David Michael Justus

With heavy hearts and profound sadness, we announce the passing of our beloved son, David Michael Justus, whose life was tragically cut short and was taken from us way too soon under the most unimaginable and heartbreaking circumstances on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, at the tender age of 20, after losing his battle at the Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Temple, TX, from numerous traumatic injuries sustained during a senseless and brutal assault on him at a Kingsland, TX, property.

We are striving to honor David and celebrate his life, choosing to focus on how wonderfully he lived instead of on how unfairly he died. However, while we want to remember all of the good about his life and cherish the best memories about him, we are also pleading with the local authorities and anyone who may be able to help in the investigation to bring justice for David.

Though his time with us was brief, his incredible passion for life and his unwavering charismatic spirit full of boundless curiosity and fun loving energy will forever remain in our hearts. David brought immeasurable joy and light into our lives with his infectious love of adventure and 110% all in approach to everything and everyone he encountered. He will leave an indelible mark on the hearts of all who were fortunate enough to know him.

His family and friends will continue to honor his legacy by living their lives to the fullest and making the most of each and every opportunity that he, himself, did not get the chance to encounter. We hope to embody the same way David would have lived his life fearlessly and enthusiastically if he had been given the chance to keep pursuing what had not yet even been introduced. We are all committed to exploring and discovering every possible path he would have certainly dared to follow to carry on his insatiable love of learning, and may we be so lucky to experience for him all that could have been possible if he was the one leading the way.

No one will ever be able to replace David and his larger than life personality, his brilliant mind, genius humor, incredibly bright smile, his unstoppable drive, his infectious attraction to fun, his tough and tender heart, his uniquely distinctive intuition, his creative perspectives that never ceased to amaze and entertain us, his one in a million ability to love fiercely those close to him, his unshakeable loyalty, his protective and brave instincts, the lengths of self sacrifice he would go to for those he cared for, and his immeasurable potential to become or to do anything he may have wanted if he only had more time to grow into the tremendous amount of talent that could not be contained from the time he entered our lives. He was meant to do amazing things and live an extraordinary life. David was the type of person that you just knew would achieve something incredible someday that no one else in the entire world could possibly ever imagine, and everyone who knew him felt so lucky to be around that kind of a presence that at any moment might sky rocket to limitless heights. Truly, it was a gift and a privilege to be his parents and to get to be a part of the magical magnitude he always carried with him.

David was born on July 2, 2004 in Brandon, Florida and spent some of his childhood in both South Carolina and California. However, he spent the majority of his life in Lakeway, TX, attending Lake Travis ISD schools from elementary school through high school. David graduated from Lake Travis High School in May of 2023. He recently completed his first year at Austin Community College in May of 2024. David loved sports and played basketball, football, soccer, and baseball through the Lake Travis Youth Association for several years. He was fascinated about space and enjoyed all types of games especially chess. He had a very special knack for winning almost any game we played. David enjoyed cooking and had a true love of watching movies. He loved his younger brother, Dawson, dearly, and spent a lot of his time entertaining and playing with him. Also, David loved adventures and we have many great memories of our vacations with him. He was very fond of beaches and the ocean. David loved spending time with his friends and often coordinated all types of activities for them all. His favorite thing of all, though, was spending time with his girlfriend, Saylor, who he absolutely treasured and cherished. We will forever be grateful for her love and support of him and thank her for bringing out a side in David we did not know. He would have done anything for her. He did do everything he could for her. David was a wonderful son, a caring and fun brother, a loyal friend, and a devoted boyfriend.

We want to thank all of his friends especially Gavin who tried so hard to help him the night of the attack, and we want to thank everyone for the enormous amount of support and love we have received from so many families. Thank you for everything you did for David and are doing for us.

As we say our final goodbyes to David, we do not just mourn the end of his life, we celebrate the beauty of his spirit, the echo of his laughter, the warmth of his love that lingers in our hearts. And in our sorrow, we find solace in knowing that his light shines on within us, illuminating our path, guiding us forward, urging us to take action, pleading us to find justice for him, and also reassuring us to be at peace and reminding us to not blame ourselves, but thanking us instead for never letting him be forgotten.

Rest in peace, dear David. Your journey on earth may have ended, but your spirit continues to live on, resonating in our hearts, mirrored in our actions, reflected in the love we share. And so, you are not truly gone. You are here, within us, around us, part of the very fabric of our lives. We love you, David. Your spirit will forever beat in our hearts.

We miss you and we carry you with us, today and always. Your soul echoes in our hearts, reminding us of the enduring power of love. We will never stop fighting for you, dear son, and we will always celebrate and honor you and the most amazing life you gave us the opportunity to be a part of has been the greatest gift of our lives.

Always and forever, your loving parents, Dave Justus and Daya Justus, and your adoring brother, Dawson Justus.