(Publisher’s Note: A new chapter to this series of stories will publish in the near future so we believe in order to get new readers to discover the series, the best thing to do is to re-publish it beginning today and continue during this coming week. One of the main reasons why Gwen Wood, her daughters, and her friends and family agreed to tell this story was to raise more questions in hopes additional information about this accident would flow their way … and that has taken place – but not enough – thus far.)
It was time.
Colby Brown’s gravesite was strategically selected to offer a view of his grandfather’s horse farm and so motorists traveling U.S. Route 250 could see the young man’s memorial. At the age of 19, Colby passed away in Huntington on August 26, 2019, after falling from an overpass and landing on Interstate 64.
Since her son’s death, his mother, Gwen Wood, has refused to believe the investigating state troopers’ conclusion that Colby took his own life by jumping from that bridge that is located about two miles from the house where Colby was last seen alive. According to his college friends, Colby had joined six others to play video games but left abruptly after saying he did not feel well.
Colby had gone to the gym, attended his first classes of his sophomore year, and made plans with a female friend before his cell phone was turned off. The first call for emergency personnel was minutes before 7 p.m.
The pandemic has limited Wood as far as interaction with law enforcement in Cabell County and with the young men who reportedly spent Colby’s final afternoon with him, but she has finally moved forward with the placement of her son’s memorial grave marker near the front entrance to Highland Cemetery along U.S. 250 just down the road from Cameron High School. She used the funds that were raised in a GoFundMe account that was started very soon after her son’s tragic passing.
“I knew it needed to be done, and it’s something I’ve thought about every single day,” Wood explained. “I believe I have made five trips to businesses that have the marble markers because I’ve been trying to decide, but it’s been difficult. None of what I had seen seemed good enough for Colby.
“I was trying to find the perfect one, but I knew it was at the point where I just needed to get it ordered,” she said. “Plus, I didn’t know if he would need to be exhumed to continue the investigation, and I still believe that needs to take place to really prove the cause of death. I think it should have been done when I asked several times, but at this point, I’m not sure they could find out anything now.”
Honor and Respect
Colby’s funeral service was held at Altmeyer Funeral Home in Moundsville on Sept. 1, 2019, and his obituary was published online and by local newspapers. A portion of it stated:
He was a 2018 graduate of Cameron high school, where he excelled in both academics and athletics. He was a standout in every sport he played and was an exceptional leader and role model. Colby has just begun his sophomore year at Marshall University studying Business and Economics. Colby will always be remembered for his big heart, his infectious smile, his incredible work ethic, his kindness, and his ability to see and bring out the best in those around him. His family and friends will forever cherish the time they had with “The Golden Boy.”
“That’s what a lot of people called him, so I knew people were driving by, and they wondered why a marker wasn’t there yet, and then I drove by on Christmas on the way to my dad’s and looked and that’s what helped me move forward. It’s not something anyone wants to do, but out of respect to my son, it was time.
“But when it is completed and it’s placed, you’ll be able to see him because there are a couple of images of him that will be on it and large enough to see from the road,” she said. “The photos that we picked are our favorites, and we know Colby really liked them, too, because they show what was best about him. He was a determined young man who wanted to be very successful.”
First Yes, Then No
Although the state of West Virginia was the last to report a positive case for Covid-19, more than 110,000 Mountain State residents have contracted the coronavirus, and 1,856 associated deaths have been recorded.
As of Jan. 22, 3,200 positive tests have been recorded in Ohio County, and the Marshall County Health Department has contact traced 2,624 cases. In Cabell County, the home county of Marshall University, 6,666 citizens have been infected.
“The pandemic has made it difficult for me because meeting in person hasn’t really been possible,” Wood explained. “So, everything has been phone calls, text messages, and emails, and I feel I may have been able to get more answers and information if I could have been there in person. That’s been very frustrating, but I understand why it’s had to be this way.
“But until I really know why he ended up on that interstate, I’m not going to stop,” she said. “Colby deserves that.”
The information offered to Wood since late March, though, has been inconsistent and conflicted with what she has been told before Covid-19.
“I have sent the requests and the money for the rest of the reports that include the statements from the boys who last saw him alive, but I have yet to finally receive that information,” Wood said. “Then I received an email telling me that because of privacy concerns, one of the troopers now thinks they are not going to let me have them.
“That’s something I just don’t understand. It should be public information, and I should be able to get my hands on those statements,” she insisted. “The troopers told me they interviewed all of those boys, so that’s why I want to hear their sides of the story. And I know haven’t heard from any one of them since Jon Crow was here for Colby’s funeral.”
109 Feet Top to Bottom
He had money in the bank, interest in a few females, a loving and tight-knit family, and he moved his dog, Penny, with him to Huntington. Gym, classes, friends, and then suicide? Again, in the words of Colby’s mother, “No way.”
So, how and why the 19-year-old Promise Scholarship student plummeted from the McCoy Road Bridge on that summer day is all this mother wishes to confirm because, yes, she remains absolutely confident her son had not lost his will to live life.
“I really don’t think Colby’s death was drug-related; I really don’t,” Wood said. “I think there was some kind of altercation with somebody, and I believe something accidentally happened, and people panicked. There was a red mark under his ear, and to me it looked like a thumbprint in the first stage of bruising.
“That’s why I think someone had their hands around his throat,” she said. “Someone knows something, and I do think it’s something connected to a fraternity. I still doubt he decided to pledge a fraternity, and maybe that’s why someone was messing with him as a joke. But their silence just makes me believe something else happened that they don’t want anyone to know.”
