Bill Sparkman’s death a suicide?

Via Hot Air, a report that the Bill Sparkman investigation may be taking an unexpected turn:

Investigators probing the death of a Kentucky census worker found hanging from a tree with the word “fed” scrawled on his chest increasingly doubt he was killed because of his government job and are pursuing the possibility he committed suicide, law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.

Two officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case, said no final conclusions have been made in the case. In recent weeks, however, investigators have grown more skeptical that 51-year-old Bill Sparkman died at the hands of someone angry at the federal government.

Obviously, the most important thing to find out here is the truth.  I admit to a little concern here: if investigators are not finding evidence of a political motivation for the killing, it doesn’t necessarily follow that Sparkman wasn’t murdered.  The circumstances of the man’s death always seemed at least a little ritualized; I’m hoping that the investigators are being very careful about not prematurely coming to a conclusion.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.