Nearly 20 years later, father convicted in death of boy

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — Nearly two decades after a disabled 9-year-old Missouri boy went missing, his father has been convicted of killing him.

St. Louis County jurors on Friday found 49-year-old Dawan Ferguson guilty of first-degree murder. Jurors deliberated less than three hours. Ferguson will be sentenced to life in prison without parole, which is mandatory in non-death penalty first-degree murder cases in Missouri.

Ferguson called 911 from a pay phone on June 11, 2003, and said his vehicle was taken in a carjacking with his son, Christian, inside.

Prosecutors at trial this week said the carjacking never happened. Ferguson’s lawyers said there was no evidence of murder. The child’s body was never found.

Christian suffered from a rare genetic disorder. A coma in 2001 left him with brain damage, and he had lost the ability to talk or walk.