Dusty Donovan - Character History

Character History

Born Dustin Donovan, he was the son of Nicole Berryesa Donovan and her lover Gunnar St. Clair, but was legally raised by Burke Donovan as Nicole died giving birth to him. In 1983, a rebellious teen, Dusty arrived in Oakdale with his stepfather, horse trainer Burke Donovan. He quickly became involved with Lily Snyder, daughter of rich and wealthy Lucinda Walsh. Though Lucinda wasn't thrilled with this relationship, she preferred Dusty over the new stableboy, Holden Snyder, who also had a crush on Lily. Lily was stuck between both boys, but eventually lost her virginity to Dusty. Around the time Holden was trying to win over Lily, Dusty slept with Meg Snyder, who afterwards pretended to be pregnant by him to cut him loose from Lily. When Dusty found out Meg lied, he broke up with her, but didn't get back together with Lily. He befriended Paul Stenbeck, and a discovery about their family was made. Paul's father and Dusty's father were switched at birth, making Dusty's father and Dusty himself the rich heir of the Stenbecks. However, after some time, Dusty felt as if he didn't belong in Oakdale anymore. With Lily being with Holden and his father dead, Dusty decided it was time for him to leave Oakdale.

In 2003, Rose D'Angelo met a charming stranger who seemed to know Lily, Rose's twin sister. Though Rose tried to fight her feelings the handsome and wealthy man, being engaged to Paul who had changed his name to "Ryan", she found herself falling for the man. It was then that Oakdale found out the man was in fact Dusty Donovan, who made a fortune while he was away. Rose tried to stay committed to Paul, but Dusty kept hitting on her and eventually, the two had an affair. It turned out Barbara Ryan, Paul's mother, had paid Dusty to come between Paul and Rose. Paul did break off the engagement, but it was later back on track, when Rose broke everything off with Dusty.

Dusty took over the nightclub "Metro" and became business partners with Molly Conlan, with whom he soon started an affair. Though Molly fell in love with Dusty, he made it clear they only slept together and he had no intention dating her. Dusty got himself into trouble when he asked one of his employees, Aaron Snyder, to deliver a package for him. Aaron was caught by the cops and the package turned out to be drugs. Dusty was criticized by Aaron's father, Holden, by Lucy Montgomery, Aaron's girlfriend and by Molly, who didn't understand what he was thinking.

Shortly after this, Rose died after being poisoned by Will Munson. Lily and Dusty set up the "Rose D'Angelo Foundation". Around that same time, Dusty was threatened by some loan sharks, and Dusty turned out to be not so rich after all. He had to pay back some big money, so he stole from the Foundation. This made Lily turn her back on Dusty and she stopped the foundation.

Weeks later, Dusty found two guys in Metro attacking Lucy Montgomery. He saved her life, but Lucy's father Craig wasn't so grateful after Molly said those guys were probably the same ones who wanted the money from Dusty. When Dusty found out Lucy was leaving town, he went to her to ask if she could remember anything about those guys, but Lucy denied, saying she had no clear memory. Dusty let her go, but then he caught a glimpse of her limo driver and realized it was the same guy who attacked her. He chased the limo and pulled Lucy out of the car. They hid in a wooden cabin until the attackers found them again. They managed to escape and this time, they found an abandoned place where they hid out for weeks. Although they were first antagonistic towards each other, as Lucy was a spoiled 18 year old, and Dusty a criminal 30 something, they grew closer, as both saved each others lives several times. After Lucy could go back to Oakdale safely, they started a relationship, against wishes from Lucy's family. A few months later, Dusty was approached by an old friend, Dominic Ramsey, who planned to set up a boxing match in Oakdale's Gym. Dusty found the perfect candidate in Aaron Snyder, but what Dusty, Lucy and Aaron didn't know was Dom's boxer, Rafael, was ordered to fight with loaded gloves. When Rafi gave Aaron the final punch, Aaron slipped into a coma and was paralyzed. After finding out the secret, Dusty went after Dom, who said to leave him alone or he would come after Lucy. Then, Lucy and Rafael were taken by Dominic and they disappeared from the face of the earth. After weeks, Dusty finally found out where they were: an abandoned mineshaft in the mountains. Dusty found them and brought them home safely. Lucy was unsure what to do with her future next, after she slept with Rafael in the mine. Dusty, in the meantime, realized he wanted to be with Lucy no matter what and bought an engagement ring. When he was about to propose, Lucy told him she was going back to Montega, and going to college. Though it broke Dusty's heart, he understood and he let her leave Oakdale.

