Theft on DANIEL BOONE NATIONAL FOREST, MANCHESTER, KENTUCKY, KY

09/12/2009. The FBI is looking into whether the death of a U.S. Census worker found hanged from a tree with the word "fed" scrawled on his chest in Kentucky is linked to anti-government sentiment. A law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and requested anonymity, did not disclose what type of instrument was used to write the word on the chest of Bill Sparkman, who was supplementing his income by doing Census field work. Sparkman was found Sept. 12 near a Kentucky cemetery in a remote patch of Daniel Boone National Forest. An autopsy report is pending. Police said Sparkman died of asphyxiation and are trying to determine if he was murdered, committed suicide or died accidentally — but they have not yet ruled the death a homicide, FOX41.com reported. Update 11/24: A Kentucky census worker found naked, bound with duct tape and hanging from a tree with "fed" scrawled on his chest killed himself but staged his death to make it look like a homicide, authorities said Tuesday. Bill Sparkman, 51, was found Sept. 12 near a cemetery in a heavily wooded area of southeastern Kentucky. A man who found the body in the Daniel Boone National Forest has said Sparkman also was gagged and had an identification badge taped to his neck. Authorities said Sparkman alone manipulated the scene to conceal a suicide. Police said he had talked with others about ending his life, though authorities did not say specifically who in a news release. Sparkman had recently taken out two life insurance policies that would not pay out for suicide, authorities said. If Sparkman had been killed on the job, his family also would have been be eligible for up to $10,000 in death gratuity payments from the government. He was not eligible for a separate life insurance policy through the government because his census work was intermittent, Census Bureau spokesman Stephen Buckner has previously said. Update courtesy of . View Source.