Assumed Deceased : John & Elizabeth Calvert--SC--03/03/2008

[Linda]

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/03/23/missing_0324.html


John and Elizabeth Calvert have been missing 21 days.



Workers at missing couple's marina 'hanging in there'

03/24/08

Business has been on hold at the Harbour Town Yacht Basin since March 3, when the couple that runs the marina disappeared.

"All the employees are hanging in there," said David White, whose sister Elizabeth Calvert is missing along with her husband, John. "Everyone's been very accommodating for the last three weeks."

White reported the couple missing March 4 when they both missed business meetings. The man police think was the last to see the couple killed himself a week later.

Tony Gibus, manager of The Mariners Club and a friend of the couple, told The (Hilton Head) Island Packet that John Calvert had a system that lets managers run his businesses when he isn't around.

"We are very close to getting salaries paid and very close to getting money for all the operations," White told the newspaper. "The bottom line is: They are functioning, they will function much better next week and they will all be paid."

John Calvert, 47, and his 45-year-old wife run several businesses in the area, including managing boat slips at the marina where they live. Elizabeth Calvert, 45, also practices law in nearby Savannah.

They live part time on their 40-foot yacht in the gated Harbour Town community, known for its red-and-white-striped lighthouse that is a backdrop for the Heritage golf tournament each spring. They also have a home in Atlanta.

[Denise]

http://www.islandpacket.com/front/story/262339.html

Sheriff calls press conference on missing couple case

From Staff Reports
Published Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Sheriff P.J. Tanner has called a press conference for Wednesday at 11 a.m. to answer questions about John and Liz Calvert, part-time Hilton Head Island residents who have been missing since March 3.

Tanner said in a news release today that he will address questions on the investigation into the disappearance of the Calverts, as well as those concerning the apparent suicide of Dennis Gerwing, a former business associate of the Calverts who was found dead in a Sea Pines villa after the Sheriff’s Office said he was a “person of interest” in the case.

[Kelly]

http://www.wyff4.com/news/15712628/detail.html

Man In Missing Couple Case Stabbed Self To Death
Businessman Was Person Of Interest In Case

POSTED: 1:29 pm EDT March 26, 2008

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. -- A report released Wednesday says that a man connected to a missing Hilton Head couple stabbed himself to death earlier this month.

Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner released police reports that say Dennis Ray Gerwing lined a bathtub with a comforter and two pillows before slashing himself several times with a steak knife.

Gerwing left two suicide notes, including one scrawled on a bed sheet, according to the report.
 
Tanner said investigators determined that the notes were written by Gerwing after comparing them with other samples of his hand writing.

Gerwing had been a business associate of John and Elizabeth Calvert, who have been missing since March 3. The couple lives part time on a yacht at the Harbour Town marina where they leased and managed the marina.

Gerwing's company, The Club Group, had done accounting and administrative work for the Calverts. But they had ended their business relationship with Gerwing's company a few months before they disappeared.

Liz Calvert has been a member of the Converse Board of Trustees since 2004.

Devore last saw her longtime friend when Calvert, a Converse Board of Trustees member since 2004.

[LoriDavis]

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/03/26/missing_0326.html

Sheriff: Missing couple's associate slashed self 6 times

By RUSS BYNUM
The Associated Press

Published on: 03/26/08
 
After being questioned by police in their search for a missing couple, Dennis Ray Gerwing slashed himself six times with a steak knife and bled to death in a bathtub lined with a bed comforter and two pillows, according to investigative reports released Wednesday.

Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner released the reports detailing Gerwing's death March 11 because he said he wanted to put to rest any speculation on this resort island that Gerwing was murdered.

"I'm sure you would draw some conclusions that it is unbelievable, but the true facts reveal that it was a suicide," Tanner told reporters. "No one else is involved, there's no murder mystery here that we're looking at. It's a suicide that's odd."

Gerwing's body was found shortly after police named him as a person of interest in the disappearance of two of this former business associates, John and Elizabeth Calvert. Gerwing, 54, killed himself inside a rental condo owned by The Club Group, a company he worked for as chief financial officer.

The reports said Gerwing left two suicide notes scrawled in blue ink. He wrote one on a bedsheet. The other covered both sides of a sheet of paper found in the bloody bathroom with his naked body.

The sheriff refused to disclose the contents of the notes, saying investigators are still analyzing their contents. Tanner said the notes were compared with other samples of Gerwing's handwriting and convinced Gerwing wrote both notes.

