Massachusetts man reported missing from South Carolina vacation home found dead

Massachusetts man reported missing from South Carolina vacation home found dead, family says

Updated: 2:01 PM EDT Aug 27, 2024

Y’all come on up cause my comments are very, very brief at this point unless some of you ask some really crazy questions. Look thumbs. Don’t, you don’t want me talking about you cause I, I’ll, I’ll create *** story I put on the record. Sure, but I’ll make it good. Hi, this is Coroner David Ott and of course, we have Lieutenant Eric Calendine and Mi mine is welcome. Uh I know you have *** lot of questions. Uh I know there’s, um, you know, *** lot of information that *** lot of people in the public want. I know that, uh, and you’re the advocates, you know, to make sure that they get the answers to all those questions and we appreciate that and we appreciate all your questions. But uh, keep in mind that, uh, we’re going to be limited to ***, to, to *** certain extent as to what information we share. We’re gonna try to share as much as we can that we want to have kind of *** understanding, uh, of the past 11 days. Uh, but uh, at the same time, we’re going to be very respectful to the family. Um And we’re gonna keep *** lot of information uh to ourselves uh for the time being until we find ***, *** point in time. If there’s information that we can release, that benefits the community and benefits uh these type scenarios in the future future, then we’ll release that information. But if it’s just trying to get really too deep into it, we’re not gonna go in that direction. So today, I am *** referee, I have all the information behind me and I will referee, uh, the information that we can, that we can release. So why don’t we do this to try to help you? I’ll get, uh, I’ll get Eric to go over *** timeline that may be some benefit to you and understanding where we’re at and what we’re doing. Uh, and he can fill you in, uh, on *** timeline as to how we actually got *** call for service, what we did, who worked, who we worked with, um, to get that done. And, uh, he can kind of fill those gaps in for the last 11 days. Ok. Lieutenant, good morning, everyone. All right. So this investigation began on August 16th, uh, with the family calling into our dispatch, uh, saying they’re missing loved one. Stanley Kowski was missing. Uh, the call came in about 12:42 p.m. when we arrived on scene, the family had said they had already tried to search for him and that, uh, he, they think he went missing around 1030 in the morning. They didn’t have an exact time. Uh, they were the family members, uh, would be the wife and two family friends who were traveling together. Uh, they traveled down here on August 11th, uh, flew down from Massachusetts for to stay at, uh, 226 South Sea Pines Drive in *** villa at that complex. So we arrived on scene, they said last we knew, uh, Stanley had had, was wearing *** gray shirt, dark shorts. Uh, and they said they did have this ring video, uh, but they didn’t have access to it because it was not theirs. It was the homeowners. So the sheriff’s office then started dispatching, uh, personnel to the area along with CP security who was vital in this search during the entire time frame. Uh, so the officers right on scene began fanning out looking for this gentleman. Uh, and we started gathering more information from the family. Uh, the family had told us that he had had, was paranoid and that he was going through *** mental health crisis and they had sought medical attention, uh, days prior, uh, for that mental health. As we progressed, we had the canine units come out, uh, three dogs from the canine team, uh, did article search along with *** free air sniff throughout the entire complex. Uh, we did not locate, uh, any evidence at that time. By then, we started getting the ring video from the unit itself, uh, which, which showed Stanley leaving out of the unit, uh, barefoot with the Coors light t-shirt on the dark shorts. Uh, and he left going out of the unit and heading towards the right with that information, family law enforcement. Uh, Sea Pine security started searching the area, uh, through different villas. Uh, we contacted Cine security who helped us go through the Sea Pines Homeowners Association and the local property management groups who allowed us to go into certain villas that were unoccupied to clear them. So that progressed, we started obviously had the media. Police go out. Nix will release about the missing person. We started getting phone tips in throughout those several days about, hey, um we may have saw them bluffed in uh with my mom thought they saw him on the beach. So we started having more and more tips come in that we had to track down look for video. We started to be able to uh locate certain places that he may have traveled. So we started gathering video from the salty dog which is right next to this unit uh in the general area. Also the pick