By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Missouri's state Auditor suspects a fire was purposely set to destroy court records involving at least $50,000 that are missing from the coffers of the eastern Missouri town of Troy.
State and federal investigators are looking into the fire. It happened in the basement of Troy City Hall, one day before Auditor Claire McCaskill's office was to have started auditing the town's records.
The fire destroyed or damaged some court records from the entire audit period. McCaskill said yesterday the fire was set to destroy court records.
McCaskill's office found the court had collected nearly $51,000 dollars since June 2002, but the money had not been deposited in the municipal bank account. And the Auditor says she believes more funds could be missing.