FRANKFORT, Ky. -- On the surface it seemed like a gruesome hate crime in a rural part of Kentucky with a history of disdain for the government: a census worker found bound with duct tape and hanging from a tree, the word "fed" scrawled upside down across his chest.
But investigators noticed that the letters looked as if they could have been written by the victim himself, and they soon found out that he believed that he had cancer, had two insurance policies worth $600,000, and had an adult son in need of money.
"Investigators said yesterday that William Sparkman's hanging was a ruse to mask his suicide for an insurance payout.
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