TERRE HAUTE — Scott Javins would have been turning 26 about a month from now.

The Terre Haute North Vigo High School graduate might have been planning a quiet birthday dinner with his parents, maybe a night out with friends. Maybe he would have someone special in his life, even a family of his own; perhaps he would have been secure in a job somewhere, putting to use the safety risk management degree he had been seeking at Indiana State University at the time he went missing in 2002.

Instead, his family will be planning the best way to memorialize their son, nephew and cousin, after learning Saturday that his remains were found in his car, recovered from the Wabash River on Friday afternoon.

Scott, missing since May 24, 2002, was last seen leaving a friend’s house near 22nd Street and First Avenue around 2:30 a.m. Besides a phone call from his mother that night, in which Javins told her he was on his way home, the then-20-year-old college student never was heard from again.

A tip Friday led police to search an area of the Wabash River just south of Fairbanks Park. The vehicle they found submerged downstream from the boat ramp carried the same vehicle identification number as the one on Scott’s car title.

During a search of the car’s muddy interior Saturday, forensic anthropologist Dr. Stephen Nawrocki discovered a skull and mandible that matched Scott’s dental records.

In an interview at their home Sunday afternoon, Merv and Doreena Javins talked about their son, about the discovery of his car Friday, and about the sense of ease that has come with knowing — finally — where he is.

“We were hoping it wouldn’t come out this way,” Merv said. “We wanted to see Scott come through that door someday and say, ‘Hey, Mom, Dad, I’m home,’ but I think we kinda knew as time went by that wasn’t going to happen.”

“But we held on to hope,” he added.

Scott’s face has become a familiar one in the community of Terre Haute, where fliers, banners and billboards have gone up — and stayed up — for more than five years. His parents, driven by their love and fear for their son, have kept Scott’s picture in the media, followed numerous false tips and maintained an annual vigil on the south side of City Hall where they had a Ribbon of Hope memorial erected as a symbol for missing persons and their families. That vigil, the couple says, will continue.

Doreena and Merv, both of whom work full time, have dedicated much of their free time to efforts at improving law enforcement’s handling of missing adult cases.

Both of them volunteer time to IN HOPE, a statewide volunteer organization committed to providing resources to families searching for missing adults, and Merv serves as vice chairman of the executive board.

When asked whether they intend to continue their work with IN HOPE now that their son’s fate is known, Merv answered, “Absolutely.”

“I would love to see the local media, news stations, newspapers devote a section to missing persons, a small column, run a picture with phone numbers and a little bit of information about these cases …,” he said.

Doreena chimed in, “Keeping it in the news, keeping the story alive and fresh and keeping people talking … I think that played a big role in solving this.”

She said she would offer that same advice to families who still have someone missing.

“Keep it out there, keep their name out in the news,” she said. “You have to.”

Now, as the family begins to mourn, knowing for certain that Scott no longer is alive, pictures of a fondly remembered son start to emerge.

Described as a “typical” young man, Scott loved cars, fishing, music and, above all, basketball.

He started playing organized basketball at 4 years of age, his dad said with a proud smile.

“I took him down [to the Boys Club] one day and they said, ‘well, he’s really too young,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, but he really wants to play,” Merv recalled.

The Boys Club gave him a chance and found that “he just excelled at it.”

Scott continued to play organized basketball up through his freshman year at Terre Haute North.

“I tell you what,” the young man’s father said, “there wasn’t a better three-point shooter in this area; I can remember when he played his freshman year against Terre Haute South, he hit I think eight three-pointers in the first quarter, he got 27 points or something in the first quarter!”

He “lived and breathed basketball,” his mother said with a laugh. “When Michael Jordan retired, [Scott] dedicated a wall in his room.”

The young man also enjoyed fishing with friends and with his father.

“He went fishing with me all over the place,” Merv remembered. “In Missouri, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois … and here, him and his buddy would take their bikes and go to the creeks here. Sometimes I’d come home and find a bucket full of fish and Scott saying, ‘Dad can you clean these?’” he said, chuckling.

As they reminisced, the parents were surrounded by family members and friends, some in from out of state. Laughter would bubble up with a memory, only to disappear again.

“We never had any problems with him,” Doreena said. “He had a good job, good grades, he abided by the rules we had at home, we consider ourselves lucky to have him still living at home at 20 years old.”

She added, “He was quiet, even around family he was quiet, but he just had this smile — everybody just knew that smile!

“And he loved to tease me,” his mother said with a laugh. “He was just fun to be with. He was funny.”

Merv, chiming in, said, “He was pretty easygoing, Scott’s pretty easygoing, he cares about people, he never did have a bad thing to say about anybody, he’d never say anything negative, but he was just — he was Scott, that’s all I can say.”

With the discovery of Scott’s vehicle and remains, investigators now must begin sifting through the evidence for clues as to what happened. The Vigo County Sheriff’s Department will be the lead investigating agency.

The parents say they don’t want to jump to conclusions, but guess their son may have been the victim of a carjacking or robbery. Most of the information they are receiving is coming through the Vigo County Prosecutor’s office, they said.

“We could have half a dozen theories for what happened that night,” Merv said. “We’re going to let investigators sort through it all … there could be a long way to go to finding an answer.”

Scott’s father said he was “kind of shocked” to learn “the vehicle was where it was at — right under everybody’s nose.”

One frustrating aspect of Friday’s discovery of the car, according to Merv, was the way Sheriff Jon Marvel handled releasing the information.

“We was told [prior to a news conference Friday evening] everything that was going to be released [to the media],” he added.

What they were told did not match what members of the media were told, Merv said, including the fact that the car was indeed Scott’s.

Just before the 6 p.m. TV news Friday, the family learned via a voicemail message on Merv Javins’ cell phone from Prosecutor Terry Modesitt that the VIN number on the recovered car matched the number on Scott’s car title.

According to the message, received at 5:50 p.m. Friday, the information had been given to Sheriff Marvel just before the news conference at 5:30 p.m.

“Had we not gotten the call [at 5:50 p.m.] we would’ve watched it on the 6 o’clock news,” Merv Javins said.

While he says he does not want to belabor the fact, the grieving dad said, “I want to make sure this never happens to another family like this.”

Messages left by the Tribune-Star at the home of Sheriff Marvel and on his cell phone were not returned Sunday night.

For now, the Javinses will begin shifting their focus – from finding Scott to finding justice.

For Doreena, that means finding “whoever did what they did and putting them away. They’re going to pay,” she said. “They don’t know what they took away from us.”

Nothing has been determined as far as a memorial service or a resting place for Scott, his parents said.

“We’re probably going to discuss a lot of that this week,” his mother said. “That’s something we want to do, just him and I together,” she said, indicating her husband as they held hands on their couch, surrounded by pictures of their son.

“We know now that we’re going to have a place for family, friends, and us to go and pay our respects…,” Merv added.

The couple says they have been sustained through support they received from friends, family and the whole community.

Also, Doreena added, “Faith in God, a lot of prayers — we know we’ve had a lot.”

When asked what the community could do for them now, she answered, “Just pray; we’ve still got a long road ahead.”

For a moment, the smiles and memories subsided.

Merv, becoming emotional, said, “It kinda hit me this morning, about 4:30, it really hit me.

“It was just like a voice came down and said, ‘Dad, I’m home,’ and he said, ‘You did a good job.’”

Deb McKee Kelly can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or deb.mckee@tribstar.com.