Missing couple case: Sheriff calls Dennis Gerwing’s death a ‘motivated suicide’

This story originally was published in The Island Packet on March 27, 2008. It has been edited from its original version.

Editor’s note: This report includes graphic details about suicide that may be disturbing to readers.

Calling it a “motivated suicide,” Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner insisted again Wednesday that the only person publicly linked to the disappearance of an affluent Hilton Head Island couple took his own life.

Dennis Gerwing’s death has been a topic of intense speculation locally. Those who knew him have questioned whether the gentle wine connoisseur they knew was capable of killing himself in such an aggressive and painful manner.

Tanner’s office released 42 pages of crime scene and preliminary autopsy reports an hour before a press conference began Wednesday. Fifteen days earlier, the 54-year-old Gerwing, a former business associate of John and Elizabeth Calvert, was found dead in a Sea Pines timeshare condominium. The Calverts’ business relationship with Gerwing had recently ended with accusations of missing money, their friends say.

A steak knife with a black, plastic handle found at the scene was used in the suicide, and one of the two suicide notes was written on a fitted bed sheet, according to the reports. It was described as illegible.

Gerwing was found dead March 11 inside the locked bathroom of the villa across the street from The Club Group, where he worked as chief financial officer.

His naked body was discovered by firefighters in the bathtub of the blood-spattered, white bathroom on the same day he had been named a “person of interest” in the disappearance.

According to reports of the scene, Gerwing had six major lacerations on his body. The steak knife was found beside his right thigh inside the bathtub. The knife matched the set of other steak knives found in the villa’s kitchen, the report said.

A bed comforter and two pillows were beneath Gerwing’s body.

Aside from Gerwing’s bare footprints in the blood between the sink and tub, There were no fingerprints or other evidence suggesting anyone else had been in the room, Tanner said.

“It’s a suicide,” he said. “That’s not going to change.”

All of the villa’s doors and windows were locked, including a rear, sliding glass door that had its night latch engaged, according to the reports.

When asked Wednesday if there were other persons of interest in the case, Tanner replied, “Not that we’re releasing.”

Tanner said the FBI continues to investigate financial aspects of the disappearance, including The Club Group.

The property management company has hired a forensic auditor to comb through records of its eight island clients, which include seven homeowners’ associations and the Sea Pines Center. The Club Group has said results of that audit will be forwarded to law enforcement officials.

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 planned to confront Gerwing about the missing money.

Law enforcement officials are also delving into the lives of the Calverts, Tanner said.

John Calvert, 47, and his wife of 20 years, Elizabeth, 45, split their time between a yacht in Harbour Town and a home in an upscale Atlanta neighborhood. They were reported missing after a business meeting with Gerwing on March 3.

MULTIPLE WOUNDS

Dr. Roger Sorg, a Hilton Head pathologist and deputy county coroner, said in the report the cause of death was “multiple self-inflicted lacerations with massive hemorrhage.” He placed the time of death between 5 and 9 a.m. the morning before Gerwing’s body was found.

Sorg, who examined the body before it was removed from the scene, reported the following slashes:

— a 2-inch cut on the top of the left wrist

— a 2-inch cut on the bottom of the left wrist

— a 4-inch cut on the right inner-thigh

— a 2-inch cut on the right inner-calf

— a 5-inch cut on the left lower neck

— a 7-inch cut, which was the deepest, on the right lower neck.

Gerwing also had cuts on the web of his right hand between the thumb and forefinger, a cut on his left arm opposite the elbow and a cut on the middle of his right thigh, as well as two slashes on his inner, right thigh.

A preliminary autopsy report from the Medical University of South Carolina ruled the death a suicide. That report said he had penetrated both his right and left jugular veins and his 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 it 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.”

Tanner did not elaborate on what a “motivated suicide” is.

Dr. Cyril Wecht, a national expert in forensic pathology, said the term isn’t a commonly used one in the field, and would be more appropriately used by forensic psychologists, who examine a person’s behavior.

“I guess what he’s trying to say is that (Gerwing) wanted to inflict additional pain on himself, or he did it in a systematic fashion or he tried some ways and when they didn’t work, he tried other ways,” said Wecht, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

PILLS, WINE, BLOOD

According to a sheriff’s report released Wednesday, friends looking for Gerwing had to kick in the front door of the condo he was living in to get inside. The door had been dead-bolted. They called 911 when no one answered the locked bathroom door.

Police said they found the initial scene undisturbed.

Nine checkbooks for different accounts, three deposit slips, a gas receipt and prescription bag were collected from Gerwing’s pewter-colored Toyota Avalon parked out front.

An empty plastic pill bottle cap was found on the coffee table in the living room, the report said.

In the kitchen was an empty Kendall Jackson wine bottle, a Publix bag and empty wine glass.

In the bedroom, there was writing on the fitted bed sheet in blue ink. A blue ink pen was nearby. Seven or eight lines were written on the sheet, according to the report. The writing was described as illegible by witnesses at the scene.

The bathroom was covered in blood.

A second note, this one written on a sheet of white paper, was on the bathroom counter.

It contained “abundant writing in various sized sentences and paragraphs, filling both sides of the paper,” according to Dr. Sorg. There was no mention of what the writing said Wednesday, and Tanner deflected any questions about the contents.

The notes are being analyzed by a criminal profiler for the S.C. 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, Tanner said. The SLED report supported that conclusion.

Anonymous law enforcement sources indicated Gerwing, in his notes, 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 Wednesday.

“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.”

The report said it appeared Gerwing had taken drugs, but officials did not say what kind.

There was a seven-day pill container on the vanity counter with Monday’s pills missing, they said. The other days had four or five pills each inside. One pill collected may have been Diovan HCT based on the letters imprinted on it. Such medicine is used to treat high blood pressure.

A full autopsy report, which will include toxicology results, will be finished within about two weeks, the sheriff said.

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 ... .”

GRIEVING PRIVATELY

Following the press conference, Gerwing’s family released a statement through their Beaufort attorney, Cory Fleming.

In it, they thanked Tanner for briefing them ahead of the media.

“The family has placed their trust in law enforcement’s investigation of the circumstances of Dennis’ death,” the statement read. “The Gerwing family’s thoughts and prayers are not only with Dennis, but also with the friends and family of John and Elizabeth Calvert and they join in the hope for their safe return.”

Gerwing will be buried in a private ceremony.

This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 10:32 AM.