Episode 075 - The Disappearance of Christian Ferguson

This was one of the most disturbing, upsetting and incredibly difficult to confront cases covered trace evidence.  This is the case of Christian Ferguson, a nine year old who vanished from his father’s custody in 2003.  Christian was born with a life threatening illness and nearly died when he was just three days old.  This illness resulted in Christian needing constant monitoring while also needing to be given a very specific diet.

Christian’s parents divorced and his father, Dawan, was granted full custody with his mother, Theda, only have visitation rights.  In 2001, Christian experienced a health setback requiring full time supervision and care from nurses who would come to the home during the week.  Several of these nurses reported poor conditions and mistreatment of the child but nothing was done.

Theda took Dawan to court alleging he was denying her visitation rights and on June 14th the judge ordered that Dawan comply with the court order and grant Theda visitation, but Christian would vanish before she could ever see him.

On June 11th, 2003, Dawan called 911 claiming his car had been stolen while Christian was inside.  Dawan alleged he had stopped to call the hospital to notify them he was rushing Christian in due to a decline in his health.  Investigators had many questions about the day Christian vanished, Dawan’s story and over the course of the next six years they discovered many instances, witness statements and evidence supporting claims that Christian had been neglected and abused.

The search for Christian raised many questionable details, from Dawan’s vehicle being found hours after allegedly being stolen with nothing missing aside from Christian despite the presence of many valuable pieces of electronics in the vehicle which was found parked on a neighborhood street not far from a friend of Dawan’s.  There were also sightings of this friend’s vehicle within the proximity of where Dawan alleged his vehicle was stolen from.

Honestly, the details of this case are highly disturbing and extensive.  I would recommend listening to episode 75 to hear the full, horrifying story.  For many, Dawan was the main person of interest in his son’s disappearance and statements from other family members drew a lot of attention to his behaviors on the morning Christian went missing.

CASE UPDATE

Sixteen years after Christian’s disappearance, in October of 2019, St. Louis County arrested and charged his father, Dawan, with one count of first degree murder, he is currently being held without bond.  While the details of what resulted in Dawan being charged haven’t yet been revealed, I would argue there is a good chance it has to do with the fact that his wife, who he was married during the time Christian disappeared, filed for divorce one month prior to Dawan being charged.

When asked about the arrest, Theda told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch “I knew that justice was on it’s way, but I’m in shock.  I feel supported and I’m excited.  I’m a lot of different things right now because I don’t know how to be in this place, but I’m glad I’m here.”  Theda has long fought for justice for her son and has been very involved in advocacy.

As of now, Dawan Ferguson is in prison and awaiting trial.  His defense attorney has argued he will get the case thrown out, but only time will tell what new develops in this extremely sad and disturbing case.

Unlike the previous cases, these next two have short updates but I did want to include them in the interest of thoroughness. Unlike the previous cases, these next two have short updates but I did want to include them in the interest of thoroughness.