AP Exclusive: Son says he’s certain Ky. census taker found dead with ‘fed’ on chest was slain

AP Exclusive: Son sure Ky. census taker was slain

LONDON, Ky. — The son of a U.S. Census Bureau worker found hanged from a tree in eastern Kentucky with the word “fed” scrawled on his chest says he has no doubt his father was slain.

Josh Sparkman tells The Associated Press he’s frustrated investigators won’t confirm that and continue to say they haven’t ruled out suicide or accidental death.

Bill Sparkman was a substitute teacher and part-time census worker whose body was found tied to a tree with a rope around his neck in a remote Appalachian forest earlier this month. The Clay County coroner says “fed” was written on the 51-year-old’s chest, apparently in felt tip pen.

Josh Sparkman, a 19-year-old adopted by Bill Sparkman when he was a baby, says police and the FBI have searched his father’s home but told him little.