Police say Gerwing was the last person known to have seen the Calverts on March 3. The couple hired Gerwing's company more than two years ago to run administration, accounting and human resources for their business. But in December, the Calverts decided they no longer needed the company and Gerwing was leading the transition out.

Tanner declined to say if either suicide note mentioned the Calverts. The sheriff said Gerwing remains a person of interest in their disappearance.

A preliminary autopsy concluded Gerwing bled to death from multiple cuts, mostly from gashes on both sides of his neck and a slashed artery in his left forearm. He also slashed his inner right thigh.

Police found a serrated steak knife in the bathtub next to Gerwing's body.

Investigators found several bloody footprints leading from the bathroom sink to the tub, but none indicating there was a second person in the room.

Gerwing's body lay in the tub on two pillows and a comforter that seemed to have been taken from the adjacent bedroom, where he scrawled a suicide note on a fitted sheet covering the bed.

Police also found an empty bottle of wine and a wine glass in the kitchen, as well as an empty prescription bottle in the bathroom. Tanner would not say what the prescription was for, saying toxicology tests and the final autopsy report have not been completed.

The sheriff had no new information to offer on the search for 47-year-old John Calvert and his 45-year-old wife. The couple runs several businesses in the area, including managing boat slips at the marina where they live part time on a yacht in the gated Harbour Town community, known for its candy-cane-colored lighthouse.

"With every day that passes, it diminishes the opportunity or possibility of finding them alive," Tanner said. "But then again, they could be on an extended vacation."

[Denise]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=4529601

Suicide Details Given in SC Couple Case
Sheriff Gives Suicide Details of Man Named in S.C. Couple's Disappearance

The Associated Press By RUSS BYNUM Associated Press Writer
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. Mar 26, 2008 (AP)

A business executive questioned by investigators in a couple's disappearance slashed himself six times with a steak knife and bled to death in a bathtub lined with a comforter and pillows, according to investigative reports released Wednesday.

Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner released the reports detailing Dennis Ray Gerwing's death because he said he wanted to put to rest any speculation that Gerwing was killed.

"I'm sure you would draw some conclusions that it is unbelievable, but the true facts reveal that it was a suicide," Tanner told reporters. "No one else is involved, there's no murder mystery here that we're looking at. It's a suicide that's odd."

John and Elizabeth Calvert, who live part time on a yacht at the Harbour Town marina they lease and manage, were last seen March 3. Police think Gerwing, a business associate of the couple, was the last person to see them.

Gerwing, 54, had been dead for several hours by the time investigators identified him as a person of interest in the case on March 11. Gerwing's lawyer found his body in a condominium on this tiny resort island about 90 minutes after the sheriff's office made his name public.

A preliminary autopsy concluded Gerwing bled to death from multiple cuts, mostly from gashes on both sides of his neck and a slashed artery in his left forearm. He also slashed his inner right thigh.

Police found a serrated steak knife in the bathtub next to Gerwing's body.

The reports said Gerwing left two suicide notes: one on a bedsheet, the other on both sides of a sheet of paper found in the bloody bathroom with his naked body.

The sheriff refused to disclose the contents of the notes, saying investigators are still analyzing them.

The sheriff had no new information to offer on the search for the Calverts, but Gerwing remains a person of interest in their disappearance.

"With every day that passes, it diminishes the opportunity or possibility of finding them alive," Tanner said. "But then again, they could be on an extended vacation."

[Denise]

"Motivated suicide" term stirs controversy in missing couple case

By TIM DONNELLY
tdonnelly@islandpacket.com
843-706-8145
Published Friday, March 28, 2008

When a reporter asked Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner on Wednesday why Dennis Gerwing would have cut himself more than six times in what was probably a gruesome and painful death, Tanner's responded that it was a "motivated suicide."

That led to more questions.

What does that mean? Motivated by what?

Tanner said the term came from the pathologist who examined Gerwing's body, and the sheriff said he didn't have an explanation beyond that.

"That's what I was told," Tanner said. "I can't give you a definition of their expression."

Gerwing, the only person so far linked to the disappearance of John and Elizabeth Calvert, killed himself in a locked bathroom of a Sea Pines villa March 11. His death has already been the subject of intense speculation. Wednesday's classification of the suicide again raised some eyebrows about what the term means.

No definition exists for "motivated suicide," and it isn't an official term or description in the medical or psychiatric fields, according to several local and national doctors, experts and coroners, who say they've never come across it before.

"I've never heard of that in reference to a medical term or a forensic term," said Dr. Kim A. Collins, professor of pathology at the Medical University of South Carolina, where Gerwing's autopsy was conducted. After all, Collins and others pointed out, any person who sets out to commit suicide is "motivated" by definition.

