At first he is plagued by his past failures which causes him depression, but in later sequels he seems to be living a happier life. Since The Boogie Man, he is married to Shirley Webber.
David met Paul Martin in middle-school, where they became the best of the friends. In college, he met Marion Martin and Shirley Webber, where he fell in love with Shirley and they started dating. Their relationship lasted three years and they were making plans about getting married. David also tried to apply to aviation school, and even passed all the exams, but he was kicked out of there after the teachers found out he was colorblind. Also out of the blue, Shirley starting having doubts about marrying David and broke up with him while masking the fault being her own.
His father abandoned his family when his mother had a brain tumor, which caused her to lose some memories to the point where she did not recognize her own son. David had once attempted to kill his own mother, as he was sick of her calling him a stranger. He then moves into an old apartment in order to start a new life but mysterious things start to happen soon after.
A depressed David moves to a new apartment next to his friends, Paul Martin and Marion Martin. However, there are strange things about his new home and rumors about the previous tenant, so he decides to investigate. David currently has a few problems; his mother has a brain tumor and does not recognize him, and his girlfriend, Shirley Webber, broke up with him because he was too nice. Even though he has good friends that care about him, he believes that they cannot understand his pain.
First, David goes to the abandoned Hotel Ruhenheim, where he meets a girl named Sissi. She is looking for a precious box her boyfriend gave her and while searching for it, they encounter many dangers over the course of the stage. David starts being chased by a strange monster with a terribly bent neck called the Crooked Man and no matter how much David attacks it, it always recovers. He is tortured by the Crooked Man with memories about his breakup with Shirley and realizes that he still loves her, but he is able to overcome it, realizing that he will always love her and does not wish to forget about her.
After being confronted once again by the monster only for it being burned by David, he finds a frightened Sissi blaming herself for what happened and wondering why she is bothering to find the box her ex-boyfriend gave her. If David tries to console her, the Bad End "What a Sissy." is obtained. Sissi decides to give up but she is later brutally killed off-screen by a recovered Crooked Man, who then kills David. If David tells her that there is nothing wrong about crying over her lost love, Sissi thanks him and gives him an address to an abandoned law school she found in the hotel. They both part ways.
Later, David goes to the abandoned Julius Stone Law School. There, he encounters a hot-blooded student called D, who is wandering around because he has fond memories of the school, since he studied there. D does not seem to like David and vice-versa, as David looks suspicious for wandering around in there. Meanwhile, David is tortured by memories about his failed dream to become a pilot. He wanted to become one and even passed all the exams, but he was kicked out of there after the teachers found out he was colorblind. D gets trapped in a room leaking gas by the Crooked Man and is rescued by David. He later gives David an energy drink. Eventually D warms up to David and confesses that his biggest dream was to become a lawyer, but he has never passed the bar exam. He's tried so hard for it, but has always failed. Fortunately, his teacher, Professor Andrew always helped him.
The problem is that David found the diary of said professor, in which he revealed that he actually hated D. After David once again defeats the Crooked Man, D approaches him and takes him to the Infirmary. After David is feeling better, he walks away, only to find the diary page of Professor Andrew, in which D finds out that he did not have high hopes for him at all and secretly mocked him behind his back. D becomes angered and depressed, saying that he should give up already on his dream to become a lawyer. If David tells him not to give up on his dreams, the Bad End "Never, never give up". is obtained. An angry D stabs David and is killed by the Crooked Man. If David tells him to give up already, he tells him to stop being so idealist, that D's failure reminds him of his failed dream to become a pilot. With this D calms down. He later thanks David, commenting that he wants to see him again someday, and gives him an address to an abandoned hospital.
David then goes to the Central Hospital. There he meets a little boy named Fluffy who is wandering around because his mother told him to wait and hasn't arrived yet. After finding him, he tags along with David. However, the Crooked Man kidnaps Fluffy and takes him to the hospital roof. Armed with nothing but a gun, David has to shoot at the Crooked Man enough times without shooting Fluffy. After he successfully saves Fluffy, the youngster realizes his mother is never coming for him and walks away. In the confusion, the Crooked Man takes over David and forces him to take the gun and commit suicide. Luckily, Paul and Marion were worried for David and followed him to the hospital. Depending on Paul’s choice, he can save David or obtain one of the possible Bad Endings in which either David shoots himself ("Good-bye!! My Friend.") or Paul and David fight over the gun, in which David accidentally shoots Paul and David commits suicide shortly after just the same ("Not your fault, David!"). If Paul saves David, the two talk about what has been going on, and they realize that Sissi, D, and Fluffy have just been leftover facets of the previous tenant he is looking for.
Finally, David goes to the abandoned house of the former tenant. When looking through the belongings, he finds out the tenant’s real name: Duke MacGahan. Then The Crooked Man cries and realizes that David is watching him and screams. After shooting him enough times, David tells him to disappear, since he won’t take the same path as him. With these words, the creature disappears. David later enters the attic of the house, where he finds Duke's hanged corpse. David realizes that all the situations Duke put him in were in order to help him move on with his life and he thanks him before leaving. In the 2nd Walkthrough, David actually encounters Duke's spirit, re-encountering the time he is about to hang himself. Duke thanks him for coming and tells him that at least David has friends who care about him.
