Insurance probed in cnsus worker death

[emilyg]

http://www.wave3.com/Global/category.asp?C=1180&nav=menu31_2

from Wave 3 TV

[drm604]

1. Here's a more direct link.

I had to search that page for a link to the story.
This is more direct: http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=11497123

Two law enforcement sources, who spoke to AP Thursday on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case, said investigators are trying to determine if Bill Sparkman committed suicide but altered the scene to make it look like a homicide, allowing his son to collect. Life insurance policies typically do not cover suicides.

In an interview with AP, Josh Sparkman says he found paperwork for the private life insurance policy among his father's personal files, but wasn't sure of the amount or when it was taken out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Sparkman

Sparkman's body was discovered on September 12, 2009 by people during a family reunion paying a visit to Hoskins Cemetery in rural Clay County, Kentucky, within the Daniel Boone National Forest. He had been reported missing from work three days earlier while working on the American Community Survey for the U.S. Census, for which he worked in a five county area. Sparkman was reportedly found with a rope around his neck, tied to a tree while in contact with the ground, nude but for socks on his feet, with the word "fed" written on his chest in felt-tip marker, his census ID taped to the side of his neck, gagged, with duct tape around his hands and feet and over his mouth and eyes. Kentucky State Police criticized many media reports of the death as speculation, such as printing that he was hanging from a tree when he was actually tied to a tree with a rope around his neck.

While authorities have determined that Sparkman's death was not natural, it has not yet been ruled whether his death was a homicide, a suicide, or an accident. After over two weeks of cautious investigation by the Kentucky State Police, Sparkman's 19-year-old son, Josh Sparkman, expressed frustration and called it "disrespectful" that suicide or accident were still being considered. In the ensuing days, Josh further stated to the news-media his certainty that this was a homicide, noting that his father's truck had been "ransacked" and items stolen, such as Sparkman's census laptop and a family wedding ring, items not discovered by investigators.

Preliminary findings of the local coroner asserted Sparkman died from asphyxiation...

Okay, so he apparently tied his neck to a tree, gagged himself, duct taped his mouth, eyes, hands, and feet, and then somehow asphyxiated himself while still standing on the ground.

And now they're going to try to deny his son the life insurance based on the claim that it was suicide.

Maybe there's more here than meets the eye and maybe the reports of how he was found and what he died from are wildly inaccurate, but this sounds strange to me.

[Historic NY]

2. Don't MOST insurance policies benefit the next-of-kin...

I'd be suspicious if it was taken out the week or month before his death, but even that isn't a test.

[ConsAreLiars]

4. And the WAVE-TV "reporter" was wrong in claiming that suicide is usually excluded.

It IS covered, with some conditions.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_insurance

Contract terms

Special provisions may apply, such as suicide clauses wherein the policy becomes null if the insured commits suicide within a specified time (usually two years after the purchase date; some states provide a statutory one-year suicide clause). Any misrepresentations by the insured on the application is also grounds for nullification. Most US states specify that the contestability period cannot be longer than two years; only if the insured dies within this period will the insurer have a legal right to contest the claim on the basis of misrepresentation and request additional information before deciding to pay or deny the claim.

...

Term Insurance
...
A policy holder insures his life for a specified term. If he dies before that specified term is up, his estate or named beneficiary receives a payout. If he does not die before the term is up, he receives nothing. In the past these policies would almost always exclude suicide. However, after a number of court judgments against the industry, payouts do occur on death by suicide (presumably except for in the unlikely case that it can be shown that the suicide was just to benefit from the policy).

[alfredo]

3. There's some badassed people up in eastern Ky. I wouldn't be surprised

if a couple of Gomers killed him just for the hell of it.

[emilyg]

5. Thanks.

[Ian David]

6. My life insurance covers suicide once I've held the policy for a year. n/t