So does that mean the phrase has some deeper meaning?

Probably not, the doctors and experts said.

Pathologists often consider the external factors behind a suicide, things such as alcoholism, debt or anything beyond psychological problems, said Thomas Andrew, the chief medical examiner for New Hampshire.

"That is by no means a diagnostic or medical term," Andrew said. "These other external circumstances may 'motivate' him to take his own life."

Roger Sorg, the Hilton Head pathologist and deputy county coroner who examined the body at the scene, said the term "motivated suicide" did not come from him.

"SOME VERY FATAL AREAS"

The preliminary autopsy report released Wednesday described several cuts on Gerwing's body apparently made by a serrated steak knife with a black, plastic handle. Six of them were major, the deepest being a 7-inch gash into the lower neck and a 4-inch cut into the inner right thigh. Other cuts were found on Gerwing's wrist, calf, hand, arm and thighs.

The body was found in the bathtub, where Gerwing had put a bed comforter and pillow, in the locked bathroom of the Swallowtail villa.

The circumstances and method of death may sound odd, Tanner said Wednesday, but the Sheriff's Office is confident Gerwing died by his own hand. There is no evidence anyone else was in the villa or involved, Tanner said.

"I'm sure that you would draw some conclusions that it is unbelievable," he said. "But the true facts reveal that this was a motivated suicide as we've been told."

A pill container and an empty wine bottle were also found in Gerwing's villa.

John Parkinson, a psychiatrist in Wilmington, N.C., who studied at the Medical University of South Carolina, said the kind of suicide Gerwing committed would have taken some forethought and a "reduction of impulse."

"He went to some very fatal areas," Parkinson said of the wounds.

Doctors say it's common to find a body with "hesitation wounds," different non-fatal, sharp-force injuries where the person cuts himself, but not deep enough to cause death.

Multiple injuries on a body sometimes indicate a person wanted to inflict additional pain on himself, or is filled with aggression, experts said.

Two big, unanswered question remain: What drove Gerwing to that end and what was in the single-page, double-sided suicide note left on the bathroom counter?

Anonymous law enforcement sources said earlier this month that Gerwing admitted to stealing money from the Calverts in notes he left, but did not say whether he had a hand in their disappearance. Those sources also said his body had multiple stab wounds to the chest, information that did not match the autopsy report released Wednesday.

Gerwing was chief financial officer for The Club Group and formerly handled bookkeeping for the Calverts until December, when John Calvert broughtthose duties in-house.

John Calvert, 47, owns four island businesses, including the one that operates Harbour Town Yacht Basin and another that rents out 125 vacation properties. Elizabeth Calvert, 45, is a Savannah business attorney.

Richland County coroner Gary Watts said he's never heard the term "motivated suicide," but the phrase could just be a colloquialism the pathologist used.

"Obviously, for someone to do something like that," Watts said, "there has to be some motivation factor involved."

http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/264696.html

[Denise]

http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/266330.html

Missing couple case: Memorials scheduled for Dennis Gerwing

Staff and wire reports
Published Sunday, March 30, 2008

COLUMBIA -- Private memorial services for Dennis Gerwing, 54, the only person publicly linked to the disappearance of an affluent Hilton Head Island couple, will be held in Columbia and in Louisville, Ky., his original home town, according to an obituary published today in The (Columbia) State newspaper.

The obituary did not list a specific time or date for those services.

Gerwing, the last known person to have seen John and Elizabeth Calvert, was found dead March 11 in the locked bathroom of a Sea Pines timeshare condominium in what the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office has called a suicide. Authorities said Gerwing used a serrated steak knife to take his own life. He had been named a "person of interest" in the case.

Gerwing, the chief financial officer of The Club Group, 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 the Calverts planned to confront Gerwing during a meeting March 3 about missing money.

The couple was reported missing March 4.

The obituary called Gerwing "a beloved son, brother, uncle and dearest friend (who) left us too early in life on March 11, 2008. Dennis will be greatly missed. He was a kind and generous person who helped many struggling people to build better lives. Dennis was a CPA, having graduated from Bellarmine University in Louisville, Ky. Following graduation, he joined the Arthur Anderson accounting firm and moved to Indianapolis and Denver, before joining Resorts International in Hilton Head as their CFO. He helped transition ownership of various Hilton Head properties on numerous occasions and was the CFO of Club Group, a golf course and resort management company."

