John and Elizabeth Calvert missing 3/3/08 from SC (declared dead)

[klaasend]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,336100,00.html



Police Find Missing Couple's Car Near Hilton Head Yacht Community
Saturday , March 08, 2008

 
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. —

A car belonging to a missing couple was found a few miles from the gated yacht community where they live part time, but yielded no clues about their whereabouts, authorities said.

John and Elizabeth Calvert were last seen Monday. Co-workers began to worry about the typically punctual couple when they missed business meetings the next day.

Police found the Calverts' silver 2006 Mercedes on Friday at a resort a few miles from the Harbour Town Yacht Basin, but there was nothing in the car to explain the couple's disappearance, Beaufort County Sheriff's Lt. Col. Neil Baxley said.

Lightning caused authorities to call off a search of the marina using divers on Friday. Baxley would not say why they wanted to look in the water and released few details about the search, except to say that the FBI and state police were also involved.

"We're exploring everything and anything," he said. "Everybody's got their eyes open and their ears open."

Authorities say the Calverts' cell phones have been turned off since Tuesday. The small airplane owned by Elizabeth Calvert, a pilot, was found undisturbed on the tarmac at the island's airport. The couple's cat was still on their yacht.

The Calverts have a home in Atlanta and lease and manage the Harbour Town marina, where they live on their 40-foot yacht, the Yellow Jacket. Their company also manages rental units and other businesses on Hilton Head Island, an upscale golf resort island near the South Carolina-Georgia line.

The car was found at a parking lot at the Palmetto Dunes resort. The Calverts don't own or manage property at the resort, said co-worker and friend Tony Gibus.

He and others have been posting fliers with photos of the couple across the 12-mile long barrier island and in Savannah, Ga., about 45 miles away.

Gibus said Friday he knew something was wrong when John Calvert, 47, missed a meeting Tuesday morning to plan promotions and budgeting for the marina's upcoming spring season.

"When I came out at 11:30 that morning, their boat looked undisturbed and we wondered if they'd just slept in," Gibus said. "But he's never missed a meeting and he's never turned off his cell phone. They would never just run off."

Elizabeth Calvert, 45, works as an attorney in nearby Savannah. She failed to report for meetings Tuesday at HunterMaclean, where she specializes in employee benefits and executive compensation, said John Tatum, the firm's managing partner. She previously had been a corporate attorney for UPS in Atlanta.

[bleachedblack]

Missing couple's business associate not cooperating with investigation, says Sheriff's Office

Published Tue, Mar 11, 2008
Authorities on Saturday searched the home, business and cars belonging to a business associate of missing couple John and Liz Calvert in relation to the ongoing investigation into their disappearance, the Beaufort County Sheriff�s Office reported today.

 The Sheriff�s Office said it confirmed that Dennis Gerwing, an executive of The Club Group, which has managed Harbour Town holdings, was the last person to see the Calverts together before they were reported missing March 4.

John Calvert, 47, is owner of the company that operates the Harbour Town Yacht Basin, where his yacht, which served as a part-time home, is still moored.

Search warrants were obtained Saturday for Gerwing�s offices at 71 Lighthouse Road, his home at 8 Bent Tree Lane in Hilton Head Plantation, and his two vehicles, a 2004 pewter-colored Toyota Avalon and a 2001 dark gray GMC Yukon. Investigators would not reveal what, if anything, was found.

Gerwing is not cooperating with investigators and has obtained a lawyer, the Sheriff�s Office said. Sheriff P.J. Tanner, when asked who was representing Gerwing, said he didn�t know and wouldn�t provide that information.

Authorities did not say if Gerwing was a suspect in the disappearance or if they thought any crime had been committed. They would not deviate from today�s news release.

�The only information we�re releasing is what�s in the press release,� Sheriff Tanner said.

Gerwing has not returned several calls from The Island Packet over the past week, and Gerwing was not at his office last week when a reporter went by.

Calvert had a business relationship with The Club Group through the end of last year. The Club Group provided administrative support to Calvert�s four island businesses. The two parties had an amicable split, Mark King, president of The Club Group, said last week.

The Sheriff�s Office also reported today that the Calverts� Mercedes E320 was found in the parking lot of the Hilton Head Marriott Resort & Spa parking lot early Friday. Authorities had previously not identified the exact lot.

The Sheriff�s Office is asking anyone who may have seen either the Calverts, Dennis Gerwing or his vehicles after 5:30 p.m. on March 3 to contact investigators at 843-524-2777 or 843-842-4234, ext. 25

http://www.beaufortgazette.com/developing_stories/story/217491.html

[bleachedblack]

Friends to hold prayer vigil for missing Atlanta couple

Published on: 03/10/08
Friends will gather on Hilton Head Island, S.C., Tuesday to pray for the safe return of a missing Atlanta couple, co-workers said Monday.

