By msnbc.com staff and news services
The body of a South Carolina business executive who had been missing for more than a week was found Tuesday morning in a parking garage hear his Columbia office,?authorities said.
Tom?Sponseller, who?was the president of the South Carolina Hospitality Association, had not been seen or heard from since he visited his?office?Feb. 18.
Police Chief Randy Scott did not say how Sponseller died or how long he had been inside the room on the garage's lower level when he was found around 11 a.m. Tuesday.
On Monday, federal officials confirmed to The Associated Press that they were investigating the disappearance of?several hundred thousand dollars from the group, which lobbies for South Carolina's $14 billion tourism industry.
U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Michael Williams said agents began looking into the group's books several months ago but Sponseller had not been investigated specifically.
Instead, Williams said, agents were focusing on Rachel Duncan, who has served as an accounting director for the association. There was no answer Tuesday at a number listed for Duncan. Her attorney has declined to comment on the investigation but said Duncan had been cooperating with the investigation into Sponseller's disappearance.
Court records show Duncan is fighting foreclosure on a Lexington County property and in October was ordered by a judge to pay a bank nearly $4,000.
Rick Erwin, the association's interim director, has hired an accounting firm to do an audit of its finances to assure the association's 2,000 members that their financial contributions are secure in Sponseller's absence, according to Bob McAlister, a consultant for the group.
Sponseller, head of the association for more than 20 years, was a well-known fixture at the Statehouse representing the tourism industry. On Tuesday, House lawmakers held a moment of silence after learning of his death.
This article includes reporting by msnbc.com staff and The Associated Press.
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