On Friday, November 21, Hastings Police received a report of a missing person. Agencies from the region responded all weekend aiding in the search efforts that, as of Monday, have yielded no results. The adult male that went missing has been identified as Mark Morris, age 31 of Hastings.
A social media post shared by Morris’ wife Stacy on Friday said that Morris left for work at 2:40 a.m. on Friday wearing only a blue Minnesota Twins sweatshirt and gray sweatpants with black sneakers. He was driving a silver 2009 Kia Spectra which was found in downtown Hastings on Saturday. He never made it to his place of employment, FedEx in Rosemount.
Morris, a Florida native, moved to Minnesota four years ago, he is 5’1” and 135 pounds.
“If it got under 75, he was cold,” explained Stacy who was looking forward to celebrating their wedding anniversary this week.
According to an interview with Hastings Police Chief David Wilske on Sunday afternoon, the weekend search included a comprehensive grid search of the Mississippi River and adjoining shorelines from the Federal property at the lock and dam and continued east past the marina, near the edge of Gores Pool 3. The search stopped there due to officer safety concerns with active hunters in the area.
“The good news is there are resources walking through those areas hunting, and if they see something suspicious, my hope is that they call,” said Chief Wilske knowing that hunters are actively scanning the area they are in which ultimately means they are looking for things that are out of place.
Wilske did note that they did talk to the MnDNR to get the word out to hunters in the area to keep an eye out for anything that might help investigators.
Multiple police and fire departments from the region, including Dakota County Sheriff’s Office and their Special Operations unit, Rosemount, Eagan, Prescott and more had teams helping the Hastings PD facilitate the search. They used boats, drones and boots on the ground doing a grid search. Saturday and Sunday. The search continued Monday with Dakota County using sonar.
“The challenge is, if somebody wants to self-harm, and they enter the water this time of year, we might not find them until the water warms up, which could be April of next year. So that is a concern, right? But Water Patrol has been out there. We've been flying drones, and we're not finding any signs,” explained Wilske.
This is a developing story and will be updated as often as possible online. If you have information on Morris’ whereabouts, please call the Hastings Police Department at 651-480-2300 or 911.