Where are the Calverts? Disappearance of prominent island couple prompts massive investigation

Editor’s note: This story originally was published in The Island Packet on March 7, 2008.

Detectives used an evidence-sniffing dog Thursday to search for clues into the disappearance of a wealthy Hilton Head Island couple who haven’t been seen or heard from since Monday evening.

John and Elizabeth Calvert were last seen leaving a business meeting in Harbour Town at about 5:30 p.m. Monday. They failed to show up at work and business appointments the following morning.

Their fate and whereabouts remain a mystery. There were no clues in and around the couple’s home, a 45-foot yacht called the “Yellow Jacket” still moored to its slip in Harbour Town Yacht Basin. They also have a home in an upscale Atlanta neighborhood. Police found no evidence there either.

The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office released few new details about the case Thursday beyond talking about the lengths local, state and federal investigators are going to in the search for the missing couple.

On Thursday, several new agencies joined the hunt, including the FBI, the S.C. Law Enforcement Division and the DeKalb County, Ga., Sheriff’s Office.

Today, a team of scuba divers will look in the cloudy waters around the marina in hopes of finding some answers.

‘Covering every angle’

John Calvert, 47, owns the company that manages the yacht basin and Harbour Town Resorts, which has 125 rental properties.

Elizabeth Calvert, 45, is a Savannah business attorney at HunterMaclean, the state’s largest law firm outside Atlanta.

They married in 1988, and seemed to have a solid relationship, friends and family said. They don’t have children.

Police have faced several frustrations in finding them.

Officers throughout the country are on the lookout for their car, a silver Mercedes E320 with Georgia tag GT821B. That sedan comes standard with a tracking and emergency alert system, but the Calverts don’t subscribe to the service, making finding the vehicle by electronic means impossible, said Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner.

“Locating the Calverts is obviously the most important objective,” he said, “Locating the car is absolutely important. Other than the two of them, the car is the only piece that’s missing.”

A SLED helicopter arrived in the area Thursday. Today, it will comb the slipper-shaped island from heel to toe looking for the Mercedes.

Detectives also have been unable to use cell phone towers to triangulate the location of the Calverts’ cell phones and Blackberries because the devices have been turned off since Monday evening, the last time anyone spoke to them.

Asked if there is evidence indicating that the couple is still alive -- including any financial activity -- Tanner said he didn’t have an answer.

“The only thing we can support is that they are still missing,” he said. “Anywhere that we feel could yield evidence we’re searching. We’re covering every possible angle.”

Six county investigators are working around the clock. They’ve put out national alerts, and hope for some kind of sighting or shred of evidence in a case that has few obvious clues.

An uneasy waiting game

It is completely out of character for the Calverts to disappear, the people who know them said.

Elizabeth Calvert, 45, has been at HunterMaclean for less than a year. She specializes in employee benefits and executive compensation.

John Calvert worked hard to make sure his businesses were thriving.

Both were always reachable by phone. Their cat — T.C. — was left unattended on the yacht. Their dog — Sadie — is boarded in an Atlanta kennel.

“There’s no reason they’d disappear and not tell anyone ,” said David White of Decatur, Ga., Elizabeth Calvert’s only sibling. “There’s no way they’d disappear like that, completely dropping all of their commitments without telling anyone.”

It was White who filed the missing persons report on Tuesday night. He has remained tethered to his cell phone since, a player in an uneasy waiting game. John Calvert has no immediate family, White said.

Staff at the Harbour Town Yacht Basin and Sea Pines distributed missing-persons fliers Thursday and plan to hold a prayer vigil in the days to come.

“They’re great people,” said Tony Gibus, manager of The Mariner’s Club at Harbour Town.

Gibus saw John Calvert walking from yacht basin offices to his boat around 5:30 p.m. Monday after the business meeting, the last confirmed sighting of the missing man.

John Calvert set up a meeting with Gibus for Tuesday morning, but Calvert never arrived, Gibus said.

Harbour Town staff also are cruising the area, trying to spot the missing Mercedes. While they work to aid the investigation, they are rapidly running out of ways to help find their missing boss and friend.

“There’s not much more we feel we can do at this point,” Gibus said.

‘Hoping and praying’

Chris McIntire, who runs a charter yacht called “Southern Comfort” that passes through Harbour Town a few times per year, said John Calvert was always there to offer a hand.

“He’s like the world’s nicest guy,” McIntire said. “He’d always stop somewhere to help somebody.”

Mark King, president of The Club Group, was a business associate of John Calvert through the end of 2007. King hadn’t seen the Calverts for a few weeks, but called them a very responsible couple.

“They’re very likable,” King said. “He stayed in touch continuously, using his cell phone.”

John Calvert is a 1983 graduate of Georgia Tech with a degree in mechanical engineering. That shows in his home life and in the attention he gives his businesses.

“John’s a handyman around the house,” said Lynn Johnston, who lives next door on Brookhaven Drive, located in Atlanta’s affluent Buckhead area. “He seemed to be very interested in making sure his businesses on the island succeeded.”

Despite their wealth, John Calvert isn’t flashy and maintains a lower profile than his wife, those who know them said.

Elizabeth Calvert has been successful since graduating from the University of Georgia law school in 1987. She worked as an attorney and vice president of the UPS legal department in Atlanta for 14 years before taking the job with HunterMaclean.

She has been a trustee of her undergraduate alma mater, Converse College in Spartanburg, since 2004 and periodically hosts cocktail parties to raise money for the women’s college.

The school is “deeply troubled” by the disappearance, college spokeswoman Beth Lancaster said in a statement.

“President Betsy Fleming and the Converse family are most concerned for the safety of John and Liz, and ask the community to join them in keeping the Calverts and their family in their prayers,” she said.

Elizabeth Calvert also is on the board of the Georgia Conservancy, an environmental group.

“Liz’s love through this organization is certainly environmentalism and sustainability,” said Claire Arnold, current member and past chairwoman of the non-profit’s board.

Elizabeth Calvert has had a private pilot’s license since March 2006. She took up flying after her husband gave her the gift of a lesson. She frequently flew into and out of Hilton Head Island Airport. Her love of flying was profiled in an advertising supplement to Forbes magazine.

Her single-engine plane is accounted for and sits on the tarmac at the island airport, authorities said.

The plane, a Cirrus SR20, is becoming more common, especially among those of considerable means, said Ed Brown, president of the local Experimental Aircraft Association. The plane costs close to $400,000, he said.

At Elizabeth Calvert’s law firm, HunterMaclean, employees are holding onto hope that the couple will be found alive.

“We just keep hoping and praying,” said administrative partner Frank S. Macgill.

Island Packet reporter Renee Dudley contributed to this report.

This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 10:48 AM.