WASHINGTON — The parents of a D.C. teenager are desperately seeking answers in his disappearance. Brian Ward, 17, vanished a few blocks from his home in Petworth on the afternoon of Sept. 29.
It's been two-and-a-half months, and neither police nor Brian's mother, father and seven siblings have heard from him since.
His father fears something terrible has happened.
"That he's somewhere dead, that's my worst fear," Jonathan Ward, a supermarket clerk at Giant, said of his missing teenager.
Ward snapped a picture of his middle son, beaming and smiling into the camera just days before he disappeared. It's the photo police are now using on his missing poster.
Jonathan Ward had just finished his morning shift the last time he talked to Brian.
"Me and Brian were FaceTiming each other," he said. "I was on my way home from work, laughing and giggling like we do practically every day."
His father said Brian told him he had finished his schoolwork, and asked if he could go hang out with friends. Friends say they last saw him climbing into a black four-door Acura a few blocks from his home a few hours later.
"I just want Brian to come home," his mother, Lavangela Ward, said. "We're all praying for you, Brian. All the churches, all the kids, and all your cousins. Everybody misses you, Brian. And we just need you to come home."
Detectives said Brian's record is clean and that he's never been in significant trouble.
"For him not to tell his brothers, they are like his partners in crime," Jonathan Ward said. "They tight. He's 17. Another is 18, another 19. He would have said something to them."
Police said they too have been searching for Brian nearly every day since Sept. 29, on the streets, as far north as Baltimore, and in cyberspace. But for now, there's no sign of Brian.
Investigators are unsure if his disappearance was voluntary or not. But they're pleading with Brian or anyone who has information on his disappearance to contact them. If you have information, contact youth services at 202-577-6788, or text information to 50411.
The Wards said you can contact the family directly at 202-875-9523 or 202-568-2701.