ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, May 20, 1996 TAG: 9605200157
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JON CAWLEY STAFF WRITER
BRAD WAGNER is home with his family after a three-year masquerade at Virginia Tech. He was driving around ``to clear his head out,'' his father said.
The mystery of the pretend student who disappeared from Blacksburg a week ago came one step closer to being solved Saturday night when Brad "Mugsy" Wagner walked into the Williamson, W.Va., police station.
He arrived at the station about midnight, still driving the car he rented eight days ago. He and police officers decided during an interview that he would telephone his parents, state Trooper David Nelson said.
The facts surrounding Wagner's disappearance are still vague, Nelson said.
"The boy showed no signs of abuse, was fully alert, coherent and aware of his surroundings," Nelson continued. "At this time I don't foresee any charges being filed in my jurisdiction."
Wagner wanted authorities to know that he was all right and had left Blacksburg voluntarily, said Lt. B.E. Bradbery of the Blacksburg Police Department.
Wagner's mother told Blacksburg police he seemed to be OK when they spoke on the phone Saturday night and when his father met him Sunday in West Virginia.
"Brad is just fine and back in Bristol," said his father, John R. Wagner, from their home Sunday. "He said he had to clear his head out and think things through, so he drove around for a while."
Authorities and Wagner's family had been searching for him since May 11. He had told family and friends he would graduate that day from Virginia Tech with a chemical engineering degree. A friend drove him to Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Blacksburg that morning, and then Wagner disappeared for the week.
He didn't relay why he waited a week or whether he had heard any news reports about his disappearance, Nelson said.
"Brad said there was no particular reason he stopped in Williamson," his father said. "He had been to two or three other places before he stopped."
Many questions are still to be answered, such as why he left school and pretended to be enrolled for three years, receiving money for tuition and living expenses from his parents.
"We haven't discussed a whole lot just yet. All the answers will come later, I guess," John Wagner said.
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