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High Point family searching for answers after a missing relative was found dead

Police said Eric Morrison was found dead days after he crashed on I-74. They said earlier that same day, he rear-ended another car at a stoplight and left the scene.

HIGH POINT, N.C. — In order to start the healing process, a High Point family says they need answers. 

"It's just... it's just not making sense..." Brittney Cheek, cousin of Eric Morrison Jr. said.

"How can we be set free from the pain until we get some answers?" Samuel Cheek, uncle of Eric Morrison Jr. said. 

High Point Police said 33-year-old Eric Morrison Jr. was found dead four days after he was involved in a car crash off I-74. The crash happened just minutes after a hit-and-run accident police confirm Morrison was a part of off Penny Road and Wendover Avenue, police named him a suspect and began searching for him with k-9 units in relation to the hit-and-run on Penny Road and Wendover Avenue.

"I believe, in my mind, that they look at him like a criminal and said 'Hey, this is where he lives, his address is five minutes up the road, let's take the dogs there because he may have fled the scene on foot and we're going to go and look for him'" said Brittney Cheek.

Investigators said he was ejected from his car, hit his head on the guardrail, and was killed instantly. His body was found 75 feet away from where he hit the guardrail off I-74.

This leaves his family with more concerns as they said his body was close in distance to the crash that police said killed him.

"I don't feel confident that they did a good enough search and they did enough investigating to try and locate his body," Brittney Cheek said.

Beyond what happened to Morrison Jr. that Saturday, his family said he was a humble guy, a gifted athlete and a person with a giant heart.

Timeline

January 6 at 11:30 p.m. - High Point officers responded to a hit-and-run crash at Wendover Avenue and Penny Road. Police said a driver rear-ended a car stopped at a red light at this intersection, then took off. No one was injured. 

A few minutes later, there was another crash on I-74. Police said the suspect's vehicle in the hit-and-run crash matched the vehicle in the crash on I-74. Police identified the driver as Eric Morrison, but said they did not find him in his car. A K-9 track led officers to a street near his home but he wasn't found. 

January 8 - Morrison's family filed a missing person report. 

January 10 - High Point police searched all day for Morrison. Later on, a private search party member found Morrison's body at the bottom of a steep embankment. Police said he had a substantial head injury and was pronounced dead upon impact. 

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