A 15-year-old patient at a Leesburg healthcare center suffocated to death in November.
An employee has now been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the boy's death.
But there's a missing piece to the story: the boy's name.
Next to rolling pastures,and Vineyards, along highway 25, tucked in some woods is the long driveway for North Spring Behavioral Healthcare center for children.
It's an expansive and peaceful campus-like setting with old buildings. It's website says North Spring offers safe and secure Residential Treatment and Inpatient Acute Psychiatric programs designed to restore a sense of hope and stability to the lives of young people.
Its motto is "children and families are at the center of everything we do."
But on November 19th, a teenage boy lost his life here. And now an employee is in jail charged in his death.
That employee is 47-year-old William P. Herndon of Martinsburg, W.Va. He was a Mental Health Technician at the facility.
From the autopsy, the Medical Examiner concluded the boy died from positional asphyxiation. The Loudoun County Sherif's Office said it happened as Herndon was restraining the boy.
That tells us part of the story, but we still don't know who that boy was. All we know is that he was from Norfolk, Virginia.
A new state law that took effect in July prevents police and sheriffs departments from releasing the names of minors who die in crimes unless they get written permission from their next of kin.
Some news organizations say that law needs to be changed.
"I understand privacy concerns, but there's also the public good," said Betsy Edwards, executive director of the Virginia press Association.
"The child was killed if I sell it to you like the one you're referring to in Loudoun County, or dies suspiciously in a facility, I think that the public wants the full story," said Edwards.
Since we don't have a name we've not been able to track down anyone who knew this boy. No one to speak out on his behalf.
Two parents did say that they believe North Spring provides excellent care.
CEO David Winters said that they are fully cooperating with authorities. He declined an interview and kindly asked WUSA9 to leave the property.
Some parents remember seeing the ambulance that came for the boy in November. The employee charged in his death was taken into custody on Tuesday.
