'Odd' suicide: Gerwing cut self 6 times, sheriff says

HILTON HEAD ISLAND — After being questioned by police in their search for a missing couple, Dennis Ray Gerwing slashed himself six times with a steak knife and bled to death in a bathtub lined with a bed comforter and two pillows, according to investigative reports released Wednesday.

Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner released the reports detailing Gerwing’s death March 11 because he said he wanted to put to rest any speculation on this resort island that Gerwing was murdered.

“I’m sure you would draw some conclusions that it is unbelievable, but the true facts reveal that it was a suicide,” Tanner told reporters. “No one else is involved; there’s no murder mystery here that we’re looking at. It’s a suicide that’s odd.”

Gerwing’s body was found shortly after police named him as a person of interest in the disappearance of two of his former business associates, John and Elizabeth Calvert. Gerwing, 54, killed himself inside a rental condo owned by The Club Group, a company for which he was chief financial officer.

The reports said Gerwing left two suicide notes scrawled in blue ink. He wrote one on a bedsheet. The other covered both sides of a sheet of paper found in the bloody bathroom with his naked body.

The sheriff refused to disclose the notes’ contents, saying investigators are still analyzing them. Tanner said the notes were compared with other samples of Gerwing’s handwriting, and authorities are convinced Gerwing wrote both notes.

Police say Gerwing was the last person known to have seen the Calverts March 3. The couple hired Gerwing’s company more than two years ago to run administration, accounting and human resources for their businesses. But in December, the Calverts decided they no longer needed the company, and Gerwing was leading the transition out.

Tanner declined to say whether either suicide note mentioned the Calverts. The sheriff said Gerwing remains a person of interest in their disappearance.

A preliminary autopsy concluded Gerwing bled to death from multiple cuts, mostly from gashes on both sides of his neck and a slashed artery in his left forearm. He also slashed his inner right thigh.

Police found a serrated steak knife in the bathtub next to Gerwing’s body.

Investigators found several bloody footprints leading from the bathroom sink to the tub, but none indicating there was a second person in the room.

Police also found an empty bottle of wine and a wine glass in the kitchen, as well as an empty prescription bottle in the bathroom. Tanner would not say what the prescription was for, saying toxicology tests and the final autopsy report have not been completed.

The sheriff had no new information to offer on the search for 47-year-old John Calvert and his 45-year-old wife. The couple run several businesses in the area.

“With every day that passes, it diminishes the opportunity or possibility of finding them alive,” Tanner said. “But then again, they could be on an extended vacation.”