(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 thus far.)
Today’s chapter of this tragic story about Colby Brown and his family originally was scheduled to be the final one, but the coronavirus pandemic interrupted it just as it halted so many other events and plans.
There were supposed to be answers by now about why the young man passed away after falling more than 100 feet onto Interstate 64 in Huntington, W.Va., on this day and reportedly at about the time this chapter published this evening.
Colby had gone to the gym to improve his body, and he attended his first two classes to improve his mind on his first day as a sophomore at Marshall University. He walked his cherished dog, Penny, and then joined friends to play video games. Suddenly, according to those gathered, Colby abruptly walked away from his game, went to a downstairs restroom, and left without saying goodbye.
And anyone who knew the young man knew that was very unlike Colby Brown.
What follows was composed by his mother, Gwen Wood, on this first anniversary of the 19-year-old’s passing.
Today marks one year without my baby boy, and we still don’t know what happened. Every day is a living Hell for my entire family and some of Colbys close friends because it’s all we can think about, wondering what really happened.
Was he having a medical emergency? He had texted a few friends that weekend telling them he how bad his stomach hurt.
There were all the concussions he has had from sports. Was he given something that didn’t show up on either toxicology or hair test? Was it a reaction from the protein drinks? Was it a hazing gone bad?
Was there an altercation as soon as he walked in the door at his friend’s house? Why did Jon Crow Facetime him at 3:45 a.m. and then someone else one minute later? Why did they fail to ever mention those phone calls took place?
Why on his health app did his phone not move for two hours, and then he had two missed calls from Jon at 6:49 p.m. and at 6:51 p.m.? Why did his locations on his cell phone end, and why was his phone powered off at 6:51 pm.? Why didn’t he take as many steps to get back to his car as he did when he got there?
Did he get hit in the back of the head soon as he got there or pass out in the bathroom and hit his head? Why was Jon sending him drunk texts after the incident saying, “I love you man .. please wake up” two different times? Why did two different people tell me they thought they saw a white car on the overpass that night and then again the next day around 11:30 a.m. under the overpass someone walking around like he was looking for something alongside the interstate?
Why has only one boy out of the six talked, and why would they let him leave when he told them something was wrong? Why wasn’t the autopsy done like I requested four or five times on Aug. 27? No prints taken, nothing?
Why was it posted on the Cabell County 911 site at 6:53 p.m. that part of the interstate was shut down for an incident and could be some time before it’s reopened (10 min prior to the fall)? State Police troopers told me it’s because everyone’s clocks are different, and they could have just posted it at a different time. I said that wouldn’t make sense because it was posted before it even happened.
After everything I would bring up that conflicted with something else that was stated, I was just told that’s not enough to put someone in prison for.
Why now are they saying his wallet was in his pocket and before they said it was his car? At the meeting, Trooper Whittington told me the car was facing away from Huntington, but when I looked at the pics of the car, it was facing back towards Huntington? Who was on Colby’s laptop that evening at 5:56 pm and at 9:02 p.m. when pictures started to sync?
Where was his dog, Penny, through all of this? How did Jon drive around for three hours when, according to other witnesses, he was at Colby’s apartment almost right after the incident and sat there for a couple hours?
And why did Colby send a photo to Avery (Darrow) at around 4;30-5 p.m., sitting in a dark room just his eyes up and could just see the outline of his face? Was that sent intentionally or by accident? Because that’s when he stopped responding to everyone.
Jon said they played PlayStation for hours, but yet it was only logged into from 5:45-7 p.m.? Colby was with six boys in a fraternity, so why didn’t they get Colby help or make sure he was ok?
One witness told me Colby didn’t fall straight down, but instead it was like he was flowing. They were supposed to let me see the photos, and I even called someone to see if they were allowed after I kept insisting that I wanted to. Then Trooper Whittington kept whispering to one of the other officers and didn’t show me all the photos. He only printed six out in black and white. I couldn’t tell if there was any blood, and it looked like he landed feet first more on his left side.
His left wrist was fractured clear back, and the skin on his elbow looked like it was ripped. What are they covering up?
I believe there are people who know what happened, and I just wish someone would come forward and tell the truth. In my opinion, if a proper investigation had been conducted and an autopsy performed, we would have answers. Instead, we spend every day crying and not being able to stop thinking about him.
I have only heard my dad cry one time in my life when my grandmother passed (my dad raised me and my brother; our mother left when I was 3). Now it’s all he does. Every time I talk to him, he just starts crying and talking about Colby. That’s a side of my dad I had never seen this year of mourning.
My grandson, Malcolm, loved Colby, but now he’s not having that kind of fun like he did before all of this happened. No one in my family can get past Colby being gone; Penny is depressed and wondering where her best friend is and why he hasn’t come back home for her. Her whole demeanor has changed, and it’s sad.
We don’t want to go out in public because we don’t want to see people we know or have to talk to them, and we just get one of those really sad looks, and they avoid us. And I can’t sleep.
We haven’t even purchased a headstone yet. We went once, but it’s hard to process. I know have boxes and totes with his whole life in them. It’s sickening the way it was handled and excused as a suicide. I feel like way too many shortcuts were taken, and if they just ruled it suicide, they wouldn’t have to do as much paperwork or investigating. That’s how I feel anyway.
There were three cameras that I know of … why wasn’t a copy of each one made? How can WSAZ have a live weathercam on the overpass and be on scene in less than 30 minutes for coverage of the tragedy, but no one thought to check the weathercam to see if he jumped, or if there were other people on the overpass with him?
I miss my son. Any parent who has been forced to bury a child knows how I feel. What my family and I have lived through over the past year is something I wouldn’t wish on an enemy or anyone. We just want to know what happened.
Please. Step forward. Let us live again.
