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Authorities in South Carolina have likely found the remains of a missing Massachusetts man after he disappeared over a week ago during a family vacation on Hilton Head Island.
60-year-old Stanley Kotowski had been missing since he walked out of his family’s Sea Pines vacation rental on the morning of August 16, as stated in a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office incident report. A body, presumed to be Kotowski’s, was discovered beneath a residence in Sea Pines on Monday, the sheriff’s office announced.
The discovery followed a response to a call about suspicious activity at the home around 11:30 a.m. ET on Monday. The body was recovered approximately four hours later, according to a sheriff’s office statement.
An autopsy to establish the cause of death and confirm the identity of the deceased is scheduled for Tuesday by the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office.
The sheriff’s office expressed gratitude for the support from other agencies, Sea Pines Security, and local community members in the effort to locate Mr. Kotowski.
Kotowski was officially reported missing by his family roughly two hours after he was last observed, said Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Master Sergeant Daniel Allen. Due to his mental state, the duration he was missing, and his last known appearance on a Ring camera footage without shoes, he was considered endangered.
His wife, Jackie Kotowski, reported to deputies that her husband was paranoid, believing that Sea Pines was a setup and that he was being targeted, as indicated in the incident report.
His family informed ABC Savannah, Georgia affiliate WJCL that he had been dealing with increased anxiety and severe insomnia in the month prior to his disappearance. According to Jackie Kotowski, although her husband did not have dementia, his anxiety had progressively worsened, leading to paranoia and delusions of being pursued.
Furthermore, he left the vacation home without any personal belongings like his phone or wallet, noted the sheriff’s office.