Episode 17- Morgan Michael Laurence White
I am continuing on with my rabbit of missing and possibly murdered men in the Midwest.
This is the one I could find the least info on. I only found the page from the Footprints website.
Morgan White was a 19-year-old exchange student from Guildford University in England, which may be why I couldn’t find much on him. He was described as a good student, outgoing, charming, and fun. He loved to drink, sing, and, hug people, basically, he just liked having a good time. I mean at 19 you are young and full of life so why wouldn’t you? He was also described as "exotically handsome", which makes me a little bummed that I can not find a picture of him anywhere.
Here is a Timeline of Events.
On Saturday, March 12, 1994, he disappeared near the Michigan State University campus. Early that night he and a friend were turned away from Dooley's Restaurant (now called Harper's Restaurant and Brew Pub) Michigan. in East Lansing, MI, due to their level of intoxication. Morgan became sick after that and somehow became separated from his friend, who was not able to locate him so they return home.
Later that night of March 12th. The MSU Department of Police and Public Safety received a call from a couple walking in the area that night who reported seeing someone in a white shirt swimming in the river. Police and fire officials searched the river that day for four hours (other reports say 20 minutes) but found nothing. Because no missing people were on file yet, police did not return to the area to search.
Tuesday, March 15 he was reported missing. MSU police then questioned White's friends and searched his room. There aren’t any reports if there were any clues found.
March 16, MSU police contacted the Ingham County Sherriff's Department, and that began the search of the Red Cedar River. At the time of the search, the river had a 10 mph current and only 1-foot visibility.
At 3:30 p.m. that day 5 hours into the search a 5 member team found his bottom on the riverbed.. One of the divers, Officer Ken Freeman, said the currents most likely pushed the body to the riverbed.
MSU Police Lt. Dale Metts said foul play was not suspected.
What happened?I looked up the temperature for that night it was around 32.9 degrees that night after 9 pm. Also there was 3 ft of Snow at the time. So if Morgan was the one swimming in would have been very cold and concerning seeing anyone doing that at the time. Actually, the highest the temp got the entire time he was missing was 43 degrees and the following nights had lows of 18 degrees.
Friends publicly questioned whether the police should have been more responsive to the report of a person swimming in the 35-degree river. It seems unlikely that anyone would purposely go swimming in such cold water, so alarm bells should have sounded that this was an urgent situation.
White was wearing a brown suede jacket the night he disappeared. MSU's student newspaper, The State's News, printed a photograph of White's recovery in which one arm is visible from underneath a tarp. White appears to be wearing something dark and long-sleeved--perhaps his suede jacket. Was he recovered wearing his jacket? If so, how is it that the couple did not see the jacket? They only reported seeing a man in a white shirt. According to his sister, he was not wearing the jacket when he was found and it wasn’t found at all.
White's friends have trouble believing he could just fall into the river, even if intoxicated. They say he was not depressed or suicidal, but also would not just decide to go swimming--White did not know how to swim and was actually terrified of water. So how did he end up in the water?
Some unsettling things about this case from his sister who made a comment on the post I got this information on.
A young man came up to her at the American version of a wake and basically told me it was her that had done it.
She stated that the police were called that night by a couple who heard Morgan shout for help. They did a cursory 20 min search and decided to come back the next morning. They never wanted to look into it cause of his blood alcohol level. She is personally convinced of a cover-up by the university dean and director.
Facts of Interest
Name/age: Morgan White, 19
Physical Description: 5'10 - 5'11, Caucasian/Asian
Last seen: Sat 3/12/94, Dooley's Restaurant, 131 Albert Street, Michigan
Recovered: Wed 3/16/94, 3:20 p.m., Red Cedar River
Water temperature: 35 degrees on Wed 3/16, and possibly colder on Sunday 3/13
References
Morgan's post on foot Prints in the sand,
I did find 2 articles on the newspaper.com
