Crash victim identified as missing Columbia County man

BEECH ISLAND, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - The body of a missing Georgia man was found Tuesday morning at the scene of a fatal crash near Beech Island.

Authorities responded shortly before 11 a.m. to the crash location.

Also there was the family of a missing man from Columbia County who feared the worst — that the crash happened days earlier and his body had been there until it was discovered Tuesday.

The single-vehicle crash was reported at 3472 Silver Bluff Road near Atomic Road, according to the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

According to initial reports, authorities found at least one person had been thrown from the vehicle when it possibly hit a tree.

Troopers weren’t able to confirm whether the accident happened Tuesday morning or might have happened earlier.

However, a woman on the scene who owns land nearby said that based on what authorities told her, the body had been there for a few days.

There’s a sharp curve on the road there and she said there are frequent crashes there by drivers who take the curve too fast.

The family and friends of Austin Hollar had planned to meet in the area Tuesday morning and search for him because it’s near the last area his cellphone indicated he’d been. They were to meet at 9:15 a.m. at the Dollar General at Williston Road and Silver Bluff to begin the search.

Within a couple of hours, the grim discovery was reported.

Aiken County Coroner Darryl Ables said Tuesday afternoon that the body was identified as Hollar’s.

Ables said the car had been traveling west when it ran off the right side of the road, went down an embankment and hit a tree. The driver was ejected from the vehicle.

Ables said Hollar was reported missing to the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday after he failed to show up at home after leaving work in Aiken.

His body will be autopsied in Newberry, according to Ables.

Ables’ office and the South Carolina Highway Patrol are continuing with the investigation.