John and Liz Calvert disappeared a week ago from Sea Pines, a gated community on the island where they live most of the year on a yacht. Searchers found the couple's car Friday about four miles away, but have found no clues to their whereabouts.

A prayer vigil is planned for 7:30 Tuesday at Liberty Oak in Harbour Town not far from where the Calverts live, said Laura Tipton, marina operations officer at the Calvert-owned Harbour Town Yacht Basin. Liberty Oak is a large tree near the water's edge that is surrounded by benches in a park-like setting, Tipton said. The vigil is open to the public.

"You all prayed for rain in Georgia and that worked," Tipton said Monday. "We're praying for the safe return of John and Liz in hopes that will work too."

>>>the complete article
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/03/10/missing_0311.html

[klaasend]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,336951,00.html

Person of Interest in Missing S.C. Couple Case Found Dead
Tuesday , March 11, 2008
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. —

The man named as a person of interest in the disappearance of a Hilton Head Island couple appears to have committed suicide, authorities said Tuesday.

The body of Dennis Ray Gerwing was found by his lawyer around 4 p.m. in the bathroom of a resort condominium unit his company manages, according to a news release from the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office.

Gerwing left behind two notes that are being examined by state agents, said deputies, who refused to release the contents of the notes.

An autopsy has been schedule for Wednesday. Authorities called the death an apparent suicide, but would not disclose any other details.

Gerwing, 54, was named a person of interest earlier Tuesday and was not cooperating with officers investigating the disappearance last week of John and Elizabeth Calvert, deputies said.

The couple remains missing.

Investigators searched Gerwing's home, office and vehicles Saturday. Police would not say what, if anything, was found.

Gerwing was listed as chief financial officer of The Club Group, a realty group that manages property on Hilton Head Island. According to the group's Web site, that includes boat slips for the Harbour Town marina leased and managed by the Calverts.

The phone at the office of Gerwing's lawyer, Dan Saxton, was not being answered Tuesday night.

Deputies said they think Gerwing was the last to see the Calverts together but would not say when the meeting took place.

Tony Gibus, who met the Calverts in 2005 and manages several of the couple's companies on this slipper-shaped island near the Georgia border, has said he last saw John Calvert at the end of the work day March 3.

The Calverts live part time on their 40-foot yacht, the Yellow Jacket, at Harbour Town marina. Elizabeth Calvert, 45, also works as an attorney in nearby Savannah, Ga., and the couple own a home in Atlanta.

Friends and family say they started to worry when the dependable, prompt Calverts both failed to show up for business-related meetings March 4.

Authorities say the Calverts' cell phones have been turned off. The small airplane owned by Elizabeth Calvert, a pilot, was found undisturbed on the tarmac at the island's airport. The couple's cat was still on their yacht.

On Friday, investigators found the Calvert's car at a resort a few miles from the marina but said it contained no clues to their whereabouts. The next day, a dive team searched the marina but also came up with nothing.

Friends and co-workers planned to hold a candlelight prayer vigil Tuesday night at the Harbour Town marina.

 

[Jennifer34]

WOW, sounds like as usual ... the last person seen with the missing person or in this case persons.  I hope if he did bring harm to these people he at least left a note as to where they ccan be found.

[Momof2OneryGirls]

Cant get the article to copy so here is the link


http://www.thecoastalsource.com/features/news/16596091.html

[klaasend]

Cant get the article to copy so here is the link


http://www.thecoastalsource.com/features/news/16596091.html

Welcome to SM Momof2!  Here's the info from your link:



What a night.  A trip over to Hilton Head Island to cover a vigil for a missing couple turned into a much bigger story. The man identified by the Beaufort County Sheriff's department as a person of interest in the disappearance of John and Elizabeth Calvert committed suicide Tuesday afternoon. The body of Dennis Ray Gerwing was found by  his attorney in a condominium on Sea Pines Plantation. Gerwing was a business associate of the Calverts and refused to cooperate with investigators.

 

We're told Gerwing left two notes before killing himself.  What information did those notes contain?  At this point, we simply don't know.  Do the notes offer any insight into how or why John and Elizabeth Calvert disappeared on March 3, 2008?  Again, we don't know if the two notes left by Gerwing reveal any information or offer an explanation.  The two notes are in the hands of South Carolina forensics investigators.

 

After getting that information at the condo complex, Candace McCowan and Nathanial Nauert went to a candlelight vigil for the Calverts.  After shooting some video and talking to some of the people there, our crew heads back to the news vehicle to return to Savannah.  This is where things took an interesting turn.  Nathanial finds a rain-soaked note on the windshield. The hand printed note read "This goes deeper than Dennis.  Stay on it.  Their (sic) are more people involved."   No signature. No phone number. Nothing.  Just those 13 words. 

 

Needless to say, that note created quite the buzz in the newsroom.  As our crew left Beaufort, Candace called investigators to make them aware of the note. 

