A body found in the Mississippi River in July was recently identified as Mark Bakotic II, the 21-year-old man reported missing after attending a Dec. 30 music show at a CBD club, the Orleans Parish Coroner's Office confirmed Thursday (Oct. 19).

"He was a person who always lifted people up, but he couldn't survive the streets of New Orleans," his father Mark Bakotic said Thursday afternoon.

The elder Bakotic spent seven months scouring the city for his son before learning that a body found in the river July 22 could be that of Mark Bakotic II.

His remains were found about 4:40 p.m. near the Riverwalk outlet mall, in the 800 block of Port of New Orleans Place, according to police, just a few blocks from the 800 block of South Peters Street, where he was last seen before being reported missing seven months prior.

Mark Bakotic Sr. said a worker with the Coroner's Office called him July 22 and a "tentative ID" was made based on personal property found on the body.

But it took more than two months longer, until Sept. 29, for Mark Bakotic Sr. to receive a confirmation based on DNA testing, he said.

"Please pray for my son," Bakotic Sr. wrote that day in a post to a Facebook page devoted to finding Mark Bakotic II. "I have no idea how he died, why he died, or when he died."

More than two weeks ago, The Times-Picayune began seeking confirmation from the Coroner's Office that the body found July 22 had been identified as Mark Bakotic II, but just received that confirmation Thursday.

Thursday afternoon, Mark Bakotic Sr. said he has not seen any autopsy results and still does not know the cause or circumstances of his son's death. In response to a query from The Times-Picayune, the Coroner's Office said Thursday that Mark Bakotic II's manner and cause of death have not been determined. The office did not release details on the missing man's death, such as how long his remains had been in the water.

A month after vanishing in the CBD, Mark Bakotic II remains missing Mark Bakotic II has been missing for more than a month, when he was seen outside of Republic, a night club in the CBD, police said.

According to NOPD spokeswoman Ambria Washington, as of Thursday afternoon, Mark Bakotic II's death remains classified as a 29-U, or "unclassified death."

"Unclassified death" investigations are launched by the NOPD when the circumstances of a person's death do "not immediately lend themselves to police or medical personnel being able to classify how the victim died," including whether foul play was involved, a department spokesman has said.

As questions surround his son's death, Bakotic Sr. said he believes the answers are likely grim.

"There's nothing to lead me to believe he had a peaceful ending," he said.

In addition, Bakotic Sr. said his son's body has not yet been released to family members.

Mark Bakotic II, whose 22nd birthday was in January, disappeared in the early hours of Dec. 31, according to his father, when he ran from friends and jumped into a taxi following an electronic dance music show at the Republic, a club in the 800 block of South Peters Street.

Though police initially reported that Bakotic II was last seen by friends at about 11 p.m. Dec. 30, Bakotic Sr. said actually, his son was last seen by friends outside Republic at about 3:30 a.m.

According to New Orleans police, several of Bakotic's friends said he had taken a narcotic called "2CE" -- a psychedelic drug. According to Bakotic's father, friends said the younger Bakotic seemed discombobulated, unaware of who or where he was. In this state, he took off running from his friends and, out of their sight, jumped into a cab, his father said. He got out a few blocks away and vanished into the night.

"He left his wallet in the cab and he ran off into mystery land," his mother, Marissa Bakotic, said in January.

In the months following, Mark Bakotic Sr. repeatedly made the two-hour trip from his home in Hurley, Miss., to New Orleans, where he said he searched a swath of downtown, following the patterns of the homeless, from sleeping spots to clothing centers, and seeking traces of his son from train-hoppers and street performers, bartenders and servers, free spirits with purple hair and piercings -- those Bakotic believes most likely to have noticed a disoriented young man with an outgoing persona and "unruly" curly hair.

The younger Bakotic stood about six-foot-four, a noticeable height, his father noted.

Bakotic Sr. said through late April, he continued receiving reports from people who said they had seen his son -- or at least, a man who looked like his son.

As spring turned to summer, the trail grew cold, Bakotic Sr. said.

Mark Bakotic II had only been living in New Orleans for about three months when he disappeared, his father said in an earlier interview with The Times-Picayune. The younger Bakotic was born in Omaha, Nebraska but had lived in Hurley, Mississippi, since age 7. He had moved to New Orleans to pursue his art as an EDM deejay, Bakotic Sr. said.

To supplement his deejay gigs, Mark Bakotic II had just started selling home products door to door.

Bakotic Sr. described his son as a "very social individual" who would talk to anyone and was quick to help others regardless of whether there would be any benefit to himself.

"He was a very 'up' person," Bakotic Sr. said. "He was a selfless person."

"His credo was always to lift people up," his father wrote in a Sept. 29 Facebook post announcing the death of Mark Bakotic II, "but no one was there to lift him up when he needed it."

Mark Bakotic II's remains were found July 22 in the 800 block of Port of New Orleans Place, according to police, just a few blocks from the 800 block of South Peters Street, where he had been reported missing seven months prior.

Staff Writer Emily Lane contributed to this report.