(AP) -- Columbia police are launching an internal investigation into why it took officers 10 days to find the body of a missing lobbyist.
Chief Randy Scott says he is probing why his officers failed to find the body of 61-year-old Tom Sponseller in a parking garage underneath his office building.
Sponseller was found dead Tuesday from an apparent gunshot wound to the head. Coroner Gary Watts says Sponseller shot himself in the head around the same time he was reported missing Feb. 18.
Scott says officers found the body in a locked room during a fourth search of the garage.
He says officers went to the room after learning of a suicide note found in Sponseller's office that referenced a federal investigation into money missing from the South Carolina Hospitality Association.
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