 

Investigators strongly urged them to turn around and give them the note.  The issue created a lot of phone calls involving Candace, the newsroom, our news director and investigators.  Although it sounds like one or two officers might have used a little intimidation to get Candace to hand over the note, newsroom management made the call not to  give them the note at this time. This was the right decision. The note was to come back to Savannah with the crew. 

 

In the numerous phone calls, it was made crystal clear to the sheriff's department investigators they could come to our station after the news Tuesday night or on Wednesday morning to get the note.  We did not withhold anything.  As of this writing late Tuesday night, I still haven't heard a firm decision on when, or even if, they will drive down here to  get the note. Candace McCowan will have a follow up to this later on WJCL news at 6 p.m.

 

In no way do I think what played out over this note makes us irresponsible. We did not leave the scene with evidence.  Someone wanted us to know that information.  This was  something we acquired during our news gathering process.   We want the Calverts found, too.  That's why we reached out to investigators to share that with them even though we have had a few problems getting basic information out of them over the course of this nine day investigation.

 

The note was not the main thrust of our story we aired Tuesday night.  It was one element that brought to a close a sad day on Hilton Head Island.  Not only did one man die, we still don't have any idea of where John and Elizabeth Calvert are.

[bleachedblack]

Press Conference on Missing Calvert Couple
 
 Mar 13, 2008
Authorities with the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office acknowledged that many false rumors are being spread about the case, but that the Calverts have not been found and they have no new information.

While there have been no new clues as to what may have happened to the Calverts, we are learning more about the person of interest in the case who we're told ended his life Tuesday.  Dennis Ray Gerwing was a business partner with John Calvert.  Gerwing's Boss says he's deeply saddened by the loss of his long-term friend. 

Officials say Gerwing left two notes behind at the Swallowtail condo but details of those have not been released.  Sheriff's Office authorities are analyzing the notes but not commenting on them. They also won't say whether Gerwing was the only person of interest in the case. The only detail released about the suicide is that there was an inner thigh cut, and Gerwing was dead for about 12 hours before authorities were notified and found him.

The Beaufort County Sheriff's Office wanted to reassure residents that they are safe, and authorities are searching every possible location for the missing couple.

Authorities will hold another press conference tomorrow morning. Tune in to News 3 On Your Side at 6 tonight for Lowcountry reporter Holly Bounds' complete report.

http://www.wsav.com/midatlantic/sav/news.apx.-content-articles-SAV-2008-03-13-0011.html

[klaasend]

http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local/story/220058.html

Gerwing admits in suicide notes that he stole from Calverts
Published Fri, Mar 14, 2008 12:02 AM
By TIM DONNELLY
and DANIEL BROWNSTEIN
The Island Packet

BLUFFTON -- The suicide notes left by Dennis Ray Gerwing acknowledge that he stole money from John and Elizabeth Calvert, the Hilton Head Island couple who have been missing since last week, according to law enforcement sources.

But the notes did not say Gerwing, 54, had a hand in the disappearance of the Calverts, who were last seen leaving a business meeting with Gerwing the evening of March 3, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke to The (Columbia) State newspaper on the condition of anonymity.

Reached late Thursday, Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner declined to comment on the new information. A press conference is scheduled for 11 a.m. today.

Authorities believe the couple are dead, but have found no physical evidence confirming that, one source told The State.

Investigators used a cadaver-sniffing dog to search several self-storage units on Hilton Head on Thursday. An owner of one of the storage companies said deputies told him they were searching every storage facility on the island.

Tanner said earlier Thursday that investigators have to consider a "worst-case scenario" relating to the disappearance, but it's still classified as a missing persons case. Air, canine and dive searches are continuing, he said.

ODD CIRCUMSTANCES John Calvert, 47, and Elizabeth Calvert, 45, met with Gerwing last week to discuss suspicions about business transactions involving Gerwing.

Gerwing was chief financial officer of The Club Group, which formerly handled some administrative and financial duties for John Calvert's companies. John Calvert owns the company that operates Harbour Town Yacht Basin and another that rents out 125 vacation properties.

Elizabeth Calvert, a Savannah business attorney, made notes about her concerns and discussed them with at least one other person, one source told The State. Investigators have those notes.

The Calverts' cell phones were turned off shortly after their meeting with Gerwing, the sources said. Gerwing's body was found in a locked bathroom of a villa in Sea Pines at about 4 p.m. Tuesday, some two hours after the Sheriff's Office announced he was a "person of interest" in the case. He'd been staying in the villa because his Hilton Head Plantation home was disheveled after a search by police last weekend. His cars and office were also searched.

An autopsy report said Gerwing had been dead about 12 hours. His body had a gash across his inner thigh, according to the Sheriff's Office, and multiple knife wounds to the chest, a source told The State.

Authorities are treating it as a self-inflicted death, though they acknowledge the circumstances of the apparent suicide are odd, The State reported.

