Stanley Kotowski (60) found underneath nearby home a week after going missing while on vacation at Hilton head, SC

[Bewitchingstorm]

Officials say the search continues for a Massachusetts man who went missing while on vacation with his family in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, last week.

The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office reported that Stanley Kotowski, 60, was last seen on Friday, Aug. 16, around 10:30 a.m. in the area of South Sea Pines Drive.

The sheriff’s office describes Kotowski as 6 feet tall, 200 pounds, with short brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a dark Coors Light T-shirt, shorts, and no shoes.

Kotowski left the area without his wallet and phone.

His wife said that Kotowski developed insomnia in the last month.

“His anxiety just kept getting worse and worse and worse,” Jackie Kotowski told Boston 25 News. “And he started to get a little paranoid. He thought someone was chasing him.”

Full story here: https://www.boston.com/news/local-ne...lton-head-s-c/

His wife: https://www.facebook.com/jackie.v.kotowski

[Nic B]

“His anxiety just kept getting worse and worse and worse,” Jackie Kotowski told Boston 25 News. “And he started to get a little paranoid. He thought someone was chasing him."

That's never good.

[Bewitchingstorm]

Yes, it is looking like it might not be a good outcome.

[raisedbywolves]

https://www.wjcl.com/article/hilton-...pdate/61945825

According to a report from the BCSO, Jackie Kotowski told deputies that her husband "believes Sea Pines is a 'set up' and has a conspiracy that the people here are out to get him. She stated that Stanley has made several statements of people at this place "watching him.""

She also told deputies that, before he left, Stanley told her "Promise me you will go on without me."

Kotowski, 60, was last seen August 16 around 10:30 a.m. leaving the family’s vacation rental at 226 South Sea Pines Drive, shoeless and without his phone or drivers license.

It was the same day that two Hilton Head vacationers were killed in separate drownings due to rough waters from Hurricane Ernesto.

[Angiebla]

Im pretty sure I stay in Sea Pines when I go to Hilton Head.

Sound like he had a psychotic break from lack of sleep. Hopefully, if he thinks people are out to get him, thats hes just hiding somewhere.

[Bewitchingstorm]

The police have released doorbell camera footage of him as he left the rental:

https://www.wtoc.com/2024/08/26/beau...n-head-island/

[Nic B]

Wow, he seems so casual.

[Bewitchingstorm]

<Pretending @Nic's post is here>

Right? So very casual, which is odd.

[raisedbywolves]

I'm glad they have the video because I was beginning to wonder if he had ever really left the condo.

[Bewitchingstorm]

He has been found dead.

https://people.com/stanley-kotowski-...rental-8701698

[raisedbywolves]

Very sad. "A few houses down"....I wonder if he was there the whole time? I'm curious on the COD.

[Nic B]

Someone left this comment on the article a few hours ago:

"The coroner says his cause of death is suicide by asphyxiation. The coroner believes Kotowski died on August 16, the day he went missing. His time of death is unknown."

Would they even know that fast? If it's true, how weird of a place to commit suicide....underneath a house??

[Bewitchingstorm]

Given it was at Hilton Head, the house could have been elevated underneath. A lot of beachy houses have an area at the bottom where there is a shower, parking, etc.

[raisedbywolves]

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/pol...dog-in-colton/

His body was discovered Monday at 11:30 a.m. in a crawl space under a villa in Sea Pines, approximately 150 yards from the villa where his family was vacationing. The manner of death was “asphyxiation by hanging” according to Ott. ”We estimate the day of death is the day he went missing,” Ott said, referring to Aug. 16 when Kotowski was last seen on the doorbell camera of the Kotowski’s rental on South Sea Pines Drive. Ott did not specify an exact time of death. Tanner and Ott did not reveal specifics of Kotowski’s death during the Tuesday morning press conference, other than to say there was an “apparatus” involved in the asphyxiation. Both men were asked for more specifics about the manner of death, given the unusual circumstances of where the body was found. Ott said, “It’s definitely asphyxiation, but there’s no other word other than hanging. Unfortunately, people believe that hanging means you rope up to a ceiling and you drop. It’s definitely not like that ... It’s mainly cutting off the flow (of oxygen).”

I'm still having trouble imagining a hanging in a crawlspace.

[Bewitchingstorm]

@RBW - how are you doing the quotes? Don't want to distract from this post, just curious.

[raisedbywolves]

@BWS, I'm just using html. You can do the bold or the pic or quotes in the same format

[Boston Babe 73]

@RBW you can hang yourself from a doorknob so it doesn't always have to be from a height. Just like Robin Williams did. You would think that the body's instinct to survive would prevent it, but there's been plenty of cases where it's been done kneeling or even sitting down. Once you lose consciousness, you just asphyxiate. Lyle Stevik is another example.

[raisedbywolves]

@BB73, I thought about the doorknob, but they are saying it's a crawlspace, and every time I have seen that you literally have to crawl in the area or you are hitting your head, so that's why I am having trouble imagining it.

[Bewitchingstorm]

@RBW - do you have a cheatsheet for HTML?

[Bewitchingstorm]

In addition to the quote format, here are most of the basic HTML that you would use on here.

https://htmlcss.fandom.com/wiki/BBCode

It worked! Thank you so much, RBW.

[Angiebla]

I have a hard time imagining this too.

I wonder what "device" was used?

[Nic B]

Guessing a belt?

[Angiebla]

Yeah that was my guess too.

I thought, because of his paranoia that he may have been hiding, but I guess if something was around his neck, that isnt the case.

[raisedbywolves]

https://people.com/what-we-know-fina...rental-8703156

A multi-day search for Kotowski ensued, with crews utilizing multiple resources — including “K9s, helicopters, drones, boats, and foot patrol,” according to a BCSO press release — in their search for him.

On Monday, Aug. 26, Kotowski was found dead in a small crawl space underneath two townhomes at the resort, Sheriff P.J. Tanner said at a press conference on Tuesday, Aug. 27.

A security officer with the resort was searching the villas when he noticed a foul odor and flies near one of the buildings, according to authorities. Kotowski’s body was soon found about 150 to 200 yards from where he was last seen on video.

This doesn't give me faith for other K9 searches in other cases.

[Bewitchingstorm]

So, they had K9 out all those days searching?