Body of man who went missing while on vacation believed to have been found

(NEW YORK) — Authorities in South Carolina said they believe they have found the body of an endangered Massachusetts man who went missing over a week ago while vacationing with his family on Hilton Head Island.

Stanley Kotowski, 60, had not been seen since leaving his family’s vacation rental in Sea Pines the morning of Aug. 16, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office incident report.

The body of a man believed to be Kotowski was found under a home in Sea Pines on Monday, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office said.

Authorities responded to the home around 11:30 a.m. ET Monday “in connection to suspicious activity,” and the body was recovered about four hours later, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

The Beaufort County Coroner’s Office will conduct an autopsy on Tuesday to determine the manner of death and positively identify the body, the sheriff’s office said.

“We appreciate the assistance provided by other agencies, Sea Pines Security, and the community in the search for Mr. Kotowski,” the sheriff’s office said.

Kotowski was reported missing by his family about two hours after he was last seen, according to Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Master Sergeant Daniel Allen. He was listed as endangered due to his mental state, the length of time he has been missing and because he was last seen on a Ring camera without any shoes on, Allen said.

According to the incident report, 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 also reported that he had made “several statements of people at this place ‘watching him,'” the incident report stated.

He had been struggling with anxiety before he went missing, his family told ABC Savannah, Georgia, affiliate WJCL-TV following his disappearance.

“He had really bad insomnia for about a month. This is like a brand-new thing,” his wife, Jackie Kotowski, 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, and he thought someone was chasing him.”

He had not taken any personal items, such as his phone or wallet, when he left the rental, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.