CONTINUING INVESTIGATION Thursday's search by the cadaver dog was the latest effort to uncover clues on what Tanner dubbed an "extremely complicated" case.

At a press conference earlier Thursday, Tanner confirmed more details about Gerwing's apparent suicide, including that a knife was used on his inner thigh. He did not mention the wounds to the chest.

Tanner said Gerwing had been interviewed on one occasion, and investigators had tried to set up another interview last Thursday, but Gerwing had retained a lawyer. The Sheriff's Office said Gerwing wasn't cooperating with the investigation, but Tom Gardo, who is handling public relations for The Club Group, called that characterization inaccurate.

"Dennis was cooperating," Gardo said. "All he did was exercise his constitutional right" to an attorney.

Another friend said Gerwing had been interviewed for four or five hours. Representatives of The Club Group said they had no knowledge of any searches of their storage units, but that deputies could have searched without first informing them. The company and its president King have been cooperating with authorities, said Charles Scarminach, an attorney for The Club Group.

"Anything they've asked for, if they've asked for it, he's given it to them," Scarminach said.

Tanner declined to divulge the content of Gerwing's notes at Thursday's press conference.

"All of the evidence is being analyzed and the notes are part of that evidence," he said. "They're being analyzed for content ... as well as fingerprinting and all of the other stuff that needs to be done. I cannot comment on that until we complete the task."

He said Gerwing's death created "challenges, but on the other hand, answers." He did not elaborate. Investigators, including those with the State Law Enforcement Division and the FBI, are casting a wide net, according to Tanner, in the eventual hope of using the process of elimination to find the truth. The FBI was specifically brought in because "it has a longer arm," said Tanner, at one point alluding to the agency's ability to sort through financial information.

"Everyone's of interest," Tanner said. "We have to look at everyone and we have to suspect everything."

[bleachedblack]

Search for Missing S.C. Couple Broadens

March 14, 2008
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — The search for a couple missing for almost two weeks has expanded beyond this resort island, a sheriff said Friday without giving details.

John and Elizabeth Calvert, who live part time on a yacht at the Harbour Town marina they lease and manage, were last seen March 3. Police think Dennis Ray Gerwing, a business associate of the couple who committed suicide Tuesday, was the last person to see them.

"We're not only looking at areas on Hilton Head but off Hilton Head as well," Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said. "I can just tell you it has expanded quite a bit over the past 11 days."

He would not provide more details about the ongoing search but confirmed Friday that Gerwing's death was a suicide.

Gerwing, who had been questioned by investigators, killed himself by slashing his inner thigh with a knife. He was named as a person of interest in the case after he died but before his body was found in the bathroom of his Hilton Head condominium.

Tanner said two suicide notes were being analyzed by the State Law Enforcement Division. The sheriff has seen the notes but would not discuss them, and a spokeswoman for the state agency declined to comment about the letters.

The sheriff said deputies had searched rental units managed by the Calverts and Gerwing's boat, but would not say what, if anything, was found.

Gerwing's body was found after his attorney Dan Saxon went to his condo. Saxon told The Associated Press he found the bathroom door locked and a suicide note on the bed. He said he did not know exactly what the note said.

"We saw one note. I didn't spend a lot of time reading the note at all," he said, adding that he was busy calling police.

The death "was a complete shock," Saxon said. He said there had been no sign of trouble when he talked to Gerwing the night before he died.

Gerwing, 54, was chief financial officer of The Club Group, which the Calverts hired more than two years ago to help administer their business. In December, the Calverts decided they no longer needed the company and were transitioning from its services.

The Club Group will have an independent accounting firm review all of its financial records to check for any improprieties, company president Mark King said in a statement.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jQgZZNbrsQg0_f3muMT9HpKdWcGQD8VDGOJ84

[bleachedblack]

Landfill Searched For Clues In Missing Couple's Case

 March 16, 2008
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. -- Five police agencies searched a landfill for clues in the disappearance of a Hilton Head couple Saturday.

The Beaufort County Sheriff's Office was one of the agencies involved in the search.

Investigators told a Hilton Head newspaper they searched a landfill in Jesup, Ga., Saturday, after authorities received a tip in connection with the disappearance of John and Elizabeth Calvert.

http://www.wyff4.com/news/15610019/detail.html

[bleachedblack]

Authorities search landfill for missing Atlanta couple
Calverts, who live in Brookhaven, disappeared from Hilton Head Island

 03/17/08
Searchers were sifting through tons of garbage at a south Georgia landfill Monday hoping to find an Atlanta couple who disappeared two weeks ago Monday.

Acting on a tip, representatives from several law enforcement and search agencies were looking for John and Liz Calvert at the Broadhurst Environmental Landfill near Jesup, according to Capt. Joe Naia of the Wayne County Sheriff's Office.

