According to the KBI, the truck of a missing former Kansas official was involved in a fatal accident in which one person was killed

Kansas police on Sunday investigated a fatal crash involving a pickup truck owned by Jonathan L. Clayton, the missing interim city of Peabody official and former Kansas Department of Commerce official, who is under suspicion of embezzling federal pandemic relief funds.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said in a statement that the Harvey County Sheriff's Office received a call around 2:45 p.m. Sunday from a property owner who found a crashed 2011 Chevy Silverado on his property. The KBI said the vehicle was registered to Clayton.

When officers arrived, a “dead male body” was found inside the vehicle. The KBI said a “positive identification is pending” and an autopsy will be performed.

“Investigators believe the vehicle left the road and struck a tree,” the KBI said.

Further details about the circumstances of the accident have not been released. The KBI, Harvey County Sheriff's Office and Kansas Highway Patrol are involved in the investigation.

Clayton, 42, was last seen on August 3 before he was reported missing. He was working as the interim clerk for the town of Peabody when local news of his previous felony convictions in Pennsylvania spread and his handling of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds came under increasing scrutiny.

Clayton had previously pleaded guilty in Pennsylvania to theft and forgery for misusing an employer's credit cards to finance his and his partner's fledgling theater company. He was sentenced to five years' probation in 2018 and ordered to pay $210,000 in restitution.

In Kansas, Clayton had worked as director of economic recovery for the Kansas Department of Commerce, a position in which he oversaw programs that included millions in federal pandemic aid. The agency said it was unaware of his convictions when it hired him, originally as a regional project manager.

More recently, the grants administered by Clayton at Peabody and Mullinville have come under scrutiny.

The Kansas Department of Commerce went to court earlier this month seeking an injunction preventing the Mullinville Community Foundation from spending about $211,000 in grants.

“KDOC has been informed that the defendant’s secretary/treasurer has been reported missing and is accused of embezzling funds belonging to the defendant,” the affidavit states.

Clayton disappeared the same day he and his husband were served with a debt collection lawsuit, court records show. Newton Medical Center is suing the couple for $335.95 plus interest. This is one of several unexpected unpaid bills that Clayton's husband, Christopher King, described in a previous interview as having surfaced since Clayton's disappearance.

Clayton was listed on the KBI's missing persons page. As of Sunday evening, his page was no longer listed there.

Chance Swaim of the Wichita Eagles contributed reporting.