Months later, he found Meg Snyder back in Oakdale, who had returned after years of absence. Dusty renewed his relationship with her, but in the meantime befriended Jennifer Munson, Paul Ryan's sister. Jennifer, who was his business partner, was pregnant with Mike Kasnoff, but later revealed to Dusty the unborn child was actually Craig Montgomery's, after a one-night stand. Dusty, knowing what Craig was capable of, promised to protect Jennifer when he had to. Mike and Jennifer divorced after Mike discovered Jen had been working with Dusty to take out Craig, and didn't tell him about it. Dusty soon found himself falling in love with Jennifer, but being in a relationship with Meg, he decided not to do anything. However, things changed when Dusty found out Meg lied to him about Johnny, Jenn's supposedly deceased baby. Johnny was in fact still alive, but was switched at birth by Craig. Dusty was furious with Meg and didn't understand how she could keep a mother away from her baby. He broke up with Meg and moved on with Jennifer.

Jen was still distracted over the death of her brother Paul, but when Dusty discovered Paul still alive, he became outraged, and attacked him. However, Dusty was suddenly hit from behind and woke up hours later in an abandoned cabin. He was visited by Emily Stewart, who had taken him hostage. She didn't want Dusty to kill Paul, who was her ex-fiancé. After weeks of trying to convince Emily to let him go, Dusty was found by Jennifer, who tracked down Emily's whereabouts. Jen and Dusty reunited. Jennifer and Dusty became engaged only weeks later, and Dusty adopted Johnny. Sadly, Johnny was admitted to the hospital and was diagnosed with a rare type of blood cancer. Dusty was surprised when he found out the new doctor treating Johnny, was in fact Lucy, who had returned a year after her departure. She made it clear right away she didn't want anything from him and wished him luck with Jen and Johnny.

Thanks to Emily, who was pregnant with Paul's child, they could cure Johnny with Emily's unborn baby. Another disaster hit them when Jen felt ill and was rushed to the hospital. Being alone without her son for so long, Jen was determined to leave the hospital, against Lucy's orders. Dusty found Jen unconscious on the floor of their apartment and rushed her back to the hospital. There, the doctors told him Jen's heart was infected and she couldn't be saved. Jen wished to be married, and on her deadbed, she married Dusty. As Dusty held her in his arms, she died, leaving him widowed behind. For weeks, Dusty blamed Lucy for Jen's death, because she was Jen's doctor. However, he couldn't help himself but worrying about Lucy when she got involved with Damian Grimaldi, a dangerous man. Dusty followed her and he was able to save her in time from everything. After this, he realized she wasn't to blame and he forgave her.

Dusty and Lucy started to hang out more and became friends again, going on dates occasionally. They were often pressured by Lucinda, Lucy's grandmother, who wanted the two back together again, but pushed away by Barbara Ryan, who felt Dusty should grieve some more. When an ice storm hit Oakdale, Johnny got seriously ill and Lucy took him to the hospital. After realizing Lucy almost died in the storm, trying to save Johnny's life, Dusty completely trusted her. When Craig returned from jail, Lucy stood by Dusty's side after Craig fought custody over Johnny Montgomery. However, in court, Lucy suddenly decided not to testify against Craig, leaving him a free man. Dusty didn't understand why she did it, and was outraged when days later, he found no Johnny in his house and realized Lucy had taken off with her little brother. Despite all efforts, Lucy could not be tracked down.

Dusty bonded with Emily Stewart, who begged him to help her finding her sister Alison, who, apparently, was addicted to Crystal Meth and had become a porn star. They tracked Ali down and brought her back to Oakdale. After spending so much time together, Dusty and Emily started somewhat of a relationship. This could not prevent Dusty from sleeping with Alison once, which, unfortunately, was taped on camera. After Emily saw this tape, she left Oakdale. Dusty still befriended Ali anyway, but he felt lost in Oakdale, without Jen, Johnny or Emily. When Emily returned, she had begun a relationship with Chris Hughes, who returned with her. Despite his efforts to make Emily forgive him, Emily couldn't and demanded he leave her alone. Dusty got involved with old love Lily, who had recently separated her husband Holden. Dusty and Lily slept together, but Dusty couldn't get his mind off Emily. Dusty therefore focused his attention on bringing Chris down, and he found an interesting way of doing so when Chris' father Bob collapsed. Dusty found out a young biotechnologist named Evan Walsh IV could have had something to do with this. And Evan was working for Chris, so Dusty collected all the evidence he could. He confronted Emily with it, but she wouldn't believe it. However, things did start to heat up between them and they slept together on New Year's Eve.

When Dusty finally had all the evidence against Evan and Chris, Dusty was already so hated by Oakdale he decided to skip town. However, he was found dead on January 18, 2008. Emily, Chris, Holden and Lily were among the suspects, each having a motive to kill Dusty. He had been injected with a lethal dose of potassium chloride, a heart-stopping cardiotoxin. All of them were cleared of the charges, and then Lily and Lucinda were suddenly held hostage by Evan. He turned out to be Dusty's killer. Evan didn't get further than the roof of the hospital, after he was injected with the same drug used on Dusty.

Barbara organized a funeral for Dusty, but being hated by the whole town, few showed.

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