Anchorage police need help finding boy who disappeared 9 years ago

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - When Jasmine McCormick last saw her son DaShawn it was 2013. He was reported missing to Anchorage police at age 6 in February 2014.

Though DaShawn has been missing for the past nine years, Jasmine still has hope that he’ll one day be found.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children produced a video with an age progression photo that shows what DaShawn may look like now, at age 14, hoping to reach someone who may have seen him.

“I’m still here. I haven’t given up, I’m still looking for you. I didn’t give you away, I didn’t give you up,” Jasmine McCormick said in the video. “Mommy will go to the end of the earth to find you.”

The center and multiple law enforcement agencies say they have exhausted all leads trying to locate him.

“We’re asking for the public, the community’s assistance, in trying to find DaShawn McCormick,” Anchorage Detective Dave Cordie said at a press conference Thursday.

Cordie is heading up the investigation in continuing the search for DaShawn, which has led authorities to a number of places.

“The investigation has taken place with — several states in the Lower 48 had parts of the investigation, actually outside of the country,” Cordie said.

Authorities say DaShawn was last seen by his mother in Anchorage in April of 2013, shortly after McCormick returned home to the Lower 48. DaShawn was in the custody of his father, Floyd Lee Jr., at the time, but his father was arrested shortly thereafter by the FBI on unrelated charges.

Jasmine then filed for custody of DaShawn from out of state, but authorities couldn’t find him.

“He was not at the residence when the FBI was doing their unrelated investigation,” said Cordie.

DaShawn’s father has since been released from jail and is now living in Anchorage. Police say he’s cooperating with the investigation, but Cordie would not comment on whether Lee is a suspect during the press conference.

In 2009 and 2010, online court records show that DaShawn’s parents filed domestic violence protective orders against each other, some of which were on behalf of their son and some that were never granted.

Lee was then granted custody of DaShawn in 2012. Police said Thursday that they don’t want to comment on the protective orders or other specifics in the case, but do hope someone out there can help solve the mystery of what happened to DaShawn.

“All it takes is finding that one person, right?” Cordie said. “Finding that one person that sees one of your articles or one of your segments of video on today that could crack this case back open again where we can make it move forward again.”

Police encourage anyone with information about DaShawn’s whereabouts to contact Cordie at 907-786-8679 and reference Anchorage Police Department case 14-5937.

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