Police: Census worker died of asphyxiation

MANCHESTER, Ky. (AP) — When Bill Sparkman told retired trooper Gilbert Acciardo that he was going door-to-door collecting census data in rural Kentucky, the former police officer drew on years of experience for a warning: “Be careful.”

The 51-year-old Sparkman was found this month hanged from a tree near a cemetery with the word “fed” scrawled on his chest, a law-enforcement official said Wednesday, and the FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment.

The law-enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and requested anonymity, did not say what type of instrument was used to write the word on the chest of Sparkman, who was supplementing his income doing Census field work. He was found Sept. 12 in a remote patch of Daniel Boone National Forest.

State police said Thursday that the cause of death was asphyxiation. State police said in a statement that he was found with a rope around his neck that was tied to a tree but that he was “in contact with the ground.” Capt. Lisa Rudzinski, commander of the Kentucky State Police post in London, said authorities have not yet been able to determine if it was an accidental death, suicide or homicide.

“Even though he was with the Census Bureau, sometimes people can view someone with any government agency as ‘the government.’ I just was afraid that he might meet the wrong character along the way up there,” said Acciardo, who directs an after-school program at an elementary school where Sparkman was a frequent substitute teacher.

The Census Bureau has suspended door-to-door interviews in rural Clay County, where the body was found, until the investigation is complete, an official said.

Police said the area has a history of drug trouble including methamphetamine trafficking and marijuana growing in its forested valleys between steep hills and ridges.

“That part of the county, it has its ups and downs. We’ll get a lot of complaints of drug activity,” said Manchester Police Chief Jeff Culver. He said officers last month rounded up 40 drug suspects, mostly dealers, and made several more arrests in subsequent days.

Dee Davis, president of the Center for Rural Strategies in Whitesburg in southeastern Kentucky, said Clay County is impoverished and has a “pretty wild history of a black-market economy, a drug economy.”

“I don’t think there is any deep-seated hatred of government there,” he said. “Government is not seen as the enemy, except for people who might fear getting caught for what they’re doing.”

Davis said it was a dangerous time of year for someone to go knocking on doors because marijuana producers are typically harvesting their crop. “It would be reckless.”

“Things can go bad really quickly,” Davis said. “There are places that you would not send a Census worker this time of year. “

Manchester, a town of about 2,000 that is the county’s main hub, is an exit off the highway, with a Wal-Mart, a few hotels, chain restaurants and a couple of gas stations. The drive from town toward the area where Sparkman’s body was found winds through sparsely populated forest with no streetlights.

FBI spokesman David Beyer said the bureau is assisting state police and declined to discuss any details of the crime scene. Agents are trying to determine if foul play was involved and whether it had anything to do with Sparkman’s job as a Census worker, Beyer said. Attacking a federal worker during or because of his federal job is a federal crime.