Family of missing S.C. lobbyist makes plea

By the CNN Wire Staff

updated 10:34 PM EST, Tue February 21, 2012

Tom Sponseller has been missing since Saturday.

(CNN) -- The family of South Carolina lobbyist Tom Sponseller asked for the public's help Tuesday in locating the missing man.

Sponseller, 61, is head of the South Carolina Hospitality Association. He was last reported seen in his Columbia office around noon on Saturday.

"Anybody that has any information we'd love for them to come forward," daughter-in-law Lauren Sponseller told HLN's Ryan Smith.

"We need some information from someone and we know someone has to have some type of information on this. So anything that can be helpful, please, we ask you for that," she said.

According to a Facebook page set up by Sponseller's family, investigators found his car in the garage next to his office. There were no signs of a struggle or "anything else that would cause alarm," it said.

Police have not yet ruled out the possibility of foul play, said Columbia police spokeswoman Jennifer Timmons.

"We don't know what happened to him ... we can't assume right now," she said.

Sponseller is slightly more than six feet tall, weighs 160 pounds and is balding, with gray or white hair. He typically wears glasses.

According to a police report, Sponseller was involved in a car accident about a year ago, in which he blacked out prior to the crash and possibly had a seizure.

His family made various attempts to reach Sponseller on his cell phone Saturday, but was not successful. He has no history of "this type of behavior," the police report read.

"Tom was supposed to meet us to see my son's Pinewood Derby for Scouts that (Saturday) afternoon at 2 and he did not show up to the event. 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," said his daughter-in-law.

Sponseller graduated from The Citadel and is a former officer in the U.S. Air Force, according to the Facebook page. He and his wife have three children.