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
After dropping his brother off at school, Bryan would have ordinarily gone to school himself. In the morning, Rt. 50 and Pickett Rd. in Fairfax are both major commuter routes with lots of cars. This commuter traffic would be a magnet for a panhandler or transient asking drivers for money. What if Bryan saw this person, and decided that they looked hungry or in need? He may have gone to Dunkin Donuts to get them something to eat. Bryan didn't buy coffee or a soda because a stranger wouldnt accept a drink in an unsealed container, but Bryan might have felt better about offering a needy looking person a sealed bottle of water. After leaving Dunkin Donuts, Bryan drives back to where this person is panhandling and offers them the donuts and bottle of water. Somehow, they both end up in Thaiss park. Bryan tries to talk to this person he just helped, maybe to offer them a ride or see if there is anything else he can do for them. He doesn't feel threatened, Bryan is seventeen, a young man in the prime of life and a football player. When Bryan's attention lapses, the person Bryan tried to help assaults him.
I know people here want to blame police, homeless people, etc. but the reality is Brian committed suicide.
Im with you-- I want answers too!!! not only for my curiousity as a mother but for his family and friends as well!
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Conspiracy theories and blaming the police wont bring Bryan back, but perhaps as parents we can be more attentive to see the signs of depression and despair in our own kids. Details of the autopsy won't be released, football players won't be wearing black armbands, etc because of the reality of what has happened. It doesn't help to pretend stuff like this can't happen in our neighborhood, but it has happened and will happen again unless we raise awareness in our community.
The blood hound (I believe it was singular as I was there that night) was not called until Wednesday night but Bryan was reported missing on Monday night and actually went missing on Monday morning. I want to to clarify this because the police in now way shape or form did anything in the first 24 hours besides tell the family there was a detective assigned to the case and then take them off a few hours later having then no actual officer actually looking for Bryan until the parents prompted them with a phone call and then someone new was assigned doing nothing. I this we agree on much of what is going on but I wanted you to know that nothing was done to help Bryan until the family gathered some people at Thaiss Field Wednesday night to look for him at which point the police felt some pressure I guess to step in pretend it might have been their job all along. The community got the police to act but what if the community was not called to action? Would Bryan still be out at Thaiss ...I think yes. Is what ever the cause of Bryan's death a crime in the state of Virginia...yep, it is as it was not natural causes. Does the police department need to make a statement about re-training their staff and the importance of ALL missing persons....I think so or people will start to form groups moving up the food chain that demand something called accountability. This might be new to our police dept but others have had to do the same and maybe it's time?
A memorial mass to celebrate the life of Grandson Bryan Glenn will be held at Holy Spirit Catholic Church off Braddock Road in Annandale, Virginia on Tuesday, October 16th at 10:30 am. The mass will be open to the public. I will be going later for the burial service at Arlington Nat'l Cemetery. Thank you to the many, many persons who continue to support our family and hold us in prayer!
2. The Fairfax County Police did a lousy job and should be investigated for their sloppiness in their search effort as well as carelessness in taking the Detective off the case, not keeping the Family informed, etc. 3. Do not blindly accept what the Police tell the media. Just because the police say there is no "foul" play, does not mean to not be alert to your surroundings and sense of safety/security even in a park setting.