of all courts in the general area. They both had video. We started gathering that video reviewing it at one point. We had *** person of interest on the video but it was so far away, we could not tell it was him. We started getting, trying to gather more video at that time to determine if it was him at the salty dog. Ultimately, it was, it was unfortunately not him. Uh, so we went back out in the public asking for, hey, look at your ring cameras. We had sent, um, emails out. Sea Pines Homeowners Association was vital. We sent *** huge email out blast to all the residents inside the Sea Pines who had homes there asking again for villas if they vid video from the villas or their home, own home homes themselves. Then we um went to uh the next thing of having our drones come in. Um We had multiple drones fly to different areas. We had DNR Coast Guard along with the Beer County helicopter start doing flights in the area looking for any kind of clues. Uh We checked the marshes, we checked the docks uh in that area because of the, the tidal marshals. Then we started canvassing uh door to door with the help of Hil net fire and rescue bluff and P DC Pine security. And we covered *** vast majority of the south end of sea pines going door to door, asking these people if they’ve seen anything, have they checked their, their surrounding uh yards, their outhouses, any kind of structures on their, in their yards themselves. Uh We asked that they had video cameras and from there, we started gathering *** list of everyone who had video surveillance ring door cams to ask them again. Go back and check. And one thing I wanna say is the residents of sea pines and people staying there, every single person we interacted with, knew about Stanley, they knew he was missing. They had ***, they had seen *** poster of him. They’ve got an email blast and they were actually out there searching themselves. Um So I’m very thankful for the community itself for what they did during this whole endeavor. Uh social media, We had, uh, people going, like I said, putting posters up, uh, restaurant community was helpful and with the family, uh, so again, the, the amount of support that the family received, not only from law enforcement but all these entities. Uh, so I just want to make sure we, uh, thank C Pines, uh, security itself. Uh, the Sea Pines Homeowners Association, The Hilt Fire and Rescue Bluffton PD. Uh, the Hilton Chamber of Commerce who was able to help me provide for every property management group owner out there is able to email and contact all them to have them ask them to check their villas because Sea Pines has over 6000 villas. That’s *** huge amount of villas for us to check. So we relied upon property management groups, homeowners to check their villas or contact us, which they did. We had plenty of people who contact us who don’t live in. Sea Pines, they live out of state. Hey, can you go check my unit? They gave us permission to go in uh to check those units to make sure they were, they were unoccupied. Um Like I said, the town of Hilton head was vital also providing us um renter information for various places because of short term rentals. So we use them as well. Um And social media, we couldn’t have done this without you getting as much information out about Stanley and missing his last known location. Obviously, the video snips we sent out. Uh, so thankful to the community and everyone involved, help find Stanley. Uh, obviously the outcome we didn’t want. Um, but he would, we did bring closure to the family of locating him, uh, several days later and go so far, whatever else you can, you can add to it. I cut you off. Um, so the day of the incident where he was located, uh, obviously, um, C pine security along with the sheriff’s office were on our daily canvas of the area. Uh, C pine security officer, uh, walked the neighborhood, the villas again and he smelled something that was *** foul odor. Immediately saw that there were some flies in the area and he contacted the sheriff’s office where he responded out there. Um, we’re able to search around the building, uh, and it was not easy to find where exactly we could have access to go to find underneath the house in the crawlspace. We thought we could try to go underneath the deck. We tried that cannot have access to the underneath the deck to get to the, to the crawlspace. We end up finding *** hatch that was by the outdoor shower on the deck itself. Moved the hatch, officer went down, took the flashlight around, didn’t see anything, had to crawl into the crawl space around some pillars to finally locate the body. Uh, at that point, we secured the scene, get the call to the coroner’s office and worked it from there as far as the crime scene itself. Um Once we were able to determine uh through the coroner’s office, which if not will talk about, um we were able to identify the Stanley. Yeah, 11 of the, one of the things we’re not going to release