Michael Hartnett remembered
Michael Hartnett always cared about his friends.
One of his last acts was making sure those he cared about were taken care of.
“I only had $2 on me and I knew it was a 28-minute walk (home); I Googled it. He gave me $20 and said to take a cab,” said Saoirse Haughney, Hartnett’s friend since second grade. “We all got home and I still kept that $20, I hung it up.”
Hartnett was able to get his friends home that night, but the 18-year-old Wayne State freshman never made it home himself.
His body was found in the pond near the Park Library on Sunday. Police are still investigating his death.
Haughney said friends who were with Hartnett became separated with him Saturday night, but no one suspected any danger until the morning.
Hartnett came to Central Michigan University to visit friends from his hometown in Dearborn Heights. Haughney, freshmen Abby Ellstrom and Valerie Dynda spent Friday at their friend’s rugby game. They enjoyed pizza to stave off the cold.
Dynda said Hartnett always felt at home in Mount Pleasant. He bought his first CMU sweater that weekend and Haughney said he was draped head-to-toe in maroon and gold to celebrate homecoming.
After Ellstrom dropped him off at the Towers, where he said he was going to meet other friends, she never saw him again. Haughney and others lost contact with him at about 1:30 a.m., but didn’t expect the worst.
“I didn’t think it was a big deal at first and the (next) day just got later,” Dynda said. “I thought he might be with (our friend) so I texted him around 1:30 a.m. saying ‘Where are you?’”
Dynda said alcohol was involved that night.
As Hartnett’s friends attempted to spread the word through social media that he was missing, a woman who said she had seen him that night contacted Haughney.
“She said she saw him on campus by St. Mary’s (Catholic Church) and tried to call him a cab but he couldn’t walk or talk,” Haughney said. “She said it was about 1:30 a.m. (Sunday).”
After calling the Isabella County Jail and the Hospital, his friends went to residence halls on campus. Residence hall workers directed them to the police.
CMU Police Chief Bill Yeagley said at approximately 2:18 p.m., CMU dispatch received a phone call from Hartnett’s father. CMUPD interviewed him about why he believed his son was missing and took basic information about Hartnett to identify him and find out where he was during the weekend.
From there, police were able to identify and interview two of his friends and asked the same kinds of questions. Jails and hospitals were checked and a broadcast was sent to all local agencies containing information compiled.
Yeagley said roughly between 3:30-4 p.m., officers put together a search plan. Social media was used to distribute information and a few of Hartnett’s friends, including Haughney, Dynda and Ellstrom, were contacted and met by St. Mary’s Catholic Church to begin an organized search.
Less than 15 minutes later the search was over.
Hartnett was found in the Fabiano Botanical Garden pond, where his body was removed by the Isabella County Dive Rescue Team and pronounced dead.
“I am grateful that these types of things are so rare in our community and I encourage all of us to take a minute and appreciate the fact that these types of things are so rare,” Yeagley said. “We live in a very good place. The second thing I would ask is for students, and the whole CMU community to remember that Michael has some friends here and a family who are grieving deeply, and I think its appropriate to remember that and pray for them. They need that.”
His friends were left wondering what they could have done to save Hartnett, but found few answers.
In the subsequent days they have experienced support from the Chippewa community, but that will not remove the pain of the loss of their friend.
“I want people to realize, he may be a name or a face to some people, but he did matter to us,” Dynda said. “It’s not just a story. It’s really meaningful and sad for a lot of us.”
