A Census Bureau worker in Kentucky found dead in September with "FED" written on his chest killed himself and staged his death to look like a homicide, state and federal law enforcement officials said yesterday.

William E. Sparkman Jr. was found with his hands, feet and mouth loosely bound with duct tape, a rope loosely tied around his neck. Passersby spotted his body Sept. 12 in a remote area of the Daniel Boone National Forest in eastern Kentucky.

The condition in which Mr. Sparkman's body was found led to speculation about whether he was a victim of anti-government violence. Local residents surmised, however, that he had stumbled upon a backwoods drug lab.

But investigators concluded that Mr. Sparkman wrote the word on his own chest from the bottom up. He died of asphyxiation, an autopsy showed.

Witnesses told investigators that Mr. Sparkman had discussed ending his life. He had also discussed recent federal investigations of Kentucky public officials and the negative perceptions of federal agencies expressed by some residents of Clay County, Ky., where he lived, investigators said. Before his death, he also secured two life insurance policies, totaling $600,000, that would not pay out for suicide.

Mr. Sparkman was a substitute teacher and one of 5,900 part-time Census Bureau field workers who conduct the annual American Community Survey and dozens of other government surveys each year. Normal census operations will resume in Clay County next month, Census Bureau spokesman Stephen Buckner said.

"The death of our co-worker, William Sparkman, was a tragedy and remains a loss for the Census Bureau family," Mr. Buckner said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends."

The Kentucky State Police partnered with the FBI and other agencies to investigate the death. Authorities decided to share details of their investigation yesterday due to the high level of national interest.

Washington correspondent Daniel Malloy writes the "Pittsburgh On The Potomac" blog exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.