What we know about the last days of missing father Stanley Kotowski

Stanley Kotowski, a 60-year-old Massachusetts man, was last seen walking barefoot from a vacation home at the Sea Pines Resort on Hilton Head Island. Ten days later, he was found dead a short distance away.

“He just walked out the door,” his wife Jackie Kotowski recalled in an interview with ABC affiliate WJCL shortly after his disappearance.

Here's what we know about the days before Kotowski's disappearance.

Speaking to WJCL before his body was found, Jackie said her husband had been suffering from insomnia for about a month and his anxiety had been getting “worse and worse and worse.”

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

Before his disappearance, Jackie told authorities that her husband was worried that the Sea Pines resort where they were staying was a “trap” and that people there were “out to get him,” according to WJCL, 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'll go on without me.”

On Friday, August 16, Kotowski disappeared around 10:30 a.m. local time, according to authorities. He did not have his phone or wallet with him when he left. A Ring doorbell image shared by the BCSO shows him leaving the house barefoot.

Speaking to local media while his father was still missing, son Zak described Kotowski as an “athletic” and “strong person who, even in his delirium, could move a few towns forward,” according to FOX affiliate WFXT.

A search for Kotowski lasting several days followed, during which officers used numerous resources, including “sniffer dogs, helicopters, drones, boats and foot patrols,” according to a BCSO press release.

People also actively tried to help with the search through a Facebook page dedicated to Hilton Head Island. Jackie posted regular updates about the search, while members of the group actively shared information with each other – including tips, missing person posters, authority contact information and more – in hopes of finding Kotowski.

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On Monday, August 26, Kotowski was found dead in a small crawl space beneath two townhomes at the resort, Sheriff PJ Tanner said at a news conference on Tuesday, August 27.

A resort security guard was searching the villas when he noticed a foul odor and flies near one of the buildings, authorities said. Kotowski's body was soon found about 130 to 180 yards from where he was last seen on video.

Authorities believe Kotowski died the same day he disappeared, and an autopsy determined he committed suicide, Beaufort County Coroner David Ott said at the news conference.

Jackie mourned her husband's death in a statement shared 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 for her husband.”

“Your kindness and concern have meant so much to us during this incredibly difficult time,” Jackie wrote. “As we take time to process this news, we ask that you continue to think of us and pray for us.”

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, texting “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741741, or going to 988lifeline.org.