Body of rugby league player Bryn Hargreaves discovered - more than a year after he went missing
The body of Bryn Hargreaves has been found more than a year after he went missing
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The body of missing rugby league star Bryn Hargreaves has been found more than a year after he was last seen in America, his family has confirmed.
Hargreaves, 36, was reported missing in January 2022 by his employer after he failed to arrive for work.
His disappearance sparked a major search by police and tracker dogs in West Virginia but repeated attempts to track him down drew a blank.
His older brother Gareth Hargreaves said that his brother had been "finally found" 14 months later in a statement on social media.
Bryn Hargreaves was last seen on January 3, 2022
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In a Facebook post, 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"
Hargreaves, who played in Super League for Wigan, St Helens and Bradford before moving to the States to work in the oil and gas industry 10 years ago, vanished from his apartment on January 3.
Police first went to his flat complex last year as water was leaking into a nearby apartment but on arrival they found his door unlocked and his shower still running, with all his belonging - including his phone and Apple laptop - present at the address.
His family set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds for a private detective to take on the role of tracking down Hargreaves.
At the time of his 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,” Gareth explained last June as they 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."
Bryn Hargreaves quit rugby at the age of 26 when the Bradford Bulls went bust and moved to the States
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Gareth added: “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.”
No cause of death has yet been confirmed.