03/12/94: Morgan Michael Laurence White, 19, East Lansing, MI

Morgan White, was described as an "exotically handsome" 19-year old exchange student from Guildford University in England. People who knew him say he "loved to get soused and sing and hug people and go out carousing" with his friends and other British exchange students. By all accounts, White was a good student who was very outgoing, charming, and fun. One friend remembers him as "a great guy." He disappeared on Saturday, March 12, 1994 near the Michigan State University campus.

After being turned away from Dooley's Restaurant* in East Lansing, MI, due to their level of intoxication, White became sick and then somehow became separated from his friend. After failing to locate White, his friend returned home.

That night, the MSU Department of Police and Public Safety received a call from a couple walking in the area who reported seeing someone in a white shirt swimming in the river. According to some reports, 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.

Reported missing

On Tuesday, March 15, White was reported missing. MSU police then questioned White's friends and searched his room. It is not known what clues, if any, were found.

Recovery and Investigation

The following day, on March 16, MSU police contacted the Ingham County Sherriff's Department which began a difficult search of the Red Cedar River. The river had a 10 mph current and only 1-foot visibility. The dive boat was secured to trees on both sides of the river to help hold it in place.
At 3:30 p.m., a five-member dive team located White's body on the riverbed after a difficult five-hour search. 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.


Lingering Questions

• 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. 

• White's friends have trouble believing the could just fall in 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? 

*The restaurant is now called Harper's Restaurant and Brew Pub. Its address is 131 Albert Street, East Lansing, Michigan.


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