Sheriff's Office holds press conference to discuss case of Massachusetts resident reported missing August 16, 2024 
On August 27, 2024, Beaufort County Sheriff PJ Tanner was joined by Lieutenant Eric Calendine of the Southern Enforcement Branch Criminal Investigations Section and Beaufort County Coroner David Ott to discuss the case of a missing Massachusetts resident who’d been vacationing on Hilton Head Island.
On August 16, 2024, at about 12:45 p.m., the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Communications Center received the report of a missing person from Sea Pines. When deputies arrived, they met with the wife and family of 60-year-old Stanley Thomas Kotowski, Jr., of Methuen, Massachusetts. It was learned Mr. Kotowski had walked away from the villa, located on S Sea Pines Drive on Hilton Head Island, at about 10:30 a.m. that day. Mr. Kotowski was reported to be suffering from a mental health crisis.
In the days to follow, multiple first responders from various agencies, Sea Pines Security, community agencies and organizations, as well as the public assisted in the in-depth and extensive search for Mr. Kotowski.
On August 26, 2024, at about 11:30 a.m., deputies located Mr. Kotowski underneath a home nearby the location he was reported missing from.
On August 27, 2024, the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office performed an autopsy, positively identifying Mr. Kotowski and determined the cause of death to be asphyxiation by hanging; manner of death to be suicide. Coroner David Ott said Mr. Kotowski’s time of death was the day he went missing, August 16, 2024.
NOTE: To view the press conference held in its entirety, please visit the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office YouTube link: https://youtu.be/KfVhdYKT9o0
Address/Location
Beaufort County Sheriff's Office
2001 Duke St
Beaufort, SC 29902
Contact
Emergency: 9-1-1
Non-emergencies: 843-255-3200