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Posted on Wed, Mar. 26, 2008
Sheriff emphatic: Gerwing committed suicide
Steak knife found at scene
By DANIEL BROWNSTEIN - (Hilton Head) Island Packet
A former business associate of the missing Hilton Head Island couple killed himself in what authorities are calling a “motivated suicide,” Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said today after releasing a stack of preliminary autopsy and crime scene reports.
The reports said a steak knife found at the scene was used in the suicide, and one of the two suicide notes was written on a fitted bed sheet.
Dennis Gerwing, 54, was found dead March 11 inside the locked bathroom of a Sea Pines timeshare condominium across the street from The Club Group, where he worked as chief financial officer.
His body was found in the blood-spattered white bathroom after firefighters broke through the locked door. Gerwing had been named a “person of interest” in the disappearance of John and Elizabeth Calvert, a couple who live part-time on a yacht in Harbour Town who went missing after a business meeting with Gerwing on March 3.
When asked today if there were other persons of interest in the case, Tanner replied, “Not that we’re releasing.”
Gerwing had handled the books for John Calvert’s four island businesses, including one that operates the Harbour Town Yacht Basin and another that rents out 125 vacation properties. Those close to the couple have said Elizabeth Calvert, a Savannah business attorney, had found money was missing and planned to confront Gerwing.
According to reports of the scene, Gerwing had six lacerations on his body, and a steak knife with a black plastic handle and serrated edge was found beside his right thigh inside the bathtub. The knife matched other steak knives found in the villa’s kitchen, the report said.
Aside from Gerwing’s bare footprints in the blood, there were no fingerprints or other evidence suggesting someone else had been in the room, Tanner said.
“It’s a suicide,” he said. “That’s not going to change.”
Dr. Roger Sorg, a pathologist on Hilton Head Island, said in the report the cause of death was “multiple self-inflicted lacerations with massive hemorrhage.” He reported the following horizontal lacerations on Gerwing’s body:
A preliminary autopsy report from the Medical University of South Carolina ruled the death a suicide. That report said he had “incised wounds to neck and left forearm with penetrations of right and left jugular veins and transection of left ulnar (forearm) artery.”
“The pathologist’s indication to me was that it was a motivated suicide,” Tanner said. “In my years of experience in law enforcement all suicides are different. This one is definitely different than others that have been worked by law enforcement in South Carolina. I’m sure that you would draw the conclusion that is unbelievable, but the true facts reveal that this was a motivated suicide as we’ve been told. No one else was involved. ... It’s odd how many times he lacerated himself, but he did, and here we are.”
According to a sheriff’s report released today, Gerwing’s lawyer, Dan Saxon, and business associate, Mark King, had to kick in the front door of the villa to get inside. The door had been dead-bolted from the inside.
Inside, there was an empty wine bottle and empty wine glass in the kitchen; otherwise, the room was undisturbed.
In the bedroom, there was writing on the fitted bed sheet in blue ink with a blue ink pen lying next to the writing. Seven or eight lines were written on the sheet, according to the report. There was another note on a sheet of white paper on the bathroom counter. There was no mention of what the writing said, and Tanner deflected any questions about the contents.
The notes are being analyzed by a criminal profiler for the State Law Enforcement Division. His report should be finished within two weeks, Tanner said.
“We cannot release any information about the notes until he has the opportunity to analyze the two notes,” Tanner said.
There is no question the notes were written by Gerwing, according to a SLED report, although investigators sent in more of Gerwing’s writing just to make sure.
Anonymous law enforcement sources indicated Gerwing admitted to stealing money from the couple, but remained silent on whether he played any role in their disappearance. Previously, those same sources said Gerwing had stab wounds in his chest, which was untrue, according to Tanner and the reports released today.
“Most of this should clear up a lot of the so-called nameless, faceless sources ...,” Tanner said. “These are facts that are being released. This is not fiction.”
After firefighters forced their way into the locked bathroom, Gerwing was found naked in the bathtub. Blood splatter was all over the room.
The report said it appeared Gerwing had taken drugs, but it was not said what kind. There was a seven-day pill container on the vanity counter with Monday’s pills missing. The other days of the week’s containers had four or five pills each inside.
An empty plastic pill bottle cap was found on the coffee table in the living room, the report said.
Tanner said a full autopsy report, which will include toxicology results, will be finished within about two weeks.
There was little new information about the search for the Calverts.
Tanner said the case is still being investigated as if they are missing, although he conceded that any hope they’ll be found alive is dwindling.
“The first 24 or 48 hours are very important in any investigation,” Tanner said. “With every day we move forward it diminishes the possibility of finding the Calverts alive ... .”
