

This case is in KY and Haleigh's is in Fl, they aren't related.


Surprising they deemed it a suicide.
Doesn't fit, seems almost "staged" the way a serial killer would stage a victim.
Say the case it is true and it is a suicide, why would he want to be remembered nude? That's very extreme for someone who is suicidal and knows that people will remember how they were found.
Was that part of the plan to make it look like a homicide?

Things just don't fit in this case..

If he wanted his son to collect life insurance, there are other ways to commit suicide to make it look like an accident, opposed to a murder.
He could have got drunk and then drove into a lake, that way it would be more accidental looking. To go to the extreme of faking a homicide when one is committing suicide is odd. It would be much easier to fake a death through an accident of some sort. Go boating, never come back (the boat would be found eventually; that could leave him the option of still living, granted their wouldn't be a body). However if he was dead set on killing himself he could have went boating killed himself in a manner so he would wash into the ocean and that would be that. Accident while boating.

People mostly commit suicide in areas they are comfortable with. He was driving in a rural area for a census job, it's certainly far from the comfort of ones own home..

If he committed suicide with the intentions of financially helping his son and mother, then why not just wait for the cancer to return? Act unhealthy and don't take meds, vitamins, etc.

 

[Missizzy]

I think we're all going to have to admit that this one is going to remain a mystery. Every one of us here seems to like tidy endings. We're not going to get that with Mr. Sparkman. Maybe someday, another friend will come forward with more details or a journal will be found. Personally, I think it's going to remain a mystery.

Something tortured the man enough to make very unfortunate choices. I just hope he's at peace now and his family can work towards some form of closure.

 

[OneLostGrl]

My life insurance policy did not cover "risk of death by suicide" for the first 2 years (as well as excluding plane crashes if I was flying the plane, skydiving and scuba diving because I told them I do those things).

When my step father killed himself my mom wrote off his life insurance assuming she wouldn't be able to get it because he died by suicide. We encouraged her to file for it anyway, figuring what could it hurt? And though she didn't get the entire policy she did end up getting $26,000 (which helped her quite a bit considering he emptied her bank account and crashed her car while on a crack binge the night before he killed himself.).

 

[yosande]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100116...uX2hlYWRsaW5lX2xpc3QEc2xrA3BvbGljZWt5Y2Vucw--

Police: Ky. census worker had told of suicide plan

"FRANKFORT, Ky. – An eastern Kentucky census worker found naked, bound and hanging from a tree had told a friend he intended to kill himself and that he had chosen the time, place and method to do it, police records show.

Those records about the death of Bill Sparkman were released Friday to The Associated Press by the Kentucky State Police."

So he hired a security guard to protect him while he was doing census work, and confessed to this same security guard that he was going to kill himself. I don't buy it, but it does cause me to suspect the security guard...moo

ETA; his son said at the beginning that his dad was a private person and would hate for him to go on GMA or any show, but we are expected to believe that he took his life in the nude?

A witness says in the article that he was behind a pickup truck and thought he saw duct taped hands rise up from the back. Meth epidemic in the area he was found.

I have read no where that they found duct tape near the body, or that the pen was found near the scene.

No evidence of him being a child molester. No kids or grown ups coming forward saying this about him.
No evidence of child anywhere, or any for that matter.
But fact of fighting cancer, and going back to school so he could work full time in a middle school teaching math. It just doesn't sound like someone who was thinking about doing himself in.
Leaving a note for his son in case he dies would be completely normal for someone who faced death via cancer and it doesn't say when that note was written.

imo, evidence points more in the direction of a homicide, regardless of what LE says.
Local LE, and politicians wanted it to not be a homicide, that was/is obvious.

Both his mom, and his son disagree with what LE has decided.
Security guard seems to be the main reason they decided what they did. That and finding no one elses dna at the scene.
But Local LE said duct tape on wrists loose, and eye witness who found the body said wrists were taped tightly. hmmm.

Just my opinion though, fwiw.

 

[yosande]

I am referring to his autopsy results that show no evidence of any cancer or any other terminal illness. So he was in remission. I find it strange that he would kill himself because there was a possibility the cancer would come back. At the time of his death it didn't come back, so why kill himself?

And I suspect he was smart enough to know of better, less humiliating ways to make it look like an accident which would have paid the life insurance, so why make a suicide look like a homicide. He wasn't an attention seeker.

If it doesn't make sense, one should question it. jmo