{"id":152066,"date":"2026-02-11T21:09:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T21:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/152066\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T21:09:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T21:09:08","slug":"family-reunited-with-9-year-old-sons-urn-after-more-than-a-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/152066\/","title":{"rendered":"Family reunited with 9-year-old son\u2019s urn after more than a decade"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORANGE PARK, Fla. \u2013 After more than a decade of uncertainty, the family of a 9-year-old boy is once again holding a piece of him they feared was lost forever.<\/p>\n

The family of Justin Khalief Davis was reunited this week with the memorial urn they had been missing for years, thanks to a chance discovery inside an abandoned storage unit and the help of News4JAX viewers.<\/p>\n

The urn was originally found inside a storage unit bought at auction off Blanding Boulevard by David Purdom, who said he believed for years that the urn contained Justin\u2019s ashes. He kept it safe while trying unsuccessfully to locate the boy\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

ORIGINAL STORY: For 10 years, a stranger has kept a 9-year-old boy\u2019s ashes. Now he\u2019s renewing the search for the child\u2019s family <\/a><\/p>\n

After News4JAX shared the story last week, the family finally came forward and it was then learned the urn was a memorial piece, not one containing cremated remains. Still, Justin\u2019s family said the urn held deep emotional meaning and its return brought long-awaited closure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very excited about it,\u201d Justin\u2019s father, Justin Davis, said as he received the urn at the News4JAX studio. \u201cIt\u2019s a new day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Justin Davis said being reunited with the urn helped bring a sense of peace.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does bring closure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Justin Khalief Davis died in 2012 after being struck by a car while crossing the road. His father described him as a bright, kind child who loved football and did well in school.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe never gave us any trouble at all,\u201d Davis said. \u201cHe was a God-sent child, and I know he\u2019s home with God.\u201d<\/p>\n

The urn was lost years later when the family had to forfeit a storage unit. Davis said he learned about the discovery after receiving a call from his mother, who had seen the News4JAX story.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy heart started fluttering,\u201d Davis said. \u201cI was in a panic. I reached out as soon as I got the information, and they were very receptive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Purdom said he often wondered what had happened to Justin\u2019s family during the years the urn sat in his garage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always curious,\u201d he said. \u201cI wondered what happened to the family all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crystal Meadows helped David with the search for Justin\u2019s family and said the response from the Jacksonville community played a critical role in reuniting the family with the urn.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuval really stood up on this,\u201d she said. \u201cSo many people reached out and said, \u2018I\u2019ll donate time, I\u2019ll give my services.\u2019 They didn\u2019t let the story die.\u201d<\/p>\n

Purdom said Meadows\u2019 phone was flooded with calls, texts and emails within 24 hours of the story airing.<\/p>\n

As emotions ran high during the reunion, Justin Davis joked that Purdom had already earned a new title.<\/p>\n

\u201cI called him Grandpa on the phone,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m almost old enough,\u201d Purdom replied.<\/p>\n

For Justin Davis, the moment was overwhelming but healing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just full of emotions right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE PARK, Fla. \u2013 After more than a decade of uncertainty, the family of a 9-year-old boy is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,3489],"class_list":{"0":"post-152066","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-jacksonville","9":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","10":"tag-jacksonville-news","11":"tag-orange-park"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}