Suicide notes the key? Former business associate kills himself, leaves behind 2 notes

This story originally was published in The Island Packet on March 12, 2008. It has been lightly edited from its original version.

Dennis Ray Gerwing, a former business associate of John and Elizabeth Calvert and the last person known to have seen the couple, apparently died by suicide Tuesday, hours after being named a “person of interest” in the case.

Before Gerwing’s body was found, investigators had announced that he had hired a lawyer and wasn’t cooperating. Over the weekend they had searched Gerwing’s home, business and cars.

As Gerwing’s body was loaded into a coroner’s van Tuesday evening, hundreds of people gathered beneath an oak tree just down the road and prayed for the missing couple in a steady, cold rain.

Even though the last man to have seen the Calverts is now dead, authorities say they believe others in the community might have more information on the wealthy couple’s fate.

Gerwing, 54, apparently ended his life in the upstairs bathroom of a villa in Swallowtail of Sea Pines. He was chief financial officer of The Club Group, the company that manages the Swallowtail complex. The Club Group had handled some financial functions for John Calvert’s businesses.

Gerwing’s Toyota Avalon was parked in front of Swallowtail. The Club Group’s offices are located directly across the street at Sea Pines Center.

Gerwing left two notes that are being studied by investigators with the State Law Enforcement Division. Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner declined to reveal the notes’ contents or the method of suicide.

Top law enforcement officials, including 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone and others, arrived at the villa, awash in a flood of blinking blue lights and screaming sirens just after 4 p.m. Gerwing’s attorney, Dan Saxon of Hilton Head Island’s Novit & Scarminach, had called 911 moments earlier to report a possible suicide.

Newspaper reporters, television camera crews and a freelance writer for People magazine followed closely behind.

Inside, Gerwing appeared to have been dead for hours. An autopsy will be performed today at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

The Calverts split time between their boat, the “Yellow Jacket,” in Harbour Town Yacht Basin, and a home in an upscale Atlanta neighborhood. They were last seen March 3, and reported missing a day later by Elizabeth Calvert’s only sibling, brother David White.

John Calvert, 47, owns four businesses on Hilton Head Island, including the company that operates the yacht basin and Harbour Town Resorts, which rents 125 vacation properties.

Elizabeth Calvert, 45, is a business attorney with HunterMaclean in Savannah, the state’s largest law firm outside Atlanta. She worked previously as a lawyer and vice president of UPS for 13 years.

Gerwing’s company, The Club Group, is a 21-year-old organization that manages a variety of commercial, lodging, recreational and hospitality holdings on the resort island. It performed administrative duties, including human resources and bookkeeping, for some of John Calvert’s companies through the end of 2007, according to Mark King, president of The Club Group.

“In the more than two years our firm has been associated with the Calverts, we had a good working relationship,” said King in a statement late Tuesday. “My prayers are that they will be found safe and unharmed. I am making every effort to fully cooperate with the authorities in whatever way that I can be of assistance.”

King said his firm received notice in December from the Calverts that they planned to transfer all of the services The Club Group had been performing to their own companies. The details of the transition were being handled exclusively by Gerwing, King said.

Some people suggest the split was less than friendly.

A source very close to John Calvert’s yacht basin business, who asked not to be identified, said Gerwing kept the books for John Calvert for the last couple of years.

The source said John Calvert wanted to confront Gerwing about inconsistencies in the bookkeeping, but couldn’t say how significant those irregularities might be. The source also couldn’t say whether that was the topic of a meeting John and Elizabeth Calvert had with Gerwing at Gerwing’s office on March 3, the day the couple disappeared.

Island Packet reporters had attempted to contact Gerwing several times after learning last week that Gerwing and John Calvert were business associates. He did not return phone calls and was out of his office when a reporter dropped by last week.

Any potential involvement Gerwing might have had in the Calverts’ disappearance was a shock to some who knew him.

A few hours before Gerwing was found dead, Porter Thompson, a vice president with CNSG-Hilton Head, which does marketing and public relations for The Club Group, expressed surprise that Gerwing would be in any way involved in the Calverts’ disappearance.

“Dennis is a very quiet, very professional, very gentle-demeanored sort of guy,” Thompson said.

Thompson also praised Gerwing’s abilities as a chief financial offer, saying he capably administered to a wide variety of companies and property regimes on the island.

Gerwing’s boss, King, said he was deeply saddened by Gerwing’s death.

Frank Fowler, chairman of the Harbour Town Yacht Basin Slip Owners Association, had known Gerwing for a decade.

“I absolutely would be the most shocked person in the world if there was any involvement (on his part),” he said. “This guy just ain’t capable of anything violent. He’s just not.”

Fowler had been out of the country last week. He received an e-mail from Gerwing that said Gerwing thought he was the last person to see the couple.

In that e-mail, Gerwing mentioned he had spent four or five hours being interviewed by detectives. Fowler had tried calling Gerwing’s cell phone this week. It had been confiscated by investigators, he said.

Gerwing’s house at 8 Bent Tree Lane in Hilton Head Plantation backs up to the tee of the 17th hole at Dolphin Head Golf Club. The gray, wood-frame home is valued at about $409,000, according to county records.

Azalea bushes bloom out front and the pool in the back sparkles.

No one answered the door Tuesday.

Neighbors said Gerwing had been married in the past, but recently had been living alone.

The view inside the house through a front-door window revealed belongings on a white, ceramic-tile floor: A computer keyboard, a cardboard box and a framed picture leaned against the wall.

Clothes on hangers were draped over a sofa in the sparsely furnished living room.

Various belongings were strewn throughout the garage.

Neighbors who asked not to be identified said deputies searched the home for several hours on Saturday afternoon, while a SLED helicopter hovered overhead.

Gerwing and another man thought to be his lawyer watched from the driveway Saturday as detectives scoured his cars and home for clues, neighbors said.

Elizabeth Calvert is described as outgoing and well-connected. She has a pilot’s license, allowing those who are interested to check out the cockpit of her Cirrus SR20 at Hilton Head Island Airport. She serves as a trustee of her undergraduate alma mater, Converse College in Spartanburg, and sits on the board of the Georgia Conservancy, an environmental group.

The couple has been married for 20 years and have no children.

Both of John Calvert’s parents are dead. His brother, Scott, died a few years ago.

His many aunts and uncles, and almost 20 first cousins in North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia have been following the news. They’re hoping for the best.

“We are praying for their safe return,” said his cousin, Ann Skidmore, in an e-mail.

But Tuesday’s twists have left some frightened that John and Elizabeth Calvert may never be found.

“As much as I’d love to see John and Liz again, I’m not holding out much hope for that,” said Mark Leinmiller, who has been friends with John Calvert since the two were fraternity brothers at Georgia Tech in the early 1980s.

“All I can really hope is that something in the suicide notes is going to let us know what (Gerwing’s) done.

“I can’t come up with any positive outcome at this point.”

This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 10:21 AM.