"Yes, we are concerned about what people are saying on the
blogs," a Kentucky law enforcement official said Saturday night,
speaking on condition of anonymity.
The
murder of Bill Sparkman in Clay County, Ky., has caused
bloggers
to engage in widespread
speculation about the motive
for the killing. Sparkman was employed part-time conducting a
Census Bureau survey.
The 51-year-old man's body was found Sept. 12 in the Hoskins
Cemetery, about 10 miles east of Manchester, Ky. in the Daniel
Boone National Forest.
The Associated Press reported that witnesses said Sparkman's
body was nude and gagged, with a rope around his neck, his
federal identification duct-taped to his neck and the word "fed"
written on his chest.
The Kentucky State
Police are coordinating the investigation of Sparkman's
death. Trooper First Class Don Trosfer, based in the agency's
London, Ky., Post 11
is the official spokesman for the investigation, but was
unavailable for comment late Saturday.
Another law-enforcement source, not authorized to speak about the
case, said state and local officials are working closely with the
FBI on the investigation. Internet gossip is a source of concern,
he said.
"You'd be surprised what some of these morons write on the
Internet . . . that they wouldn't say to somebody's face," the
official said in a brief telephone interview.
With a population of less than 25,000, Clay County is located in
mountainous southeastern Kentucky, about 75 miles east of the
Virginia state line and 60 miles north of the Tennessee state
line. The county has one local newspaper, the Manchester
Enterprise, with a weekly circulation of 8,000.
Sparkman was a Florida native who worked as a journalist for
about 10 years, covering sports and community news for his
hometown Mulberry (Fla.) Press.
"He'd never met a stranger," former Mulberry Press
Publisher Virgil Davis said of Sparkman in an
interview with Lakeland (Fla.) Ledger.
"Every day he was out in the community always lauding Mulberry
and getting news stories."
