Body of missing West Point cadet found in New River
The body of a 21-year-old West Point cadet visiting Fort Lauderdale on Spring Break was found in the New River on Monday night, officials announced Tuesday, two days after he disappeared on a night out.
He is believed to have died by drowning, and no foul play is suspected.
Havin Morris was originally reported missing Saturday after visiting Fort Lauderdale with his three friends, according to a Fort Lauderdale Police report.
“Cadet Morris was a valued member of the Corps of Cadets, committed to serving his country as an Army Officer,” West Point Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland said in a prepared statement Tuesday evening. “The entire West Point Community offers our heartfelt condolences to the Morris family.”
He and his friends had gone out that night in the city’s downtown area. Morris texted his parents that he was at a nightclub about 11 p.m. His friends told police that the four had gone out to Dicey Riley’s, in the 200 block of Himmarshee
Street, not far from the New River. The friends said they saw him there about 1 a.m. but “lost track of him” afterwards, according to the report.
Throughout the next day, the friends told police they called Morris but could not reach him. They went to his hotel but did not find him there. Finally, they told Morris’ father, Hollis, that they could not find him, and he called the police.
Hollis Morris told officers that this was “abnormal behavior” for his son. He also tried to call his son multiple times, but it went straight to voicemail as if his phone were dead.
On Monday night, a Fort Lauderdale Police dive team found Morris’ body in the New River, close to where he was last seen, spokesperson Casey Liening said in a news release.
Morris is originally from California. He started at West Point in 2020, according to his Facebook page.
Cadet Morris’ tactical officer, Maj. Rebecca A. Gogue, said in a prepared statement shared by a West Point spokesperson Tuesday evening that he was “a bright, resilient young man with a determination to succeed in all he did.”
“Cadet Morris’ family has been officially notified by the Army, and a casualty assistance officer has been appointed to support them,” the statement said. “The entire West Point community will continue to support Havin’s family, friends, and teammates.”
Morris was supposed to leave Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday for Houston, according to the police report.
Morris’ father and two of the three friends who accompanied him declined to speak to the South Florida Sun Sentinel Wednesday. The third friend did not return a voicemail.
West Point said the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command is cooperating with Fort Lauderdale Police in their investigation.
Other tragedies involving young people have unfolded over Spring Break in recent years.
In March 2022, six Spring Breakers, including four West Point cadets, overdosed on fentanyl-laced cocaine at a rental home in Wilton Manors. Two went into cardiac arrest and were placed on ventilators.
Three years before that, in March 2019, a 23-yearold woman died after falling out of a car on the Airport Expressway while joyfully yelling “Bye, Miami,” the Miami Herald reported. The driver who hit her fled the scene. She was minutes from Miami International Airport.