The family of a former rugby star has confirmed that his body has been found 14 months after he went missing.
Bryn Hargreaves disappeared in January 2022 after he failed to arrive at work, causing the start of a major police search in the American state of West Virginia. The Wigan-born man vanished from his home in Whisper Creek with police noting that his apartment was unlocked after a downstairs neighbour reported leaking water coming from above.
After it seemed that police were unable to track Bryn down, the family employed a local investigator. After more than a full year of ongoing searches, brother Gareth confirmed the tragic news on Sunday, Lancs Live reports.
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Writing on Facebook, he said: "RIP Bryn Hargreaves. With incredible sadness I can confirm after 14 months we have finally found Bryn.
"We still do not know the cause of death or what actually happened on 3/1/22. Thanks to all those that have helped in the search.
"We would appreciate a little space and will keep you updated when we have any further information x"
Bryn's mother, Maria Andrews, also wrote about the heartbreaking news. "Not something I wanted to be sharing," she wrote. "I'm in bits #heartbroken my beautiful son Bryn i can't think of any words to describe the pain xx"
Bryn was born in Wigan and achieved his dream of playing in the Super League for the Warriors. During his successful career, he also played for St Helens, where he managed to win the 2008 Challenge Cup, before moving to the United States 10 years ago in order to work in the oil and gas industry.
At the time of Hargreaves' disappearance, his family believed that he may have been abducted. "Bryn had mental health issues and was in severe pain with his back from a car accident in December (2021)," Gareth explained last June as they desperately continued the search.
"He'd also been away from his family at Christmas. The most likely scenarios were that he decided to harm himself or had decided to disappear for a bit and come back.
"But five months on, those two possibilities look less likely because you've got to think a body would turn up. We had his bank account investigated by the police which showed there's no withdrawals and his wallet and his ID and passport are all still in his apartment so he had no means of access to his cash and no ID to travel.
"So you start to think of the other possibility, that he didn't plan to go missing and that someone has had some input, through abduction or something along those lines. You start to think of all the weird things at the time which start to add up. When the police went around to his apartment, the door was closed but unlocked and the shower was still on.
"And on the night of his disappearance he had ordered a couple of bottles of gin from a mail order firm to be delivered in the next day or two."
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