Medical Examiner Confirms Body Found Is Missing UF Student

David Ferguson

By Kyle Meenan First Coast News

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- The body found downtown last Wednesday is 19-year old David Ferguson, according to the Duval County Medical Examiner. The confirmation came as a result of dental analysis.

In his 19 short years, David 'Davey' Ferguson touched the lives of many, and left them smiling.

The young man's popularity was evidenced by the outpouring of effort to locate his whereabouts on college campuses and small towns stretching from Atlanta to Gainesville.

Students networked over the internet, some even created websites dedicated to spreading the word that a friend had disappeared.

Thousands of flyers were passed out and posted in dormitories, street corners and on car windshields.

The sophomore from the University of Florida was last seen around 1:00 a.m. Saturday following a night of partying with two friends and thousands of others at the Jacksonville Landing on the night before the Georgia-Florida game.

His parents, Christina and David Ferguson, drove down from their Atlanta area home Sunday to file a "Missing Persons" report with the Jacksonville Sheriff's office.

Monday, David's car was recovered right where it had been parked Friday night. It was unlocked on the sixth floor of the parking garage at the corner of Julia and Forsyth Streets downtown.

It was just a few hundred feet from where that car was parked, that JSO homicide detectives discovered the body of a young white male Wednesday afternoon.

At a news conference a few hours later, JSO Assistant Chief Rick Graham outlined the investigation.

Assistant Chief Graham was pressed on how so many people, including family, friends, and detectives could have searched in and around the parking garage for three days without spotting the body.

"It was located between two buildings. There's the parking garage itself and an abandoned building and a very narrow space, and a distance of 40-to-45 feet from the level of the parking garage," said Graham.

What isn't known, is how the victim ended up at the bottom of a fifty foot wall.

"Could he have been pushed? Is there something that caused him to fall? Until we get deeper into the investigation, (there's) no way to tell," said Graham. "I don't want to speculate at that point."

Christina and David Ferguson declined an on-camera interview Wednesday night, but released a statement to First Coast News:

"We are heartbroken at the loss of our son, David. He was an amazing young man who touched so many lives in so many positive ways," said the boy's father. "We'd like to express our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to so many people who have helped us over the past few days in this most difficult time. Thank you to the many people in Jacksonville, Gainesville and the Atlanta area who were there for us in our time of need."