The search began Saturday, and as of noon Monday searchers had not found anything of significance, Naia said.

Naia said searchers were going through trash from the Savannah area as it arrived at the landfill. Trash deliveries were "backlogged by about two weeks, which is fortunate in a way because that's about the time they went missing," Naia said.

The 2,500-acre landfill receives trash from more than 20 counties in Georgia and several counties in Florida and South Carolina, including part of Beaufort County, S.C., home to Hilton Head Island, Naia said.

>>>>the complete article
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/03/17/missing_0317.html

[bleachedblack]

Missing couple update: Did Dennis Gerwing commit suicide? Friends don't think so.

March 19, 2008
 The death of Dennis Gerwing is raising eyebrows among friends -- and some forensic experts -- who say the man they knew and the circumstances of his death may not add up to a suicide.

Gerwing, the only name so far linked to the disappearance of John and Elizabeth Calvert, died last week in what local authorities call an apparent suicide. Heslashed his inner thigh with a knife, presumably severing the femoral artery, and bled to death behind the locked bathroom door of a Sea Pines villa across the street from his office. His body also had stab wounds to the chest, a law enforcement source told The State newspaper in Columbia last week.

The State's sources confirmed that Gerwing's death is being treated as a suicide, but acknowledge that the circumstances were odd.

National forensic experts agree. And friends and business associates of Gerwing attest there's no way the mild-mannered wine connoisseur they knew would be capable of turning a knife on himself.

Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said at a press conference Friday authorities don't suspect anything other than suicide. He also said last week the gash on Gerwing's leg was caused by a knife.

But Tanner on Monday refused to say whether a knife was found in the locked bathroom with Gerwing. The initial Sheriff's Office incident report on the death lists the weapon used as "unknown." The Sheriff's Office rejected a

Freedom of Information Act request from The Island Packet seeking autopsy results. They said the report was not yet complete and that the death is still part of an active investigation.

'PUZZLING' CIRCUMSTANCES

Several forensic experts say slicing the thigh is a extremely rare form of suicide. Gunshot wounds are the most common method used by men.

Dr. Werner Spitz, a Michigan forensic pathologist who's testified in several high-profile cases including the Phil Spector murder trial, and served on a Congressional committee that reviewed the autopsy of President John F. Kennedy, said he's never seen a suicide caused by cutting the inner thigh in his more than 50 years of experience. That kind of wound is more often associated with homicide or accident victims, he said.

"That's kind of an unusual place," he said. Spitz, however, said it was impossible to be certain without seeing the body.

Also unusual, but not unheard of, is a person stabbing himself in the chest, according to a second national expert, Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, a forensic pathologist and clinical professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

Wecht said it's possible Gerwing slashed his thigh and then plunged the knife into his chest when the leg wound took too long to have an effect or was too painful.

"You're not going to stab yourself in the chest and then pull it out and get your thigh," he said. "That's absurd."

The human heart is quite protected behind the rib cage, sternum and

cartilage.

"A lot of people don't know exactly where their heart is," Wecht said. "They think it's to the left side of the chest, but it's actually a little more to the center than that."

Two notes were found in the villa where Gerwing died. Law enforcement sources told The State that Gerwing, a former business associate of the Calverts, admitted to stealing money from the couple, but did not say he had a hand in their disappearance.

Wecht said it is "puzzling" that Gerwing apparently admitted to skimming money, but remained silent about the Calverts' disappearance. Typically, people who kill themselves clear their conscience when they offer their last words.

If no knife were found at the scene, that also would "raise some eyebrows," Spitz said.

An autopsy was conducted at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston the day after Gerwing died. Dr. Erin Presnell, head of the school's autopsy section, did not participate, but did say pathologists generally look for certain things to determine whether a death was a suicide.

"With suicidal sharp-force injuries, you don't typically see any defense injuries," she said. "You also could see different non-fatal, sharp-force wounds." Such injuries are commonly referred to as "hesitation wounds," where the person slices or stabs himself, but not deeply enough to cause death.

Gerwing, 54, apparently died about 10 hours before authorities publicly called him a "person of interest"

March 11. Gerwing, the last person confirmed to have seen the Calverts, had been interviewed about their disappearance on one occasion for several hours. He hired a lawyer after that interview, and authorities said he stopped cooperating.

Gerwing's body was discovered in a villa in Swallowtail across the street from his office after two attorneys and Gerwing's boss, Mark King, went to check on him. He reportedly had been staying in the villa since his home was disheveled after being searched by police the previous weekend. His cars and office also were searched. Two lawyers entered the villa and called 911 when no one answered the bathroom door. They never saw the body.

Funeral plans for Gerwing are still pending. Dunbar Funeral Home in Columbia would not say whether it had received the body from Charleston, where the autopsy was conducted.

'NOT A TORTURED SOUL'

Gerwing's long-time friends say the pieces of this puzzle don't fit together. They suspect there's more to the story than authorities are now releasing.

