S.C. lobbyist likely committed suicide, coroner says February 28, 2012 -- Updated 1949 GMT (0349 HKT) NEW: Tom Sponseller likely committed suicide, a coroner says Sponseller, 61, was head of the South Carolina Hospitality Association He was found in a garage near his office Tuesday morning Sponseller had been missing for 10 days (CNN) -- Early evidence suggests that South Carolina lobbyist Tom Sponseller died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Richland County Coroner Gary Watts told reporters Tuesday. Sponseller's body was found earlier in the day in a parking garage just a block from the state Capitol in Columbia. He had been missing for more than a week. My heart goes out to his family. This is very sad." said Columbia Police Chief Randy Scott. Sponseller, 61, was head of the South Carolina Hospitality Association, which is headquartered in the building where his body was found. He was last reported seen in his office around noon February 18, a Saturday. Columbia police detectives were "following up on the investigation and found Mr. Sponseller in a double enclosed room at the lower level parking garage," police said in a statement. "Tom was supposed to meet us to see my son's Pinewood Derby for Scouts that afternoon at 2 and he did not show up to the event," daughter-in-law Lauren Sponseller said last week. It started to really concern us at that point because it's out of his character to not show up to an event and to not let us know. Sponseller graduated from The Citadel and was a former officer in the U.S. Air Force, according to a Facebook page set up by his family after his disappearance. He and his wife had three children.