Chuck and Charley Morris were on a family kayaking trip when they vanished two days into their vacation.
The bodies of a father and son who had been missing for more than three weeks were pulled from an Arkansas lake on Easter. The two had vanished while on a kayaking vacation.
Chuck Morris, 47, and Charley Morris, 20, had traveled from their Kansas City, Missiouri, home to Beaver Lake on a family vacation. Charley Morris was on spring break from Ohio Wesleyan University.
They had been missing for 24 days when searchers using underwater robotic devices found their bodies Sunday in waters more than 180 feet deep, the Benton County Sheriff's Office announced.
"Our heart goes out the family of Chuck and Charley Morris and we are thankful today that we can help bring closure," the department said on its Facebook page.
The father and son apparently drowned, the Morris family said on a GoFundMe account established to help with funeral costs. As of Monday, the site had raised more than $197,000.
Chuck was a percussionist for the Colorado-based jam band Lotus, which also noted on its Facebook page that they would play a series of benefit concerts in the wake of the father and son's disappearance that would pay tribute to the pair, with the proceeds to go directly to the Morris family. "We were all hoping for a miracle," the band noted as the search for the father and son became a mission to recover their bodies.
The two went missing just two days into their family trip after a strong storm descended on the lake where they were kayaking, the family said.
“The weather and other elements created a perfect storm on the lake, and in the lake, that was unsurvivable,” the family said in a statement after their disappearance. “The community, authorities, and organizations that specialize in finding loved ones are continuing recovery efforts to bring Chuck and Charley home.”
Rescue efforts were hampered by weather and the lake's deep and cold water, authorities said.