Survivors include "his father, Morris Gerwing; sister and brother-in-law, Pat and Jim Yocum; brother and sister-in-law, Fred and Beth Gerwing; and nieces and nephews, with whom he loved sharing life. Dennis also had many friends in both Columbia and Hilton Head Island who he considered family, including Nancy Barry and Heidi. He was predeceased by his mother, Mary Helen Gerwing."

The obituary asks that memorials be made to "the Home of the Innocents, 1100 E. Market Street, Louisville, Ky. 40206,

an important charity to Dennis's mother and father, or to Pets, Inc., 300 Orchard Drive, W. Columbia, S.C. 29170."

Dunbar Funeral Home of Columbia is handling the arrangements.

Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said Saturday he had no updates to offer on the investigation into the couple's disappearance.

Tanner said Wednesday that hopes of finding the couple alive were dwindling.

John Calvert, 47, and Elizabeth Calvert, 45, a Savannah business attorney, split their time between their yacht in Harbour Town and a home in an upscale Atlanta neighborhood.

[Denise]

http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local/story/239150.html

One month gone, leads dwindle in Calvert case
Police still searching for missing couple

Published Thu, Apr 3, 2008 1:45 AM
By DANIEL BROWNSTEIN
dbrownstein@islandpacket.com
843-706-8125

BLUFFTON � What remains a month after John and Elizabeth Calvert vanished from Hilton Head Island is a long list of questions in one of the highest-profile criminal cases that's ever gripped the resort island.

Those who knew the affluent couple are anxious for answers from an extremely tight-lipped Beaufort County Sheriff's Office, which has released little substantial information about the fate of the missing couple since their 2006 Mercedes was discovered on March 7, four days after they disappeared.

The apparent suicide of Dennis Gerwing, the Calverts' former business associate and the only "person of interest" publicly linked to the case, created more unanswered questions.

What did Gerwing say in the two notes he left behind?

What role, if any, did he play in the Calverts' disappearance?

"We were hoping for an update by now," said Tony Gibus, who operates one of John Calvert's four island businesses and serves as an unofficial spokesman for the couple's employees and friends. "We basically haven't heard anything from the police."

Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said Wednesday that there's a good deal of investigative work taking place behind the scenes. Detectives are sorting through records obtained through search warrants and subpoenas.

"Just because you don't see searches and read in the paper about different things that are obvious, doesn't mean that there isn't a lot going on with this case," Tanner said. "There are still a good many people working this case and following leads."

But those leads have slowed to a trickle, Tanner said.

The Sheriff's Office continues to await an analysis of Gerwing's suicide notes, one of which was written on a bed sheet and was described in sheriff's reports as illegible, according to Tanner.

Tanner, who has held three press conferences, said he has no immediate plans for another.

In past interviews, Tanner has said he's wary of releasing too much information because it could compromise the investigation.

The Calverts' friends understand the need for detectives to hold back some information, but are hungry for details about what authorities are doing -- and what they've uncovered so far -- in determining the couple's fate.

"I just think police are being too tight-lipped," said Marty Pellicci, general manager of The Crazy Crab in Harbour Town, where the Calverts ate several times a week. "Either they don't know anything and that's why they're not talking, or they know something and they're holding back."

There have been several visible efforts to locate the Calverts, including a three-day search of a Georgia landfill with cadaver-sniffing dogs and two sweeps through the Sea Pines Forest Preserve. But little light has been shed on other aspects of the investigation.

'IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE' John Calvert, 47, and his wife Elizabeth, 45, a Savannah business attorney, were last seen at a meeting with the 54-year-old Gerwing, chief financial officer of The Club Group, a property management firm that kept the books for John's businesses.

Those who know the couple said they planned to confront Gerwing about problems Elizabeth Calvert had discovered in records of their companies, which operate the Harbour Town Yacht Basin and rent 125 Harbour Town vacation units.

Law enforcement officials have remained silent on the topic of money, missing or otherwise.

The Club Group has hired forensic auditors to examine its books. That audit should be finished by the middle of the month. The findings will be sent to the company's clients and to detectives, said company spokesman Tom Gardo. "They won't necessarily be made public," he said.

Gerwing was found dead March 11 in a Sea Pines villa across the street from his office. He had reportedly been staying there since authorities searched his Hilton Head Plantation home, vehicles and office the weekend before. He apparently locked himself in the bathroom and slashed his neck, arm and thigh at least six times with a serrated steak knife, according to investigative reports released 15 days after his death.

A full autopsy report, including toxicology results, has not been made public.