"I think there are a lot of issues here that are unresolved, and (there are) a lot of people here in the public who have a lot of questions that don't add up, if you know Dennis like I did," said Dick Sonberg, Gerwing's neighbor in Sea Pines off and on for 15 years. The two also knew one another through business at Harbour Town Yacht Basin.

Even in tough times over the years when Gerwing lost money on business ventures or had serious medicalproblems, he never seemed depressed, Sonberg said. He enjoyed wine but wasn't a hard drinker or into any other substance abuse, Sonberg said.

"That was not Dennis," he said. "He was always up and going."

Gerwing was the one who volunteered to investigators that he was the last person to see the Calverts, said Frank Fowler, a friend who spoke with Gerwing by e-mail after the disappearance.

"In my heart of hearts, I just would find it very difficult to even conceive that Dennis would be involved in anything that was not above board," Fowler said last week before Gerwing's body was found.

Some friends said they doubt Gerwing was physically strong enough to kill himself. At about 5-foot-8 and a little overweight, he wasn't very athletic, Sonberg said.

Fred Gerwing, Dennis' brother who lives in Louisville, Ky.,said Dennis did not seem suicidal when the two spoke after the Calverts' disappearance. Dennis was concerned authorities were jumping to conclusions about his involvement, his brother said.

"It was totally out of his nature to do things like this," Fred Gerwing said.

Stabbing oneself in the chest usually indicates the person is filled with aggression or doesn't like himself, one funeral director said.

That description didn't match Gerwing, friends said.

"He was not a tortured soul, at least outwardly," said Porter Thompson, spokesman for The Club Group. Gerwing was a shareholder and chief financial officer for the property management company.

The Club Group provided bookkeeping and other services for John Calvert's four island businesses.

Elizabeth Calvert, 45, is a business attorney with Savannah firm HunterMaclean. She and John Calvert, 47, have been married for almost 20 years, splitting their time between an upscale Atlanta home and a yacht, the "Yellow Jacket," in Harbour Town.

The two were last seen March 3. The Calverts suspected Gerwing had stolen money from them, and had planned to confront him that afternoon, sources said.

"Most of the people that I've talked to about this, and even some of the people close to it, are baffled by the method of Dennis' death and the adjudication of what it is," Thompson said. "It appears to be a suicide, but a very Draconian one at that. I think most of us that are contemplating our own death would chose something less painful. I know Dennis well enough to say that he might not even know where his femoral artery is. He's an accountant."

http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/256923.html

[bleachedblack]

I have to agree......if Gerwing killed himself by slashing his own femoral artery and bleeding to death it would be the first time I have ever heard of such a thing.

[bleachedblack]

Sheriff insists "person of interest" in missing couple case committed suicide

 March 20, 2008
 Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner is standing behind his office's belief that Dennis Gerwing took his own life in a Sea Pines villa last week, even as some of Gerwing's friends continue to question that explanation for his death.

Gerwing, 54, a "person of interest" in the disappearance of John and Elizabeth Calvert, was found dead March 11 with a slash to his inner thigh and several knife wounds to the chest, according to law enforcement sources quoted by The State newspaper in Columbia.

"Y'all are writing some sort of Nancy Drew murder mystery," Tanner said Wednesday, responding to a story in The Island Packet that cited some Gerwing friends and several national forensics experts who are skeptical that the circumstances of his death add up to suicide. Tanner said he knows of no evidence that points to anything other than that.

He would not say whether a knife was found in the locked bathroom where Gerwing's body was discovered.

 "I'm not going to respond until all the analysis is complete," Tanner said. He expects to eventually release the full autopsy report, but said he was withholding information now"because (releasing) it could be detrimental to the investigation."

Investigators and their cadaver-sniffing dogs finished searching a Georgia landfill on Tuesday afternoon, according to Will Flower, spokesman for Republic Services, the company that owns the 2,500-acre Broadhurst Environmental Landfill near

Jesup. Authorities did not say what, if anything, they found there.

Officers focused on the landfill because the contents of a specific Sea Pines trash bin are taken there, Flower said. Those contents also are sometimes taken to Hickory Hill Landfill in Ridgeland, which had not been searched as of Tuesday.

An employee at a store in Sea Pines Center said authorities visited earlier this week and asked if the store had security cameras or surveillance footage. Another employee said a K-9 officer had recently searched nearby woods.

>>>>the complete article
http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/258064.html

[bleachedblack]

Autopsy Results Out For Last Man To See Missing Hilton Head Couple Alive
The Beaufort County Sheriff says Dennis Gerwing's death was a motivated suicide

Mar 27, 2008
Beaufort County, SC -- In South Carolina, autopsy results are out about the last man to see a missing Hilton Head couple alive.

The Beaufort County Sheriff says Dennis Gerwing's death was a motivated suicide.

