Cold-case alert issued for Calverts who disappeared in 2008 from Hilton Head
Seven years after John and Elizabeth Calvert vanished, the circumstances of their disappearance continue to be reviewed by local investigators.
Beaufort County Sheriff's Office investigators have exhausted leads, and a cold-case investigative team has pored over the details yearly, but have come no closer to uncovering what happened to the well-known Hilton Head Island couple in 2008.
Elizabeth Calvert's brother reported her missing March 4, 2008. Investigators believe Dennis Gerwing, an accountant who committed suicide a week after the Calverts' disappearance, killed them in a dispute over missing money.
The Calverts were declared dead in 2009, but their bodies have not been found. A .22 caliber pistol an unidentified woman recalled giving to Gerwing that matched a holster found in his home has never been recovered. Investigators believe it was the murder weapon.
Five days after the seven-year anniversary of their reported disappearance, the Sheriff's Office issued a cold-case bulletin for the Calverts on Monday, hoping someone might remember a new detail to provide fresh leads.
The Calvert case is one of the latest to be highlighted through the Sheriff's Office initiative, which seeks to jog memories that might help investigators solve old crimes. The initiative, started in August, puts cold cases back in the spotlight around the anniversary of the crimes through alerts the Sheriff's Office publishes on Nixle and social media.
Bromage said the Calvert case is the subject of many calls each year, but few, if any, are helpful. Most come from "self-proclaimed psychics" who claim to know the Calverts' whereabouts, he said. By putting out the cold-case bulletins, Bromage and the Sheriff's Office hope that someone will come forward with real information they can investigate.
Meanwhile, the Sheriff's Office will continue to exhaust new leads, and the cold-case team, a 12-member group of law enforcement veterans, will continue to look at the case each year, he said.
If you have any information regarding the disappearance of John and Elizabeth Calvert, contact Capt. Bob Bromage at 843-255-3402, 843-816-8013 or robertb@bcgov.net. To report information anonymously, call S.C. Crime Stoppers at 888-274-6372, or text "TIPSC" to 274637.
Follow reporter Matt McNab at twitter.com/IPBG_Matt.
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This story was originally published March 9, 2015 at 4:53 PM.