Initially, there was doubt among some on the island about whether Gerwing actually took his own life.

Now those thoughts have largely been replaced by questions about why Gerwing would have done so and whether the circumstances of the Calverts' disappearance go much deeper, perhaps beyond their former bookkeeper.

On the surface, Gerwing appeared to be a man of means. He owned a $1.2 million home in Columbia and another more modest house on Hilton Head worth more than $400,000. He had a powerboat named the "Big Girl," ate expensive meals and drank vintage wines.

Gibus said John and Elizabeth Calvert are understanding people. They would have allowed Gerwing to repay them if he had taken any money, he said. So there must be another reason he killed himself, some have suggested.

"You don't kill yourself over a couple hundred thousand dollars of embezzlement or even a million dollars of embezzlement," Pellicci said. "It's just bizarre. It doesn't make sense."

Finances aside, Pellicci doesn't believe Gerwing would be physically capable of killing two people and disposing of their bodies without help.

A STORY WITHOUT AN END? Both the FBI and the State Law Enforcement Division are helping in the investigation. The FBI is examining financial aspects of the couple's disappearance, Tanner said.

The bureau has two full-time Beaufort County agents, one of whom is working the case, said Denise Taiste, a Columbia-based spokeswoman for the FBI. No additional manpower has been brought in, she said.

"We are assisting," Taiste said. "We're not taking the lead on it."

She said she understands how the family and friends of the Calverts feel, and hopes someday they'll find closure.

"I hope they find their bodies," Taiste said. "It's hard to have a loved one who just disappears. There's no ending to it, no good-byes. I'm sure everyday for the families is just a nightmare."

SLED declined to say how many of its agents are involved in the investigation, said Special Agent Bobbi Schlatterer, spokeswoman for the agency. She said SLED is assisting in two capacities: providing agents for the investigation and using its lab to process forensic evidence.

National media coverage has waned, but the case is still very much the talk of the town.

Tourists, especially those from the Georgia capital, where the Calverts own a home in an upscale neighborhood, continue to snap pictures of the couple's yacht and part-time home, the "Yellow Jacket," moored to a slip just steps from the 18th green of the Harbour Town Golf Links.

Gibus and John Calvert's other employees have tried to maintain normalcy as they rent powerboats to vacationers and keep the marina afloat. But it's been tough.

"We're still all very heartsick about this," Gibus said. "We still need to get some answers and find closure."

[Denise]

http://savannahnow.com/node/475927

Barton: A whodunit that confounds

Saturday, April 5, 2008 at 11:30 pm

The disappearance of John and Liz Calvert, who vanished more than a month ago, still confounds friends.

He was meticulous. She was tenacious.

He was more at home in an easy chair watching TV, she was in her element on a boat anchored off one of Georgia's barrier islands.

He was a promoter. She was a hands-on person who pulled the levers, pushed the buttons and polished off the paperwork to make things happen.

Together, John and Liz Calvert made a perfect team during their 20-year marriage.

Together, their disappearance on March 3 - followed a week later by the bizarre suicide of a former business associate who bled to death because of a six gashes made with a serrated steak knife - has made a perfect mystery.

Forget Agatha Christie and Ellery Queen.

The real-life vanishing act of this well-liked couple has kept more people talking in the Hilton Head Island, S.C., and Savannah areas than unlimited wireless. The whodunit factor alone has already promoted more guesswork than Howie Mandel, except the real deal here is heart-attack serious.

And it's frightening some people.

One man is already dead. Those who know the Calverts hope that number doesn't jump by two more.

"They were fun, witty and unassuming people," said a Savannah woman who has been a close friend of the Calverts for several years, but asked not to be identified. Indeed, she said she had lunch in Savannah with Liz Calvert, at attorney by day at the Hunter MacLean law firm downtown, at Screamin Mimi's on March 3. She still has the $10 bill that Calvert put down to pay for her pizza.

So what happened? How could two sharp fortysomethings, who bravely chunked successful careers in go-go Atlanta to pursue new lives close to the calming waters on slow-go Hilton Head, suddenly make like participants in the witness protection program?

A simple answer, of course, is that they had help - perhaps forcibly. And, they might not be coming back.

But authorities in South Carolina, where the Calverts lived on an old boat in the Harbour Town yacht basin at Sea Pines Plantation, aren't ready to make these links.

"We're still investigating the Calverts as a missing persons case," Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said late Friday. Still, like many lawmen, he doesn't let his head erase what his gut may be telling him. "The first 24 to 48 hours (after a disappearance) is critical. Then as each day passes, the chance of finding someone who has been reported missing diminishes greatly."

