CANTON, MISSISSIPPI - Authorities said former Madison County, Mississippi, Chancery Clerk Steve Duncan, who resigned from numerous county jobs amid federal and state probes, was found dead in a car in Georgia. <br>
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Ray Dunlap, public information officer for the Gwinnett County, Georgia, Police Department, said preliminary results of an autopsy indicate Duncan took his life by consuming antifreeze. <br>
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Dunlap said the body was found in the back seat of a vehicle that contained antifreeze containers. Dunlap said Duncan may have been dead for a couple of days when a patrolling officer found his body about 3 a.m. Wednesday. <br>
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Duncan resigned in August 2001 from several positions, including his clerk post and as Madison County Medical Center administrator. <br>
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Dunlap said an investigation would continue because of the unusual circumstances of the death, including the fact the body was in the back seat. He said a toxicology report is needed to confirm the cause of death because Duncan had apparently attempted suicide before. Dunlap said he also used antifreeze in that attempt. <br>
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An audit found Duncan wrote checks to himself totaling $60,000. Federal and state investigators were looking into allegations he transferred money from a county reserve fund to keep the county hospital afloat without telling supervisors. <br>
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In an interview after his resignation, Duncan said he stole no money from the county. <br>
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Duncan, who had been the highest paid public official in the state in 1999, served as county administrator, comptroller, purchase clerk and head of records restoration, as well as chancery clerk. <br>
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The FBI at one point seized computers belonging to Duncan and an assistant. State auditors were busy going through files in the chancery clerk's office at the time of his resignation.