is we’re not going to release the actual location where the body was recovered. There are still people there uh in, in this community in this area that are here on vacation. Uh So we’re trying to also be respectful for them while they’re here. But uh uh the area was when I’d say what 100 and 5200 yards max from the last last video saying that we have was uh with Stanley walking out and then going to the right. Well, the, the, you know, of course, that is the direction uh of where he was found. So, um we’ll stop it there for *** minute and, and uh corner. Ok. Thank you, sir. Good morning. Uh based upon the examination of the deceased yesterday, he was found to be wearing the same clothing that he’s had on the last day he seen which was uh August the 16th. Correct. Uh for instance, autopsy was completed on uh Mr Kukowski, uh Stanley this morning. Cause of death is asphyxiation by hanging man or death is *** suicide. Unfortunately, and at this time, that is all the coroner’s office is going to release. We did make *** positive identification based upon additional information that we received this morning. Not just of what he was found wearing. I’m not gonna get into what that was, but he is positively identified and uh, we’re gonna leave it at that and we thank you all for your help but to cor of questions. So sheriff, uh the family actually reported to us yesterday that, uh, Stanley was found four houses down. Obviously, y’all talked about searching that area. You’ll have gone out there every single day. You got bloodhounds at one point. Uh How is it that he was not found for so long being so relatively close to where he went missing. From? Great question. I had the same question. But once, uh, once I had an opportunity to review where the, where Stanley was found, where the body was recovered. I completely understand how he was not found until there was some evidence or clues that led us in that, in that direction. This is *** very secluded um area. It, it’s underneath, uh town homes. So it’s ***, it’s *** building *** block and I think there’s two town homes in each block. Uh, and it’s *** crawl space that is no more than 3 ft high. Uh, and it’s, uh, would be the best example that once you get down in that crawl space, which is very unusual. The entry point for the crawl space is, it’s, it’s very unique. Uh, and then it’s very small. Uh, and to even consider that, uh, being, uh, an entry point for *** crawl space is something that would, you would probably overlook, uh, because it just doesn’t make *** lot of sense on, on how that would be the crawl space entry point. Uh, and then once you get underneath the, uh, building, it’s kind of *** maze. You have to go several different directions because you have concrete pillars that are underneath the area. Uh, it’s *** sandy, uh, ground. Uh, it’s *** cool environment that’s, you know, even though we’ve had *** good bit of heat, uh, you know, over in some cold front came through, but we’ve had heat. That’s actually the environment, uh, underneath this town was fairly, uh, cool. So initially I had the same question, but, you know, once I, uh, had an opportunity to, to review everything, then I completely understand, uh, how, uh, that is very possible that that area could be overlooked. Now, let me ask you this, when I think of crawlspace, I think of *** space, you know, two or 3 ft tall, you know, not much room to really do anything. Corner just told us that he hung himself. I assume he hung himself there. I mean, that’s what happened. I mean, can you describe it all or give any details about how you all believe he was able to hang himself in that crawlspace? Well, II, I think your, your description of what you believe crawl space is, is, is accurate because I think, uh, at maximum there’s about 3 ft from the ground to the flooring, uh, in this particular area. So going into details as to the manner of death, I’m not. Um, and, uh, next question, let’s piggy back off that to hang yourself, right? *** as an adult male, it’s not gonna happen somewhere that there’s only 3 ft *** resecting somehow that he gets from another space to the crawlspace after hanging himself. How does it happen? Well, I’ll, I’ll ask the coroner to, uh, because I mean, I, I know when you use the word hanging, um, there’s an assumption made by everyone because of the word itself. Uh, what would be the other word you would use is, is other than *** hanging, uh, based on what we know, uh, would be *** suffocation, asphyxiation. It, it’s definitely an asphyxiation, but there’s no other word other than *** hanging. Unfortunately, people believe that *** hanging means you rope up to *** ceiling and you drop. It’s definitely not like that. Um There’s *** lot of depth that we’ve worked in this county where believe it or not, it’s two door knobs. It’s mainly cutting off the flow. Uh I won’t get into details on how it happened or anything like that. But the cause and manner