Someone who had been temporarily away from the office - Dennis Ray Gerwing, the 54-year-old chief financial officer of The Club Group, a management company that once worked for the Calverts - was found dead March 11 in the bathtub of a Sea Pines timeshare condo across the street from his workplace. His lawyer and a business associate found him after they kicked in the front door.

But here's the part that's got people wondering whether South Carolina patholgists can get medical degrees inside cereal boxes: They say Gerwing killed himself by taking a serrated steak knife and cutting on himself six times, including a four-inch-long gash in his right inner thigh.

"It's definitely odd," Sheriff Tanner said, the biggest understatement since someone shouted "incoming" at Hiroshima. But he insists that the wounds are self-inflicted and "all suicides aren't the same."

Still, those familiar with Gerwing, who was more into partying than pain, doubt that he could have done this to himself. Such talk has added to the mystery about the Calverts.

As does more talk that Gerwing had been taking the Calverts to the cleaners. "She said it involved a whole lot of money," her friend said.

The Calverts had been making plans for a high-end charity golf and fishing tournament this year to benefit the Heritage Foundation, the friend said. The entry fee? A cool $12,500.

"They had meetings planned, and they would have never missed them," the friend said. "It doesn't make sense."

That's an understatement, too. Sadly, a month after the Calverts vanished, questions come more easily than answers.

[Denise]

http://www.wyff4.com/news/15903632/detail.html?rss=gs&psp=news

Detectives Review Missing Couples' E-Mails
No Sign Of Couple Since March 3

POSTED: 6:34 pm EDT April 16, 2008

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. -- Investigators are searching computers, cell phones and personal digital devices to try to find out what happened to a missing Hilton Head couple.

In the first investigation update in three weeks, Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said detectives are going line-by-line through thousands of e-mails and other information.

Tanner said the items belong to John and Elizabeth Calvert and Dennis Gerwing, the businessman who was named a person of interest in the case. The Calverts have been missing since March 3. 

Liz Calvert was a member of the Converse Board of Trustees since 2004.

Authorities say Gerwing, 54, stabbed himself to death in the bathroom of a resort condominium unit his company manages. He is believed to be the last person to see the couple.

The Calverts' yacht, The Yellow Jacket, is moored at the Harbour Town marina, where they leased and managed the marina. They lived part time on the yacht.

The yacht is covered by a large, black tarp.

Deputies said before his death, Gerwing was not cooperating with officers investigating the couple's disappearance.

The Calverts are still missing.

[Denise]

http://www.ajc.com/cobb/content/metro/atla...ouple_0423.html

$2.1M embezzled from missing Atlanta couple, others

By CHANDLER BROWN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 04/23/08

The last person believed to have seen a missing part-time Atlanta couple embezzled more than $2 million from them and other clients, according to an accounting firm.

Dennis Gerwing, who killed himself the day he was named a person of interest in the disappearance of John and Liz Calvert, misappropriated $2.1 million of The Club Group's money over four years, according to Baltimore-based FTI Consulting.

Dennis Gerwing killed himself the day he was named a person of interest in the disappearance of John and Liz Calvert.

Gerwing was chief financial officer of The Club Group, which handled finances for the Calverts' Hilton Head Island, S.C., yachting and resort rental businesses.

Gerwing used secret checking accounts, bank teller transactions and wire transfers to cover up the scheme, according to the audit.

"I am still in shock over the betrayal of trust and the death of my partner of 21 years," Club Group president Mark King said in a statement. "I have no idea what might have prompted Dennis to behave in this behavior."

The Club Group is working to repay money to its clients, the statement said. It was not clear how much money Gerwing embezzled from the Calverts.

Until their March 3 disappearance, John, 47, and Elizabeth, 45, maintained a home in Brookhaven, but spent much of their time on their yacht – the Yellow Jacket – on Hilton Head.

Beaufort County, S.C., sheriff's investigators found their 2006 Mercedes on the island three days later. Searches of the car, their boat, a wildlife refuge, the Atlantic Ocean and a Georgia landfill turned up no obvious signs of their whereabouts.

"In some ways, it's like looking for a needle in the haystack," Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner told the Island Packet newspaper Tuesday. Phone calls and e-mail to the sheriff's office were not immediately returned Wednesday morning.

[Denise]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jQgZZNbrsQg0_f3muMT9HpKdWcGQD907HF180

Audit: SC man took $2.1M from missing couple, other clients

By JEFFREY COLLINS

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — An accountant who killed himself after police questioned him in the disappearance of two wealthy clients had embezzled $2.1 million from the couple and seven companies, his former employer said.

