UPDATE: High Point, N.C. Police Department says on Saturday, January 6, around 11:30 p.m., Eric Morrison Jr. lost control of his vehicle on I-74 and crashed into a guardrail, causing him to be ejected from the vehicle and found at the bottom of a steep embankment.
The search for a missing North Carolina came to a tragic end for his family on Wednesday after 33-year-old Eric Morrison Jr. was found dead in an embankment near 74W and Johnson Street in High Point, according to investigators.
Originally, Morrison Jr.’s family did not know where he was located after he was last seen at Kickback Jacks on Saturday, January 6. However, the police are now piecing together the missing puzzle in a new press release, stating that Morrison Jr. was a hit-and-run suspect.
On Wednesday, the High Point police announced that they were investigating a “suspicious death” following the discovery of a body near Johnson Street. The police did not release Morrison Jr.’s name at the time because they were notifying the next of kin.
View this post on Instagram
Eric Morrison Jr. hit another car and fled after leaving Kickback Jacks
According to his family, Morrison Jr. was last seen on Saturday, January 6, 2024, at Kickback Jacks located at 2410 Penny Road and had not been seen since. At the time of his disappearance, he was wearing a black Nike hoodie, as shown in the picture below.
The High Point Police Department said in a press release that they responded to a hit-and-run crash on Wendover Avenue and Penny Road. Upon arrival, a witness provided officers with the description and the tag number of the suspect’s vehicle. Minutes later, the High Point Police responded to another crash at I-74W and Johnson Street.
The vehicle found at the crash on I-74W and Johnson Street was determined to be Eric Morrison Jr.’s vehicle, which was also the vehicle reported in the hit-and-run crash on Wendover Avenue and Penny Road. However, police stated that no one was inside the vehicle when officers arrived. Police said they searched for the driver of the vehicle using K-9 units, which led officers to a street near Morrison Jr.’s home, but he was not located.
Reported missing on January 8, 2024
On January 8, Morrison Jr.’s family filed a missing person report with the police. Two days later, on January 10, the High Point Police Department’s Violent Crimes Unit searched the areas where the K-9 track ended. The department stated in its press release that High Point Parks & Recreation deployed a boat to search along a portion of Oak Hollow Lake.
A drone was also used in the search for Morrison Jr., according to the police.
Eric Morrison Jr. found in steep embankment by private search party
Later on January 10, a private search party located Morrison Jr.’s body at the bottom of a steep embankment, about 25 feet down, while searching the woods around the crash site. Police reported that Morrison Jr. had sustained a significant head injury and was pronounced dead.
Eric Morrison Jr.’s car was impounded after the crash badly damagedÂ
Morrison Jr.’s father, went to the impound and found his son’s car damaged, as you will see in the video below. At this time, Morrison Jr. did not know where he son was or that he was in a car crash.Â
Please watch the video below:
“Based on evidence at the scene, officers determined Morrison lost control coming up the exit ramp and ran off the side of the road,” High Point Police said in a press release. “His vehicle hit the guardrail and he was ejected.”
