St. Louis News Blog

Christian Ferguson in an undated photograph from the 1990s. Says his mother, Theda Thomas: "Some people never knew he could walk and talk, how he loved to sing, how he prayed all the time."

Christian Ferguson went missing six years ago Saturday. He was nine years old. His father, Dawan Ferguson, told police that his son -- and his SUV -- were stolen from a parking lot in north St. Louis, while Dawan was using a payphone. The SUV was recovered a short time later but without the boy inside.

RFT writer Kristen Hinman reported on the circumstances around the boy's disappearance -- as well as his rare illness and turbulent family life -- in March. Less than a week since the sixth anniversary of his disappearance, Hinman will update the case with Charlie Brennan on KMOX during the 10:10 a.m. segment on Friday.

Tomorrow is the sixth anniversary of the disappearance of 9-year-old Christian Ferguson. His family has organized the Christian T. Ferguson Sixth Annual Memorial Parade in his honor, though families of other people involved in unsolved cases are encouraged to participate as well.

The parade begins at 10 a.m. at North City Church of Christ, 5036 Thekla Avenue, and goes down Union Boulevard. A rally begins at 12 p.m. at Lexington Elementary School at 3130 Norwood Avenue.

The cold case of Christian Ferguson was the subject of a two-part RFT investigative series earlier this year.

To go along with part two of "Vanishing Act," Kristen Hinman's investigative report on the mysterious disappearance of nine-year-old Christian Ferguson, we've retraced the steps of police through the lens of photographer Jennifer Silverberg.

Silverberg revisited the locations in St. Louis City and St. Louis County related to the alleged kidnapping of Ferguson, who disappeared about 6 a.m. on June 11, 2003. Police think they've fingered Ferguson's father, Dawan Ferguson, as the one responsible, but cannot prove it.

Jennifer Silverberg

The payphone from which Dawan Ferguson called the hospital ER about his son. During this time, Ferguson said someone stole his SUV with his son still in it.

View Slide Show.

Kristen Hinman, author of a two-part Riverfront Times investigation, "Vanishing Act," appeared this morning on the McGraw Show on KTRS-AM (The Big 550), to discuss the story. 

If you happened to be sleeping during its 7:20 a.m. airing, don't fret. You can listen to the entire radio interview below.

Interview MP3 here. (8:31 minutes, 2.9 megabytes.)

Want more? Click on the following links to read both parts of the gripping and tragic disappearance of Christian Ferguson. 

Vanishing Act, Part 1

Courtesy Theda Thomas

Christian Ferguson in an undated photograph from the 1990s.

View and download documents relating to the disappearance of Christian Ferguson below, and read parts one and two of Kristen Hinman's investigation into the case here:

Vanishing Act: Six years after the fact, the disappearance of nine-year-old Christian Ferguson remains a mystery. (March 18, 2009).

Vanishing Act, Part 2: Missing since 2003, little Christian Ferguson is almost surely dead. Police think they've fingered the culprit -- and there's nothing they can do about it. (March 26, 2009).

Download the investigative report.

In 1996, KSDK-TV reported on the rare illness suffered by then two-year-old Christian Ferguson. Here's that report, submitted by Theda Thomas, Christian's mother:




Read more about Christian, his rare illness and his mysterious disappearance in "Vanishing Act," the first of two parts of a Riverfront Times investigation by Kristen Hinman.

Three years old, with baby fat still puffing out his cheeks, the boy in the video grins up at the dreadlocked woman towering over him and asking his name. "Chis-ching!" he blurts.

"That my ba-aaaaby!" cries Theda Thomas, sliding toward the edge of her seat.

On this winter evening, Thomas, a substitute teacher for the St. Louis Public Schools, is reliving scenes from the mid-1990s, when she was the young mother of two toddler sons. To accomplish this feat, she has hooked up a five-inch television to an old VCR on the dining-room table in her childhood home. "Look at his beautiful face," she says softly. "I want to kiss him."

Those are the opening paragraphs of "Vanishing Act," the first part of a Riverfront Times investigation into the disappearance of nine-year-old Christian Ferguson, a story reported on and written by Kristen Hinman in this week's edition of the RFT.

Thomas showed Hinman hours of video to give her a glimpse of her child, who went missing six years ago. Here are clips of that video: