Community Without Answers After Teen's Death

The Woodson High School community is still waiting, quietly mourning three days after senior Bryan Glenn's body was discovered Monday by volunteers in the woods near Thaiss Park.

Find Bryan flyers are still posted all over the city, but a closer look reveals a different, painful atmosphere than the one surrounding last week's frantic search for the missing football player and Monday's shocking discovery. The desperate pleas for information on Bryan's whereabouts have transformed into messages of support on family Facebook walls. 

Officers announced the official identification of Bryan's body Wednesday, confirming what most, including friends and family, already knew. Police are now waiting for the medical examiner's report, which should answer lingering questions residents have repeated throughout the week: How did Bryan die? And maybe, why?

"Bryan Glenn was the sort of kid in Heidelberg that no one disliked," said Andrew Guelle, a classmate and best friend to Bryan Glenn while the family lived in Germany. "Bryan always brought so much kindness and thoughtfulness into everything he did. I hung out with Bryan nearly every day. He was one of the greatest people I ever met."

The Glenn family lived in Heidelberg for a few years, where Bryan attended Heidelberg High School in the Mark Twain Village portion of the U.S. Army Garrison. Guelle met Bryan in eighth grade at a soccer practice; they stuck together until the Glenn family moved back to Fairfax in 2012.

"Going through high school with Bryan was amazing. He became a part of my family and me a part of his," Guelle said. "The best times were just hanging out at his house or just playing soccer."

Guelle and about 100 Heidelberg students held a vigil for Bryan on Wednesday morning. The students and teachers lit candles and bowed their heads as they remembered their classmate.

"Although we were not close, the way his passing moved some of my close friends here breaks my heart," Heidelberg student Hannah Mayfield said. "Bryan was laid back and always content. His passing brought Heidelberg closer as a school. This morning, I really felt like we were a family."

Back home, Woodson counselors and a Fairfax County Public Schools Crisis Response Team have been on hand to help grieving students.

Residents looking for ways to help the Glenn family through this tragedy can give donations to help fund funeral arrangements and private investigator costs. You can do so through PayPal here.

And it couldn't hurt to leave a message on the Find Bryan Facebook group.

Patch will have more information on this story as the medical report is released.

See also:

Woodson Senior Missing Since Monday
Thaiss Park Closed While Police Search for Bryan Glenn
Friends of Missing Teen Say 'Bryan Did Not Just Walk Away'
Family Fights to Bring Missing Son Home

UPDATE: Bryan Glenn Found Dead in Thaiss Park