An audit ordered by The Club Group found that chief financial officer Dennis Gerwing took money from its clients for four years, depositing it into a hidden checking account, the management company said Tuesday.

Gerwing committed suicide March 11 after investigators questioned him about the disappearance of John and Elizabeth Calvert, who split their time between a yacht on Hilton Head Island and a home in Atlanta. The couple were last seen in early March, and searches of the resort island, its harbor and in Georgia have been fruitless.

Police have said Gerwing, 54, was the last person to see the Calverts.

Mark King, president of The Club Group, said he met last week with the clients who lost money and promised to repay them using money from his own assets as well as Gerwing's estate and insurance settlements.

"I am still in shock over the betrayal of trust and the death of my partner of 21 years. I have no idea what might have prompted Dennis to engage in this behavior, but as chief executive, I want to apologize on behalf of our company to all who were adversely affected," King said in a statement.

Gerwing stole from eight of The Club Group's 10 Hilton Head clients by using wire transfers, checks and other transactions that mixed investments with his personal funds, King said.

The Club Group has given authorities the findings from the audit, which was conducted by Baltimore-based FTI Consulting Inc., he said.

Tom Gardo, a spokesman for The Club Group, declined to specify how much money the company believes was taken from the Calverts or name any of the seven companies. He would not speculate about whether the Calverts had discovered the theft.

A message left with Gerwing's brother seeking comment was not immediately returned.

The FBI will review the audit as part of its own investigation into the finances of Gerwing, the Calverts and The Club Group, Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner told The (Hilton Head) Island Packet.

"I can't support anything they put in there," he said of the private audit. "It could be self-serving on their part or it could be what we find in the end. We're too far from this investigation being over to make that determination."

Investigators continue to pore over thousands of e-mails and check computers and cell phones in their search for the couple, Tanner said.

The Calverts manage a marina and 125 rental units on Hilton Head. The Club Group kept the books for their business holdings on the island for two years, but the couple decided in December to manage them themselves. Gerwing was working out the details when the couple vanished March 3.

[Denise]

http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sfb/lawArticleSFB.jsp?id=1202421385399

As Time Passes, Hope Dwindles for Missing Ga. Lawyer

Meredith Hobbs
Fulton County Daily Report
May 15, 2008

It's been more than two months since Savannah, Ga., lawyer and Hilton Head Island, S.C., resident Elizabeth W. "Liz" Calvert and her husband, John, disappeared.

A week after the couple's March 3 disappearance, her law firm, HunterMaclean, asked a Savannah pastor to hold a prayer service for its missing partner and her husband in one of the city's squares, said its managing partner, John M. Tatum, but hope for their return is dwindling as the weeks pass.

"It's been a long time now. There's nothing we can do except hope. But any good outcome here is disappearing, it seems," said Tatum.

Eight days after the Calverts' disappearance, the accountant who'd kept the books for their marina and property management companies in Hilton Head committed suicide. According to news reports, the couple told the accountant, Dennis Gerwing, in December that they were ending their relationship with him and would keep their own books. Police said Gerwing was the last person to see the couple on the Monday they disappeared, when they met at his office to work out the details of the transition.

Gerwing's employer, The Club Group, announced April 24 that he had embezzled $2.1 million from the Calverts and other clients. There has been no news since then of their whereabouts. A spokesman for the Beaufort County, S.C., Sheriff's Office, Neil Baxley, said the office has nothing to report on the investigation.

Calvert joined HunterMaclean as a partner at the beginning of October, only five months before she disappeared. She and her husband had relocated to Hilton Head from Atlanta, where Calvert had worked in the law department at UPS for 14 years. They own a business that operates the Harbour Town marina as well as a boat rental company and Harbour Town Resorts, a property management company, in Hilton Head.

Sally C. Nielsen, a partner at HunterMaclean, recruited Calvert to the firm, which is the largest in Savannah and about a 45-mile drive from Hilton Head.

Nielsen had established an employee benefits and executive compensation practice for HunterMaclean when she joined the firm in 2004, said Tatum. Like Calvert, Nielsen came to the coast after a career in Atlanta, where she had been a partner at King & Spalding in the employee benefits and executive compensation group. "Much like Liz, she and her husband were spending more and more time in Hilton Head. Her husband is an avid sailor, and they wanted to be close to the water," he said.