of death again is of fixation by hanging with the man or death being *** suicide. Do you see where our confusion is though? If this call space is like really difficult to get into? The officer doesn’t even see me down in the flashlight. You know, we’re not going to tell you any more than that. And I can understand how you’re, you’re, you’re not be, you’re, you’re not visualizing you. I mean, you’re visualizing using the word hanging. Uh But uh in this particular scenario, I’ll go as far as say is that um there was an apparatus, shoes to reduce the amount of oxygen you could actually take in. So that is my definition of this hanging. Thank you. OK. Questions. Did he bring the items to hang himself with him or do you all believe that perhaps this was an accident that like Tyler was saying, he may have gotten caught, you know, kind of trying to move around *** little bit or he was intentionally good question without an answer. Next question I wanted to ask you about search parties. I know there was one that was uh formulated and was actively searching uh, when the discovery was made, some people were concerned that *** search party hadn’t been, um, organized before. Then I wanted to ask about how, uh those parties, if they need to be approved by the sheriff’s office and if not kind of how that process works, organizing that and getting it out and I know Eric will correct me. Um, I, if I’m wrong, but I think they were right. There was one scheduled uh to assist in the search and I think they were going to start uh yesterday at one and uh that was called off by the family. Uh I know that the family was given information uh prior to one o’clock, uh that *** body was um identified, uh and that we were working uh that particular uh scenario. So they called the search party off that were to begin at one o’clock until more information could be provided to them about what we were currently doing. So, uh you know, that that happened around 1130. So those uh are search parties in general, are they required to be approved by the sheriff’s office? Are they set up independently? You know, that, that I think that in this particular case, uh that question came to me *** few days ago and uh my position was if the community and C Pine security and Joe Count the director of security for C Pines, if they were comfortable, uh with that being done within the C Pines community, then we were absolutely comfortable with it. So I, I actually left that decision to C pine security and the HO *** and the community itself, I, I’m not going to approve *** civilian volunteer group to go into *** private community and, and, and do things unless the community is welcomes that, uh, that help. And, um, but it, it was called off for no other reason than, uh, we were giving information to the family around 1130. Uh, and they decided just to call off the search. Uh, it started at one until they could find out and get more information. The family has been very supportive with you guys and everything that you did, the public is *** little less supportive of your canine officers and how that was handled. Is there any way to understand the distance from the road or why it may have been so difficult other than the fact he was tucked in for them to catch *** centric hospital? Well, I don’t, I mean, ii I think there’s *** variety of questions and in what you’re asking, um, if you could be streamline that because you kind of bounced all over the place. If you could streamline that it would, it would be ***, it would be *** help some. Uh I mean, if there are, um, but there are members of the community as you put it, that, uh, dissatisfied I think is as you put it with the canine uh officers which are four legged dogs are canine folks. We’re very proud of them and they do *** wonderful job but not going into the environment and talking about the environment. Uh I’m not concerned about the fact that they could not locate uh what you, what people would assume *** dog could find, you know, dogs are great. They’re great tools. Uh I love them but they’re limited as to what they can do. And the environment that we’re talking about where this money was out. It is, I’m not shocked or surprised that uh that the dolls did not alert because of what I know about this particular area. So I’m not surprised by it. I hope that the general public uh uh uh garners *** *** better respect and love for our canine crews uh because they do *** wonderful job. David as far as autopsy goes. Is there *** way to know how long he was deceased? We’re estimating uh approximate time or date of death would be the date that he went missing on August the 16th time uh is undetermined. Sure if you guys have missing people. Unfortunately, that happened in county, we get the release on *** regular basis. Is this sort of *** call for people to go remember, there are *** lot of missing people out there and that you guys are working hard and the public needs to work just as hard to try to find them. Hey, look, I, I think all of us, you, you take *** look in this room. Um I think the work that y’all do, the questions, you asked, the work that you do, the publication, the stuff that you do that helps this community is your, your new, your, your news worthy news outlet. OK. But uh the information you provide to the general public about stuff like this is extremely important and I, and I appreciate you doing what you do. Uh But you know, if there is *** message uh in any of this, uh we have got to be more attentive to mental mental illness. And um you know, we do get *** lot of cases, we get *** lot of calls. Uh you know, we have, we’re living in *** community where our population like myself, I’m not gonna talk about anybody else. But as, as you can see by my gray hair, we live in *** population where there’s *** lot of folks kind of look like me. Uh So we’re getting *** lot older. So there are other things that kind of go in line with that. So we do, we do get our fair share of calls. Um but just like Eric said, and we find this often when we’re searching for those that uh if it’s *** missing child or someone with Alzheimer’s or, you know, in *** particular case like this, uh that, that has uh you know, *** mental *** mental challenge. Uh And um you know that the community just goes, they, they give, I mean, you can look at, at Facebook postings, you can look at social media, everyone’s concerned, everyone wants to find the person, find *** person alive and healthy and well and return them to their family. Uh And we feel the same way so we appreciate what y’all do and, and all of us and all of this working in concert with each other, uh, is how we are able to do, uh, in ***, in *** very high percentile, how we were able to find so many people, uh, so quickly. Uh, this case is *** little different. Some of them are, but this one is, is definitely *** little different sheriff. I wonder if you or Lieutenant or whoever had *** conversation with the family, broke that news with the family. How difficult of *** conversation is that after such investment in finding Stanley hoping that he’s alive? Uh, *** *** and, and you know, what kind of things do you say to the family to kind of get them through this difficult moment? Well, you know, look, I, I’ve been doing this *** long time and I’ve done my fair share of bad news on deliveries and, uh, nothing about it, um, is something you look forward to doing and I’m not gonna, you know, go into detail as to what kind of conversations we have or the comments we make or the words we use or, uh, it’s an individual thing, you know, Eric. And I would do things different just like the coroner and I would do things different. We were making notifications, I think notifications collectively over the years. I think the coroner has probably made more than his fair share of notifications. Uh, and there’s nothing about it. That’s easy. Uh, there’s *** lot of emotion, uh, but, you know, uh, Lieutenant Candy and, and, and all of our men and women South to include C pine security and Hilton at fire and all the volunteers and everyone that, that worked. Uh, you know, this is ***, it’s very deflating, uh, after you’ve invested so much time and energy and planning and, uh, and then hope, hoping for the best and then end up, you know, in *** scenario like we had yesterday and the same investigators are investigating and trying to find these persons that are missing are also the same investigators that suit up and go underneath the house to work *** crime scene in *** 3 ft crawl space. The same ones that were out there searching days and days before are the same ones that are identifying and processing and collecting evidence and, and doing the things that they do. So, uh, all of it is challenging, but they look, they do *** wonderful job. Uh, I think they did an outstanding job. Our K nine is included. And, uh, you know, we just wish the outcome was different. Have arran arrangements been made to uh send the body back to Massachusetts. And then, uh second question on to that, uh, the family, do they remain here in Hilton Ed or have they returned home at this point? We’re gonna keep that for the family’s privacy or how or when or who they choose and we will not discuss that at this time. You can’t tell me I will not and cannot discuss that at this time. We will, I’ll say material folks, we had *** bad ending ending. Let’s keep it where we got it right now and uh we’re not gonna get into that. Thank you, David. When you and your people are looking and examining this body, the family has said that it’s the person that didn’t have dementia or, or who also had Alzheimer’s or anything like that. But we know that that’s *** really tough diagnosis when you’re in there. You’re looking at the brain. Do you see any signs of that? We will not discuss anything from the autopsy if other than the calls and man, thank you. Questions were