He says investigators say Gerwing lined a bathtub with a comforter and killed himself with a steak knife.

They also found two handwritten suicide notes.

http://www.wjbf.com/midatlantic/jbf/news_index.apx.-content-articles-JBF-2008-03-27-0008.html
Gerwing was a person-of-interest in the disappearance of John and Elizabeth Calvert, who were last seen March 3rd.

[bleachedblack]

"Motivated suicide" term stirs controversy in missing couple case

 March 28, 2008
 When a reporter asked Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner on Wednesday why Dennis Gerwing would have cut himself more than six times in what was probably a gruesome and painful death, Tanner's responded that it was a "motivated suicide."

That led to more questions.

What does that mean? Motivated by what?

Tanner said the term came from the pathologist who examined Gerwing's body, and the sheriff said he didn't have an explanation beyond that.

Follow this story: Read all articles and watch videos related to the disappearance of the Calverts

"That's what I was told," Tanner said. "I can't give you a definition of their expression."

Gerwing, the only person so far linked to the disappearance of John and Elizabeth Calvert, killed himself in a locked bathroom of a Sea Pines villa March 11. His death has already been the subject of intense speculation. Wednesday's classification of the suicide again raised some eyebrows about what the term means.

No definition exists for "motivated suicide," and it isn't an official term or description in the medical or psychiatric fields, according to several local and national doctors, experts and coroners, who say they've never come across it before.

"I've never heard of that in reference to a medical term or a forensic term," said Dr. Kim A. Collins, professor of pathology at the Medical University of South Carolina, where Gerwing's autopsy was conducted. After all, Collins and others pointed out, any person who sets out to commit suicide is "motivated" by definition.

So does that mean the phrase has some deeper meaning?

Probably not, the doctors and experts said.

Pathologists often consider the external factors behind a suicide, things such as alcoholism, debt or anything beyond psychological problems, said Thomas Andrew, the chief medical examiner for New Hampshire.

"That is by no means a diagnostic or medical term," Andrew said. "These other external circumstances may 'motivate' him to take his own life."

Roger Sorg, the Hilton Head pathologist and deputy county coroner who examined the body at the scene, said the term "motivated suicide" did not come from him.

>>>>>the complete article
http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/264696.html

[bleachedblack]

Audit: SC man took $2.1M from missing couple, other clients

Apr. 22, 2008
COLUMBIA, S.C. --
An accountant who killed himself after being questioned by police in the disappearance of two Hilton Head Island clients had embezzled $2.1 million from the couple and seven other companies, his former employer said Tuesday.

An audit ordered by management company The Club Group found that chief financial officer Dennis Gerwing took money from its clients for four years, depositing it into a hidden checking account, the company said.

Gerwing committed suicide March 11 after police questioned him about the disappearance of John and Elizabeth Calvert, a couple who live part-time on a yacht on the resort island and in a home in Atlanta. The couple were last seen in early March and searches of the resort island, its harbor and in Georgia have been fruitless.

Police have said Gerwing, 54, was the last person to see the couple together.

Mark King, president of The Club Group, said he met last week with the clients who lost money and promised to repay them using money from Gerwing's estate, insurance settlements and his own assets.

"I am still in shock over the betrayal of trust and the death of my partner of 21 years. I have no idea what might have prompted Dennis to engage in this behavior, but as chief executive, I want to apologize on behalf of our company to all who were adversely affected," King said in a statement.

Gerwing stole from eight of The Club Group's 10 Hilton Head Island clients by using wire transfers, checks and other transactions that mixed investment money with his personal funds, King said.

The Club Group has given authorities the findings of the audit, which was conducted by Baltimore-based FTI Consulting Inc., King said.

Tom Gardo, a spokesman for The Club Group, declined to specify how much money the company believes was taken from the Calverts or name any of the other companies from which Gerwing stole. He would not speculate whether the Calverts had discovered the theft.

>>>>the complete article
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/575/story/425743.html

[bleachedblack]

Investigation into Calverts' disappearance slows to a methodical pace

 Sun, Jun 29, 2008 12:00 AM
BLUFFTON -- In the four months since John and Elizabeth Calvert vanished, their fate has remained as much a mystery as it was the day they disappeared.

 Detectives still don't know whether the Hilton Head Island couple is alive or dead, where they might be if -- miraculously -- they are alive, and what led to their disappearance on March 3 after a business meeting with Dennis Gerwing, the only "person of interest" in the case.

Among those who knew the couple, there is a growing sense of frustration over the unknowns still surrounding the case.

Police last week gave the first hints that those unknowns are likely to linger; that the entire story may never be known -- or will, at best, be some time in coming.

The twists and turns of the case have made it difficult to follow, but the main stumbling block was that Gerwing killed himself before he could be questioned in-depth.