Tatum said Nielsen's highly specialized practice was a new area for the firm, and it hired Calvert to help her with its expansion. In Atlanta, Calvert had handled UPS' employee benefits matters and served as the head of the UPS legal department's labor and employment group.

"Sally has clients all over the country because of her reputation in that area," said Tatum. "People in that area are just not out there for us to recruit to Savannah all the time."

Tatum said the weekend before her disappearance, Calvert had attended the firm's partners retreat, flying her plane to St. Simons Island, where the retreat was being held, and then back to Hilton Head. "She came into work Monday and didn't show up on Tuesday," said Tatum, who said Calvert had meetings scheduled for that day.

Tatum said Nielsen grew concerned and called her friend only to find out that Calvert's cell phone and BlackBerry were turned off -- unusual for a lawyer.

"Sally started making calls and found out the people at the marina were likewise concerned," he said. So Nielsen called the police and reported her friend missing.

Tatum said firm personnel have spoken to the police over the course of the investigation, but that he is not aware of the police visiting the firm or doing any investigative work concerning Calvert's activities there. The firm has gone through Calvert's e-mails, he said, which are confidential due to attorney-client privilege. "We'll cooperate with the police any way we can," he said.

Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said his office, in conjunction with the FBI, is still combing through 65,000 e-mails from computers and BlackBerry devices confiscated for the investigation. "The case is still under investigation," he said.

After Calvert's disappearance, Tatum said the firm started training a senior associate, Lorianne Denslow, to work with Nielsen.

"So that's how we coped with the loss of Liz as a lawyer. We really miss her as a person, too," said Tatum.

Calvert no longer has an office at HunterMaclean. Tatum explained that the firm had been renovating its offices when she disappeared and that the members of her group had been working out of a temporary space while their offices were being spruced up. They moved back into their wing after her disappearance, and so the firm did not set up an office for her, said Tatum.

The firm is still holding Calvert's pictures, furnishings and other items from her office, he said.

[Denise]

http://www.islandpacket.com/front/story/536247.html

Reward fund established in case of missing island couple

Published Friday, June 27, 2008

By TIM DONNELLY tdonnelly@islandpacket.com

The brother of a Hilton Head Island woman who vanished along with her husband in early March has set up a reward fund and Web site to help collect new leads in the disappearance.

Elizabeth Calvert’s brother, David White, sent a letter to family and friends of the couple asking for donations to build a reward fund large enough to entice people to come forward with new information. Elizabeth and John Calvert were last seen leaving a business meeting on Hilton Head on March 3. All leads will be forwarded to Sgt. Angela Veins of the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, White wrote. If the reward grows large enough, White, who lives in Atlanta, said he hopes it will attract private investigators to the case.

Press releases announcing the amount raised will be circulated, he wrote.

Reward money will be given to individuals who “have contributed verifiable and useful information leading to the whereabouts and safe return of Liz and John, or the arrest and conviction of the individual(s) responsible for their disappearance,” according to the Web site, www.calvertrewardfund.com.

The site also contains information about the couple, links to news stories and an e-mail address where people can send pictures of the couple for use on the site.

In his letter, White, like many who knew the pair, expresses frustration at the slow pace of the investigation and what seems to be little police progress over the nearly four months since the two vanished. Shortly after the disappearance, White was given power of attorney in order to keep John Calverts’ businesses running in his absence.

“It is like they disappeared with no trace whatsoever. And that just cannot be,” White wrote.

“So many friends, family, and neighbors of Liz and John have said they are frustrated about standing idly by as time goes on, and have asked me about what they can do. This is it my friends. This is our chance to do something to help find Liz and John, and bring them back to us — unharmed if that could possibly be.”

[Denise]

http://www.wspa.com/midatlantic/spa/news.apx.-content-articles-SPA-2008-06-28-0002.html

Reward Fund Website Set Up for Missing Couple
 
Saturday, Jun 28, 2008 - 08:07 AM

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) - The brother of a Hilton Head Island woman who is missing with her husband has set up a reward fund and Web site to get new leads.

The Island Packet of Hilton Head Island reported Friday that Elizabeth Calvert's brother, David White, has written family and friends for donations to build a reward fund to entice people to provide information.

Elizabeth and John Calvert were last seen on Hilton Head Island on March 3.

An accountant killed himself after being questioned in their disappearance. Dennis Gerwing's employer said he embezzled $2.1 million from the couple and seven other companies.

White says leads will be forwarded to the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office. The Atlanta man says he hopes a large enough reward would attract private investigators.

The Web site is www.calvertrewardfund.com