Death order in Calvert case provides new details on their murders

A court order declaring John and Elizabeth Calvert dead provides more details pointing to Dennis Gerwing as their likely killer and lists several reasons that debunk notions that the couple might have vanished on their own.

The order, issued Oct. 22 by a DeKalb County, Ga. probate judge, came in response to a request from the Calverts' heirs -- David White, Elizabeth's brother, and Nancy Calvert, John's aunt -- that the couple be declared dead. The case was handled in DeKalb County because the Calverts were permanent residents of Atlanta. When on Hilton Head Island, they lived on a boat moored in Harbour Town.

They were last seen heading to a late-afternoon meeting with Gerwing on March 3, 2008. Investigators believe the three met to discuss funds that were missing from the Calverts' island businesses, collectively know at Harbour Town Holdings. Gerwing had embezzled not only from the Calverts, but also from other clients of The Club Group, where he was chief financial officer, investigators learned later. The Club Group, a property management company, handled many of the Calverts' business affairs, including employee leasing and accounting services.

Gerwing committed suicide March 11, 2008, after being identified as a suspect in the Calverts' disappearance.

AN ADMISSION OF MURDER

The judge's order provides details not previously made public as well as amplification on aspects that have been reported. Among them:

• Investigators who searched Gerwing's home in Hilton Head Plantation found a holster for a pistol, but not the .22 caliber Beretta they know Gerwing owned. They testified that such a pistol is small, easy to conceal and might leave little or no blood trail because of its relatively small bullet. Investigators believe that Gerwing got rid of the pistol at the same time he disposed of two other items he bought the day the Calverts disappeared -- latex gloves and three heavy-duty drop cloths. Capt. Bob Bromage, a homicide investigator with the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office, testified in the probate case that the drop cloths "could be used for body disposal, body transport." Another Sheriff's Office investigator, Staff Sergeant Angela Viens, saidthey "could be used to protect surfaces from showing traces of blood."

• Before Gerwing's March 3 meeting with the Calverts, he took pains to make sure no other employees would be at The Club Group offices, investigators said.One Club Group employee sent on an errand by Gerwing told investigators she was "under the impression that he did not want her in the office during the meeting" with the Calverts. Another employee also said she "believed that Gerwing was attempting to keep her out of the office." He told her the computers were going to be shut down for maintenance, but investigators determined they weren't.

• Investigators stated that Gerwing embezzled "in excess of $4 million" from the accounts of clients whose affairs The Club Group managed, including the Calverts's accounts. After Gerwing's suicide, Club Group CEO Mark King said Gerwing had embezzled much less -- $2.2 million. Explaining the discrepancy last week, King said Gerwing had put much of the money he took out of accounts back in, and that a forensic audit showed that the amount Gerwing ended up actually pocketing was $2.2 million. Of that, $119,028 was from the Calverts' businesses, said Tom Duke, an Atlanta accountant hired by the conservators of the Calverts' estate.

• It was known that Gerwing disliked Elizabeth Calvert, a lawyer described by peers as an energetic advocate for clients. After a meeting with her on Feb. 24, 2008, for example, Gerwing wrote an e-mail calling her a "viper," according investigators. Gerwing also appeared to revel in one-upping her, the judge's order suggests. The order cites quotes from his e-mail sayinghe "came out on top" during the meeting then observing: "That's what the old ego needed."

• When Gerwing admitted in his suicide note that "it happened in SPC," the word "it" referred specifically to the Calverts' murder, according to Michael J. Padron, a criminal investigative profiler from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division who evaluated the note. "SPC" was shorthand for Sea Pines Center, the location of The Club Group's offices and the last place the Calverts were seen. Padron's report "seems to indicate an admission" by Gerwing that he killed the Calverts, the judge's order states.

• Padron, one of two profilers who worked the case, concluded that Gerwing's motive for killing himself "was his fear that the public would find out about his embezzlement of funds from his clients."

• Investigators have created a timeline, bracketing a 12-hour period following Gerwing's meeting with Calverts during which his activities and movements are a mystery. "The fact that he turned off his cell phone . . . indicated that during that time, he did not want to be located," the judge's order says.

• In several instances, details Gerwing gave to investigators about his activities after the meeting with the Calverts are contradicted by evidence. For example, Gerwing said he went to a pharmacy on Pope Avenue after 10 p.m. on March 3 to buy band-aids.In fact, he bought them 2 hours and 45 minutes earlier, at 7:15 p.m. "Furthermore, investigators found several boxes of band-aids at Mr. Gerwing's home, which discounts his reason for having to leave his residence to purchase band aids . . . ." the order says.

• Some of the Calverts' personal possessions -- cellular phones, brief cases and a computer -- have never been found.

A RULING OF DEATH

The judge's order enumerates a number of facts that debunk the possibility that the Calverts are alive and living elsewhere. In the days and weeks after their disappearance, there was frequent speculation that they might be.

Despite a reward fund exceeding $60,000, no one has offered information about their whereabouts, the order said. Nor do the Calverts fit the profile of people who go missing intentionally, it states. They haven't used their Blackberries, cell phones, credit cards or an ATM since their meeting with Gerwing.

"The Sheriff's Department has both of the Calverts' passports, so international travel would be difficult," the order says. Federal marshals are on the lookout for them and Interpol watches are on in 150 countries. Yet there have been no verified sightings.

One popular theory voiced after their disappearance is summarily shot down in the order: "The Sheriff's Department has determined that the Calverts are not in a witness protection program or in any type of protective custody."

Finally, the order makes it official.

"This court concludes as a fact that John and Elizabeth Calvert are deceased."