J’can NBA prospect found dead month before draft
Published:Monday | May 20, 2024 | 12:07 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
The professional basketball dreams and aspirations of former national under-17 representative, 24-year-old Marco-Miche Downer, who had reportedly been eligible for the 2024 NBA draft next month, will not be realised after he was found dead in Portmore, St Catherine, on Saturday.
The Portmore Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) is probing the circumstances surrounding his death.
Downer, a former Jamaica College and Calabar basketball standout, who was also a United States college scholarship recipient, was last seen alive on Thursday.
A missing person report was filed on Saturday, and his body was found about 3:45 p.m. that same day.
A childhood friend reportedly stumbled upon a corpse in an unfinished building near the Forum Beach in Bayside, Portmore.
Downer’s friend, who was the first to see his body, told The Gleaner that it was sheer coincidence.
“I went to the beach with a female friend, and we went up to the building (where the body was found), and I started to smell something terrible. I looked around and saw a body, but because it was swollen, I didn’t notice it was him,” the friend said.
He told The Gleaner that he left and made an alarm because it dawned on him that his friend was missing.
A group of individuals reportedly returned to the location, and that is when their worst fears were realised as the body was confirmed to be Downer’s.
The Gleaner was told that a belt was also around his neck and his body lay flat on the floor of the unfinished structure.
Downer’s mother, Michelle Nunez, and father, Marvin Downer, were both at the scene of the tragic find.
Nunez told The Gleaner that her son was very quiet and very unassuming.
“He is always trying to help … . Always helping people,” she said.
He was not employed, but according to his mother, he was processing an application for work at the time of his death.
“I tried calling him Thursday and never get through to him, so I asked his father,” Nunez said, adding it was she who reported him missing to the Bridgeport police.
Taken by surprise
His father appeared torn, with an angry yet concerned look on his face.
He was too shaken to address the media and allowed Nunez to speak on behalf of the family.
They were both taken by surprise at the tragedy and were being comforted by friends and family, including one of the younger Downer’s grandparents.
Several persons were in disbelief, crying, and had to be consoled as they watched as crime scene detectives cordoned and combed the scene.
“Mi can’t believe a Marco that. Me feel a way fi know a somebody who mi grow with. Him nuh deserve this,” a friend said.
Downer resided at Armarda Court in Portmore, not far from where he was found.
Scores of neighbours and friends, on learning of the gruesome discovery, also began to converge at the scene.
Nunez told The Gleaner that her son was very tall, and most recently, played basketball for a team in Edgewater, Portmore, because of his undying love for the sport.
He was listed at six feet, nine inches tall and 235 lbs when he played for the Tampa Spartans at the University of Tampa in Florida.
According to online player profiles, he honed his craft with Riverside Hawks Basketball, where he attained a stat line of 30 points, 20 rebounds, and 10 blocks during a season, winning the tournament championship.
Downer played centre for the Tampa Spartan’s senior men’s basketball team in the 2018-2019 season and is the first Sunshine State Conference (SSC) player to be named defensive player of the year and freshman of the year in the same year.
He majored in international business and marketing.
After his freshman year, Downer transferred and went on to play for the Miami Dade College Sharks in 2021-2022.
He was eligible for the 2023 NBA draft but was not selected.
According to RealGM.com, he was eligible for the 2024 draft, scheduled to take place June 26-27.