Boy found dead in 1972 is finally identified. Police believe 2 people were involved.
The body of a 4-year-old boy has been identified more than five decades after he went missing in Northern Virginia in 1972.
The missing child was revealed as Carl Matthew Bryant, the Fairfax County Police Department said during a news conference on Monday, Aug. 4. While questions still remain about the case, including the mystery surrounding what happened to Bryant's younger brother, authorities added they believe the boy's mother and her then-boyfriend were involved in the 4-year-old's death.
Officials said Carl Bryant was found dead in 1972 in Massey Creek, under the Colchester Bridge in Lorton, about 16 miles south of Arlington.
Officials used DNA testing and forensic-grade genome sequencing through Astrea Forensics, a genealogy company, to make the discovery. Law enforcement agencies have seen success in recent years solving decades-old cold cases through DNA testing.
“It wasn’t too long ago in policing when the investigation of a cold case was doing neighborhood canvases and knocking on doors and reinterviewing family members…now we knock on the door of genetic genealogy,” said Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis, noting his department's accomplishment was tempered by the circumstances surrounding the case.
Body found by child riding bike home from school
The child's body was discovered on June 13, 1972, by a boy riding his bike home from school. The boy immediately rushed home and told his mother, who alerted authorities.
Police found the deceased child unclothed and with blunt force trauma injuries. His death was ruled a homicide.
No one had filed a missing persons report for the boy, preventing police from determining his identity.
The case went cold.
In 2003, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children released a computer-generated sketch to try to determine the child's identity. While the organization received a record number of tips, officials were still unable to find a match for the deceased boy.
Authorities tried again in 2004, when the FBI tested a sample of the boy's hair that had been saved from his autopsy. But again, the case went cold.
Police think parents were involved in boy's death, while younger brother disappearance remains a mystery
Officials with the Fairfax County Police Department got in touch with Astrea Forensics and determined the child's mother was Vera Bryant, a woman who died in 1980. Officials then managed to locate one of the child's living relatives in Philadelphia.
In police interviews, the relative confirmed Vera Bryant had two sons, Carl and 6-month-old James. The three had planned to travel from Philadelphia to Virginia in 1972.
Detective's exhumed the woman's body and her DNA was sent to Astrea Forensics. The company confirmed she was the boy's mother.
Authorities believe Vera Bryant and her boyfriend, James Hedgepeth, were involved in Carl's death in June 1972. Authorities presume Carl's then-infant brother was also killed around the same time.
A missing persons report was never filed for either of her sons.
Hedgepeth, who is deceased, had previously been convicted of murder and had a violent criminal history. He was not the father of either of the boys.
Authorities suspect the boys' killings took place between Philadelphia and Middlesex County, Virginia.
Police are now asking for the public's help in determining what happened to the infant.
"We ask for the public's help in filling in the missing information," said Wright. "Perhaps somebody witnessed something along that route that day or maybe Vera or James confided in someone before they had died. Maybe another jurisdiction had recovered a 6-month-old baby's remains and didn't have any way to tie it to this case."
Anyone with information about the case is being asked to contact the Fairfax County Police Department at 703-246-7800.
Michelle Del Rey is a trending news reporter at Paste BN. Reach her at mdelrey@usatoday.com