WASHINGTON — University of Mary Washington student Grace Rebecca Mann was in the student Senate and a well-known face on campus. NBC 4 reports that her friends say she was trying to make the campus a safer place for students. But now the 20-year-old student’s roommate is in jail accused of killing the college junior in her bedroom. Grace’s classmates are shocked.
Police located a man they suspect had a role in the death of his University of Mary Washington housemate in Fredericksburg, Virginia on Friday.
After searching for about two hours, a deputy with the Fredericksburg Sheriff’s Office located Steven Vander Briel, the 30-year-old University of Mary Washington student identified as a suspect in the death of Mann.
Mann was found unconscious in their home in the 1900 block of Washington Avenue at about 3 p.m. One of Mann’s other roommates performed CPR. Emergency crews transported Mann to an area hospital, where she died a short time later. Mann shared the house with two other women and Vander Briel, The Free Lance-Star reports.
Briel was at the home when the roommates first discovered Mann in distress, but he fled from the scene before police arrival.
Police identified Briel as a suspect “due to the suspicious circumstances surrounding Mann’ s death,” wrote the Fredericksburg Sheriff’s Office in a news release.
Vander Briel was taken into custody following a two-hour manhunt that included dogs and about 20 city police officers, along with deputies from the city and Spotsylvania.
Two Fredericksburg deputies saw Briel coming out of woods near Riverside First Church of God on Fall Hill Avenue about 5:30 p.m. He is being questioned and charges are pending.
Nearby James Monroe High School was locked down during the manhunt for Briel, reports NBC Washington.
Mann is the daughter of Thomas Mann, a juvenile and domestic relations court judge in Fairfax County, and Melissa Mann.
She was active on campus — UMW President Rick Hurley recently appointed her to a sexual assault task force, according to The Free Lance-Star. It is unclear how long Vander Briel and the young women had lived together. He attended UMW from 2002 to 2007 and re-enrolled for the spring 2015 semester. He is majoring in political science.
NBC 4 reports:
