What separated jet skier, 3-year-old son who answered dead dad’s phone still a mystery

Mystery still surrounds the death of a Florida man whose 3-year-old son answered his phone Monday afternoon after they failed to return from a ride on a nearby river.

The body of 38-year-old William "Billy" Morris was found Tuesday morning along the south shoreline of the Alafia River in Gibsonton, Florida, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

Morris had been missing since the previous afternoon, when he and his young son, August "Augie" Morris had left their home near the river for a ride on the family's jet ski. The Tampa Bay Times reported that, when they did not return as expected, Morris' wife, Tina Morris, used Facetime to call her husband.

Augie picked up the phone instead, crying and saying that his dad was gone.

Tina Morris kept her son on the phone while simultaneously calling 911. The Sheriff’s Office reported that around that same time, Augie was spotted by a passerby on the river.

The boy was found on a small island in the river, the Sheriff's Office said. His father was nowhere to be found, but Billy Morris' life jacket and wallet were found on the south side of the island, on the jet ski he and his son had been riding.

Morris' body was ultimately found about a mile south of where his son was stranded, the law enforcement agency said. His cause of death remains under investigation, but foul play is not suspected.

Meanwhile, Morris' family is left trying to figure out what happened to the father of three, the Times reported. Because of his age, Augie has not been able to shed much light on how he got separated from his father.

"I just don't understand the whole scenario," Billy Morris' mother, Cindy, told the newspaper in a telephone interview. "It's not like him to leave everything."

The Times reported that Morris, who worked as a truck driver, was always on call and kept his phone on him at all times.

A neighbor of the family, Regina Rogers, told Bay News 9 that the jet ski Morris and his son were riding was new.

"He just got the jet ski a couple of days ago,” Rogers told the news station. “And he was just going out to enjoy the day, build a sand castle, (and) never came back."

Morris once worked for Ringling Bros. as an elephant trainer, Rogers said. His father, who the Times reported died this past Easter, was also an elephant trainer.

Friends and fellow circus performers expressed sadness on social media over Morris' sudden death.