The Mystery of the Dead Census Worker
William Sparkman's body was found on Sept. 12 near a small family cemetery in a remote patch of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Clay County, Kentucky, about 18 miles south of the county seat of Manchester. The alleged details of the death of the U.S. Census Bureau worker were chilling: he was reported to have been found hanging from a tree, with the word "Fed" scrawled on his chest. That description rippled through the national consciousness more than other crimes from rural, tucked-away corners might have, coming at a time when conservative media, tea parties and white-hot town-hall meetings were fanning anti-government sentiment. But no one was ever arrested. And in November, local authorities declared that it was a suicide staged to look like a lynching, perhaps in order to qualify the lymphoma survivor's heirs for insurance payouts totaling $600,000.