Drugs would be my guess too. Some of these people are really bad news about as evil as it gets.
I don’t believe for a second this was done by an organized group of drug producers. They would know the wrath of God would be poured out on them over this. This was done by an individual (or 2 at most). Most likely a serial murderer type. Organized drug producers would have made the guy just disappear. The last thing they want is federal law enforcement snooping around. This was done by somebody who wanted the body to be found. Not in some attempt to scare others away, but simply to make themselves feel powerful by making the “ants” (normal people) scurry around looking for an answer. In the mean time, look for the media to use this as to attack conservatives.
Perhaps he came upon a meth lab, and drug dealers thought he was a narcotics detective just pretending to be a census taker... Scary stuff. Some people are just evil.
I'm just seeing this thread as I'm flipping channels......Rachel "The Hunk" Maddow is, of course, currently shrieking that this is the work of right wing redneck fanatics who hate the idea of census takers.