Missouri Man Who Killed Disabled Son Now Guilty Of Repeatedly Raping, Molesting Stepdaughters

A Missouri father and former bounty hunter who was found guilty last month in the 2003 murder of his disabled son was convicted on multiple child sex abuse charges involving his former stepdaughters this week.

Dawan Ferguson, 49, was found guilty on Wednesday of first-degree statutory rape of a person less than 14 years old, first-degree statutory sodomy of a person less than 14 years old, second-degree child molestation, second-degree statutory rape and second-degree sodomy, St. Louis television station KTVI reported. The victims in the case were his now-ex-wife's daughters, KSDK reported.

The jury deliberated for approximately three hours before the verdict was delivered, according to the outlet.

The child sex abuse allegations first surfaced in Ferguson's 2019 divorce, court documents show, the Riverfront Times reported. 

Between 2000 and 2013, the Missouri dad was accused of sexually abusing the two children several times, according to the St. Louis County Police Department, both before and after he married their mother. He began dating his victims' mother in June 2000, amid a custody dispute over the child that he eventually killed and his other son. He and the assault victims' mother married in 2002, according to the investigative report into his son's death obtained by the Riverfront Times in 2009.

He allegedly groped one of the two children over her clothes between the years 2000 and 2003, when she was under 17, according to the charges; she testified that he climbed into her bed one night and told her that's what adults do when they drink, the Times reported.

He began raping the other victim, who was under 14, in 2008 and continued at least through 2013, the paper reported.

The younger victim testified that she was 11 when Ferguson began molesting her, adding that the now-49-year-old impregnated her twice. 

At the age of 13, the victim recounted how she became pregnant after Ferguson raped her. He then took her to an abortion clinic but medical staff were unable to perform the procedure due to her being too far along. Instead, the woman claimed Ferguson instructed her to hide her pregnancy and then to lie about who the baby’s father was, according to prosecutors.

DNA results have since proven that he's the child's father.

Ferguson impregnated the victim a second time while she was in college, but she had an abortion. 

The victim also recounted in trial testimony how Ferguson made her watch pornography on a pink Minnie Mouse TV as a child.

"I can only imagine the terror that those children dealt with and had to live with for most of their lives, living with this individual," St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell told the Riverfront Times.

The younger victim told her mother in 2018, and then told police.

During trial, Ferguson denied the child sex abuse charges and took the stand in his own defense, claiming the 13-year-old had impregnated herself by using a condom that he’d masturbated into. He testified he frequently touched himself wearing a condom, claiming the bizarre practice was intended to cure his erectile dysfunction, per the Riverfront Times.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, described Ferguson as a “narcissist of the highest order."

"He couldn't talk his way out of it," Bell added. "He's going to be spending his life, and if he is reincarnated he's going to spend a couple more, serving life sentences."

Ferguson is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 16.

In July, Ferguson was found guilty of first-degree murder in the 2003 disappearance of his son, Christian. At the time, the Missouri father reported the disabled 9-year-old boy was sitting in the backseat of a car that was stolen from Wellston, Missouri; the child had a genetic metabolic condition that meant going more than a couple of days without his medication would result in his death. Ferguson had long maintained he'd been talking on a payphone at the time of the incident.

He was officially charged in the child's death in 2019.

It was revealed during trial that Ferguson had chronically abused the 9-year-old — who'd made multiple trips to the hospital due to Ferguson's refusal to follow a diet and medication regimen for his genetic condition, including one time that resulted in the child's permanent disability, according to a 2009 Riverfront Times investigation.

He ultimately killed the child and invented the carjacking story because the child's mother had gained the upper hand in their custody battle, prosecutors said, and he was scared his abuse would be discovered.

The child's mother had alleged near the beginning of their custody dispute in 1998 that Ferguson had groped their other, younger son, but her allegations were never investigated; ultimately, the judge in the case awarded full custody of both boys to Ferguson, according to the Riverfront Times investigation in 2009. Ferguson has never been charged with abusing his surviving son.

Christian's mother also noted to authorities that Ferguson had been accused of molesting an 11-year-old boy in 1995; no charges were filed in that case, according to the 2004 investigative report obtained by the Times.

He began abusing his girlfriend's older daughter in 2000. In 2004, he was arrested for falsifying a Social Security number and signature on the loan application for the SUV in which he claimed Christian was abducted, according to the Times. He pleaded guilty and Federal Bureau of Prisons records indicate he was released in December 2005. He began abusing his younger stepdaughter in 2008.

Ferguson’s sentencing for the murder case is set for Aug. 16. He’s facing a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole, according to KSDK.