running out of time. You’re good there. Can you think of anything that, uh, that we didn’t talk about? But we’re actually *** mile, less than *** mile away, less than *** mile away. We’re actually working another dead body scene, um uh really close to the location. So at that point during yesterday, we had two bodies that we were dealing with uh in *** close proximity to one another. So it was kind of *** unique situation of these two calls at the same time, which obviously had different resources from the sheriff’s office, working along with the coroner’s office, having uh obviously two bodies in the same area. So that was another incident of something else going on at the same time, it was construction. One, it was the body at the boardwalk was *** construction worker. Uh He is due to have autopsy at my office. We leave this afternoon if time prevails. Uh We do that one. So until we complete that we won’t have nothing else on that. Um Let me go ahead and also of note, which I can’t release anything on because I don’t have, it have not had time. We did have *** fatality out there on highway 170 Robert Smalls Parkway this morning. So y’all can check back in later on this afternoon. I should have uh some information on that. My deputy coroner was still out on the office when I came in to this conference. Thank you and one and I’ll say this in in closing, but, and I’m glad you remember that because we talked about it earlier. But uh you know, here we are with *** scenario involving Stanley at 1130 ish time frame. And then we get another call uh of ***, *** deceased person on the beach. So we were very, very careful about how we were going to send Niels out uh in this type scenario because it did add some confusion and I’m sure it could have been very confusing for the community. Uh And we, we delayed the Niel um for several hours because we didn’t want to create complete chaos in ***, in an area uh uh such as what we were in. So uh there was *** lot going on there. Uh We didn’t want to make things worse by sending out nickels and confusing everyone because we knew the difference. It just was all happening within an hour and *** half of each other. I think the call, uh for uh the other medical call, which was *** medical call was like 10 minutes to one. So, sheriff, my last thing here, y’all just talk about how much is going on at the same time. You know, you’ve got deputies all over the county. It’s ginormous, it’s huge. I’ve got *** lot going on talk about the strain, uh, emotionally and physically that this type of event looking for someone trying to find any sort of hints, clues, anything. How difficult is that for your deputies on *** daily basis and then ultimately finding out he’s dead. Well, I think that one of the attractions to law enforcement, one of the attractions to, uh, being ***, uh, uh *** first responder if it’s fire ems or law enforcement is the challenge I mean, I’ve been in this over 40 years and, and I, I see it today the same as I saw it when, uh, when I started this job. So it is *** challenge. Uh, but it’s very rewarding in, in *** lot of different ways you’re gonna find and you’re gonna have those days where you put, uh, your heart and soul and, and all your energy into *** particular investigation to find the end result that you had wished all along would have been different. *** lot, *** lot of times they’re not. And so you condition yourself to do, uh, what’s required that we do. Uh, and we’ve got some unbelievable men and women that, uh, not only work at the sheriff’s office but in law enforcement and first responders, they do an amazing job and they all wait, they’re, they’re all hoping for the best. I mean, all these men and women are married with Children and dogs. I might, might add the canine factor in again. Uh, and, uh, they’re very, very supportive of their families and, uh, and, you know, they’re, they’re, you know, law enforcement, all first responders just, they’re, they’re no different than you. There. You chose this profession because you’re inquisitive. Uh, and you find *** challenge in putting the, the puzzles together. But, you know, every day you go home to your families and, uh, you hug your wife and kids and, or significant other and, and you go about your day, but uh we’re no different. We just, you know, we take, you know, *** lot of criticism about our canines from time to time. But uh other than that, uh you know, we just do things just like you do. Uh So they do *** wonderful job. We’re very, very proud of them. Again, we wish the outcome was completely different than, than what it is. Um But we are trained to do this. Uh We’re conditioned for it and I’m proud of so any o any other questions? Thank you all so much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Car. Good to see you. You too. I want to see the city. I’ve never been in here. What issues were, how many times have I think you need to do some, you need to do.