In the Good Ending "Bye Bye Blackbird", David (back at home) tells Paul about his encounter with Duke's corpse. His friend complains that because David is too nice, those things always keep happening to him. David then receives a phone call from the doctor, as his mother is about to get operated on and he needs to sign the papers. After the difficult operation, David visits his mother and reconciles with her, but she unfortunately dies shortly after. However, David is without regrets, because his mother' final words to him were that she was happy in the end. After the funeral, Shirley visits David, much to Paul’s chagrin. Marion instantly drags Paul away. Shirley apologizes for breaking up with him and they get back together. David realizes that even though he lost his mother and he could not reach his dreams, he at least has Shirley back.
Shortly after, David visits Duke's grave and calmly says that they will see each other again in the afterlife. It should be noted that David now lives a happier life without regrets.
It has passed one year after the Crooked Man events. He is a close friend of Sophie Grundler's and her unintentional crush. When everyone falls asleep, he seems to be fine and helps Sophie to search for other awake people around town. However, she soon realizes that this is not the real David, because the real one is spending the night at Shirley's house and this is actually Lullaby in disguise.
When Sophie is in the Fairy World, she recalls how she met David. She was getting ice cream and walking down the street. To make up for her ice cream, he took her to a cafe and bought her a cake and talked to her. He told her that if she ever wanted to talk to him, she would meet with him at the same cafe. However, when she saw him walking with Shirley, who is now his fiancee, she felt hurt.
In the Happy End "Don't Stay Up Late at Night", after Sophie defeats the Sandman and returns to the human world, she decides to resolve her problems on her own. On the way, she runs into David and Shirley. He introduces Sophie to her fiancee and she tells them about her adventure with the Sandman. In the end, the three go to have dinner together.
Half a year after the Sandman events, David and Shirley (now married, which makes her Shirley Hoover) go vacationing at the Livingstone Castle. Paul and Marion were unable to accompany them, so they invited Sophie and her father Richard Grundler along in their place. On the way, they meet Keith Baring and his wife Helena Baring. That night, everyone is trapped inside the castle by a creature known as Boogie Man and it's up to Keith, who has to save all the tourists inside the castle.
Keith saves David and together they rescue Shirley, who's tied around a cross in a burning room that looks like a church. David is trapped after freeing her from the cross, so Keith has to rescue them from the burning room. After saving David and Shirley, they reunite with Lance, Sophie and Richard. They realize that Helena is still in danger. Shirley convices David to accompany Keith so they could rescue Helena while she protects the others, as she grabs an axe. Keith believes David should protect his wife, but the latter insists that Shirley can do well by herself.
It's revealed that after the events of The Crooked Man, the police treated David with suspiscion since they didn't believe about the supernatural forced that lead to David finding Duke's corpse (and he had some antecedents for strangling his ill mother before). The detective Eric Simpson was tasked with interrogating David, Paul and Marion. He sympathized with him, as he had a sick grandmother. In the end, David was free of all charges, since they had no prove about Duke's mysterious death.
If Sophie and David die, the Bad End "The Boogie's Fine Tonight". If Sophie dies but David survives, the Bad End "White Room" is obtained. The Boogie Man kills David. Also, Lance, Richard and Shirley are nowhere to be found. Dick implies that they were killed offscreen by the Boogie Man.
If Sophie survives but David dies, the Bad End "Precious Box" is obtained. Keith goes to report to Dick about David's death. On the way, he encounters the now widowed Shirley, who's trying to look strong and not crying for David.
If David and Sophie are saved, but Keith doesn’t make certain arrangements through the game, the Bad End “Happy Dream” is obtained. When in his confrontation with the Boogieman, Keith loses and he’s killed. David and Shirley take the now widowed Helena to their home. In an attempt to console her, Shirley tells her about her past as an abandoned baby. Suddenly, David accidentally crashes a glass sculpture while cleaning the house. Angry, Shirley fights with him, and they become so distracted that they don't see in time when Helena jumps out of the window to her death.
If Keith does all the requirements and manages to save David and Sophie, he obtains Happy End “Come Rain, Come Shine”. In the confrontation with the Boogie Man, Keith takes off the monster's mask and realizes it's Brendon. While Richard tends Keith's wounds, David holds Brendon and is caught by the police. Afterwards, Dick interrogates David and Shirley. They find out that Keith was hallucinating some things around the castle, such as the bloody walls. David realizes that maybe he was hallucinating because he was depressed for his son's death.
He does not do much by himself, but he is an important character in the story of The Hanged Man, as he's Will's "cousin" and the reason of why Will went to the town, as he wanted to apologize to him. It's revealed later in the game that he's actually Will's half-brother, and the reason of why his father abandoned him was because Will's mother was pregnant. It's also revealed that he wrote the "You're a demon child" letter that Will carries around, but it's stated that it was not meant for Will, but for his father.