"It's like putting a puzzle together," Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said. "There are pieces of the puzzle that are missing that we're hoping to find. We're doggedly trying to find the truth."

DISAPPOINTMENT OVER NOTES

Perhaps the biggest disappointment are the final words penned by Gerwing, the chief financial officer of the property management company, The Club Group, which had handled many of the Calverts' business affairs.

Detectives initially hoped two suicide notes -- described as nearly illegible and not very lucid -- would help their investigation.

They didn't.

Gerwing used a serrated steak knife to kill himself hours before he was linked to the couple on March 11.

"The notes were not as helpful as we would have liked," Tanner said. "The content of the notes did not lead us to the areas we hoped they would ... . The more we're finding out about Dennis' life, the Calverts and The Club Group's financial issues, we have a better understanding of what the notes intended to say. But again, they really didn't help much."

Gerwing drank a bottle of wine before his death and had blood pressure medication in his system, but no other drugs that would explain the incoherent notes or grisly manner of death, Tanner said.

The contents of the notes have not been released.

Gerwing, 54, kept the books for John Calvert's four island businesses, which includethe company that operates the Harbour Town Yacht Basin, a firm that manages 125 vacation properties and two ancillary boating companies.

Elizabeth Calvert, 45, is former vice president of the UPS legal department in Atlanta and worked as a business attorney with HunterMaclean's office in Savannah.

Sources have said Elizabeth Calvert, described as a "bulldog" of an attorney, discovered financial irregularities in her husband's companies and planned to confront Gerwing about them. John Calvert, 47, had severed his business relationship with Gerwing months before the disappearance. The couple met with Gerwing on March 3, the night before they were reported missing.

Their car was found several days later in the parking lot of the Marriott hotel in Palmetto Dunes. Nothing in the car provided any clues or leads, authorities said.

>>>>the complete article
http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local/story/478988.html

[Nut44x4]

Time deepens mystery of missing Brookhaven couple

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

A lot has happened in the six months since John and Liz Calvert of Brookhaven vanished from Hilton Head Island, S.C.

The last person known to have seen them alive killed himself. A sheriff’s deputy found the couple’s car. Searchers combed the Carolina low country, the Atlantic Ocean and a South Georgia landfill.

Candlelight glistened in the teary eyes of loved ones who prayed at sunset against the backdrop of the water the Calverts so adored.

What hasn’t happened is an answer to the question behind those prayers: What happened to the couple, a well-off pair who, friends say, loved the outdoors and never met a stranger?

Family, friends and investigators hope new attention to the case will provide answers. The family has set up a Web site (www.calvertrewardfund.com) where an anonymous donor is offering $25,000 reward for information “leading directly to the whereabouts and safe return of Liz and John, or the arrest and conviction of the individual (s) responsible for their disappearance.”

In addition, friends are holding a $75-per-person “cruise for the Calverts” to raise money for the fund.

After a bustle of activity in the days and week’s after the couple’s March 3 disappearance — national news coverage, daily press briefings — investigators now report few leads.

“There has been no new information to release in some time,” said Lt. Col. Neil Baxley of the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. “The case remains under investigation.”

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation have assisted in the case.

John and Liz Calvert have a home in an upscale neighborhood off Peachtree Road in Brookhaven, but were known to spend most of their time on their yacht, the Yellow Jacket, at Sea Pines, a gated community on Hilton Head Island.

They disappeared after a meeting with business associate Dennis Gerwing. Searchers found their car a few days later about four miles away, but it yielded no clues.

A week after the disappearance, Gerwing died of apparent self-inflicted stab wounds. A suicide note indicated he embezzled more than $2 million from the couple, the owners of Harbour Town Yacht Basin and Harbour Town Resorts on Hilton Head Island.

In the following weeks, dive teams searched the water near the Calverts’ yacht — whose name references John Calvert’s alma mater of Georgia Tech — but found nothing of significance, investigators said. Acting on a tip, authorities combed through a south Georgia landfill in late March, but also found no clues.

Last week , Baxley said investigators were reviewing the Calverts financial records and other documents but would not elaborate.

Friends who once pressed the media to keep the story alive have since become quiet.

Tony Gibus, a longtime friend and Harbour Town employee, appeared on Fox News Channel in the days after the disappearance. Reached by phone in Florida Friday, he said he no longer worked for the company and had no comment. Nancy Cappelmann, a friend of the couple’s and harbor master at Harbour Town Yacht Basin, once talked freely of the couple. On Friday, she said, “I just don’t want to talk about it” and hung up.

The couple’s only known relative is Elizabeth Calvert’s brother, David White of Decatur, who originally reported the couple missing. He has refused multiple interview requests.

Libby Cape, 54, of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, followed the case for weeks on cable news shows.

“The whole thing is very interesting,” she said Friday by phone. “How can two people just disappear without a trace?”
http://www.ajc.com/services/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/09/02/missing_couple_calvert.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=13