Body of missing Massachusetts man found under Hilton Head home

The remains of a Massachusetts man, Stanley Kotowski, 60, who went missing from a Hilton Head Island vacation rental, were discovered on Monday, August 26, ending a ten-day search. Kotowski's body was found underneath a residence near the property where he had been staying with his family.

Deputies from the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to investigate a report of suspicious activity at a residence in the Sea Pines neighborhood at approximately 11:30 a.m., as stated in a press release. An inquiry resulted in finding a deceased man under the house.

"It is believed that the deceased male is 60-year-old Stanley Kotowski of Massachusetts," the Sheriff's Office stated. While official identification is pending, Kotowski's family confirmed to WJCL that the remains were his, located "four houses down" from their rental unit.

Kotowski was last seen on Friday, August 16, at approximately 10:30 a.m. in the South Sea Pines Drive area. The Sheriff's Office reported that he left the rental home without personal belongings, including his cell phone and wallet.

During the Hilton Head Island search for the missing person, authorities employed various resources. "BCSO, along with other agencies and Sea Pines Security, have been using multiple resources to search for Kotowski to include K9s, helicopters, drones, boats, and foot patrol," the Sheriff's Office detailed in an earlier statement.

To aid in the Stanley Kotowski disappearance investigation, law enforcement released ring doorbell footage showing Kotowski exiting the rental property barefoot, wearing a dark-colored Coors Light T-shirt and shorts. The video captured him pausing in the street, surveying his surroundings before slowly walking out of frame.

Jackie Kotowski, the missing man's wife, shared insights into her husband's state of mind before his disappearance. "He just walked out the door. He had really bad insomnia for about a month," she told WJCL. "He doesn't have dementia. His anxiety just kept getting worse and worse and worse, and he started to get a little paranoid."

The Beaufort County Coroner's Office had scheduled an autopsy for Tuesday, August 27, to "determine the manner of death, as well as positively identify the decedent," according to the Sheriff's Office.