GRAND HAVEN TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A missing boy who left home six hours earlier was pronounced dead Tuesday night after accidentally drowning.
According to the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office, 14-year-old Carter Dyke left home at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday near 152nd Avenue and Ferris Street in Grand Haven Township to walk to a Wesco station on Mercury Drive. When the teenager didn’t return home, his parents organized a search party and then called the sheriff’s office to help. Deputies started looking for Dyke along the route he would have taken, and one deputy found the teen submerged beneath the ice of Millhouse Bayou near Mercury Drive. Dyke was removed from the water and taken to North Ottawa Community Hospital.Resuscitation efforts at the hospital failed, and Dyke was pronounced dead at 9:21 p.m. Tuesday.Several tweets on Grand Haven High School’s Twitter account went out later Tuesday night, sending condolences. Students are encouraged to wear blue Wednesday in support and honor of Carter.
The #BlueForCarter hash tag quickly caught on, and students posted their own memories, thoughts, and prayers.
Talk show host Montel Williams saw the tweets and began posting his own thoughts, as well as tweeting directly to members of the grief-stricken community.
Williams also posted a longer message on his Instagram account offering advice to those affected by the loss:
#prayforcarter #blueforcarter @ghhsbucs so my friend @jackcostell0 told me what happened. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my life, it’s that no matter how dark it may seem right now, hope and light are always right around the corner. You’ve lost a friend far too young. Remember that it’s important to keep talking about it – amongst yourselves and with your parents and teachers. The best way to honor your friend is to come together – use the pain you feel right now, this loss to come together and build a better school, a tighter community – doing so will always stand as the most powerful memorial for Carter and will turn the darkness of tragedy into the hope and light of creating a powerful positive legacy for all of u. My thoughts and prayers are with his family, and with all of you.
