What We Know About Final Days of Missing Dad Found Dead After Vanishing from Hilton Head Rental

Mar. 15, 2025

Stanley Kotowski.Photo:Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office

Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office

The last timeStanley Kotowskiwas seen, the 60-year-old Massachusetts man was walking barefoot from a vacation rental home at the Sea Pines Resort on Hilton Head Island. Ten days later, he wasfound deada short distance away.

“He just walked out the door,” his wife, Jackie Kotowski, recalled in an interview withABC affiliate WJCLshortly after he vanished.

Here is what we know about the days leading up to Kotowski’s disappearance.

Speaking with WJCL before his body was found, Jackie said her husband had been experiencing issues with insomnia for about a month, and that his anxiety “kept getting worse and worse and worse.”

“He started to get a little paranoid,” she added.

Before he went missing, Jackie told authorities that her husband was worried that the Sea Pines Resort, where they were staying, was “a ‘set up’ and that the people there were “out to get him,” according toWJCL, citing a report from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.

In the police report, she also said that Kotowski claimed people were “watching him,” and that before he left he told her, “Promise me you will go on without me.”

Stanley Kotowski.Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook

Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook

Speaking to local media while his father was still missing, son Zak described Kotowski as an “athletic” and “strong person who “even in a delirious state…could get a few towns over,” according toFOX affiliate WFXT.

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.

People were also actively attempting to assist with the search through aFacebook pagededicated to Hilton Head Island. Jackie frequently posted updates about the search, while members of the group actively shared information with each other — including tips, missing posters, contact information for authorities and more — in hopes of finding Kotowski.

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On Monday, Aug. 26, Kotowski wasfound deadin 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.

Jackie mourned the death of her husband in astatementshared on Facebook. “Our hearts are heavy with grief as we begin to process this unimaginable loss,” she wrote on Monday.

Kotowski’s wife then thanked “everyone who offered their support, shared information, and helped in the search efforts” for her husband.

“Your kindness and concern have meant the world to us during this incredibly difficult time,” Jackie wrote. “As we take the time to come to terms with this news, we ask for your continued thoughts and prayers.”

source: people.com