Tragic Outcome Reported In Search For Missing Tampa Man

TAMPA, FL — A body found Wednesday around 6:30 p.m. in the 900 block of South 20th Street has been positively identified as that of a missing 24-year-old Tampa man whose family has been desperately searching for him for more than a month.

This afternoon, Tampa Police Chief Mary O'Connor said they received the news the family had been dreading. It was the body of John Larson, who went missing from the Ybor City area April 27.

The body was found inside an enclosed area of a commercial business parking lot where a dumpster was located. They were able to identify him by a tattoo of a cross.

Police said there were no signs to suggest foul play. Police are awaiting a full toxicology report from the Hillsborough County medical examiner.

"This is not the outcome we hoped for as we searched for John," said O'Connor. "Our thoughts are with his family during this time of grieving, and I have made our police chaplains available for any assistance they may need."

Larson's family had appealed to the media and hired a private investigator to search for the new young father of a baby girl. Additionally, the family offered a $5,000 reward on top of the $5,000 reward offered by Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay for information leading to Larson's whereabouts.

Larson was headed to Ybor City in his truck the night he disappeared, according to police. He was on his way to meet his friends at a bar and never showed up.

He texted his friends just before midnight to tell them he had parked, but he never showed up at the bar, police said.

Surveillance video captured Larson’s blue pickup truck turning left onto North 15th Street from East Palm Avenue around 11:30 that night.

Police later found his truck abandoned near East 11th Avenue.

Police conducted a number of searches using K9s but were unable to find any clues to what happened to Larson.

The first new development in the case occurred last weekend when police said Larson's Florida driver's license was found stuck in a fence at DeSoto Park in Pinellas County, the same location where his cell phone last pinged.

Police also recovered a shirt resembling the one Larson was wearing the night he disappeared from a dock at the park.

Larson's sister, Joann Caffrey, said the family is devastated.

"John's a great guy. He's a young dad, but he really embraced it," she said. "He was always happy with her, teaching her different things."