Candlelight Vigil for Brittany Offers Comfort But Few Answers

Somewhere between the boat launch at Worth Terrace Center and a stop sign, Brittany Wawrzyniak’s life came to an end last Friday at age 18.

As hundreds gathered Monday evening in the parking lot for a candlelight vigil to remember the sweet, caring art student, family and friends could not accept the explanation that her death was a tragic accident.

Throughout the weekend, as police investigations conducted their death probe after Wawrzyniak was found lying in the street with fatal injuries, rumors spread among Shepard High School’s community on social media.

One father termed it, “the teen Facebook gossip mill.”

On Sunday, Worth Police announced that Eric Steven Johnson, 20, of Midlothian, had been charged with unlawful delivery of a controlled substance in connection to Wawrzyniak’s death.

During Johnson’s bond hearing on Monday, Cook County prosecutors alleged that Wawrzyniak had been ejected from the car after paying $200 for Clonazepam, a drug used to treat panic disorders.

After Wawrzyniak handed Johnson the money, she opened the door when the car was moving and fell out, hitting her head on the pavement, the complaint said.

Allie Maholovich and Stephanie Schover, who graduated with Wawrzyniak from Shepard High School last May, believe the true story hasn’t come out.

“There’s a big chunk that’s still missing,” Schover said, wearing a sweatshirt bearing an image of her friend’s face. “There are so many stories on the Internet. More needs to be sorted out.”

An older woman standing next to the girls who did not wish to give her name said, “the answers are all on Facbeook.”

Wawrzyniak’s grandmother said that Johnson’s court appearance on Monday, provided no answers to the family’s endless questions.

“That was just the bond hearing,” Patricia Calcagno said. “We want to know what happened. We want to know what really happened.”

Calcagno described her granddaughter as a full-time student, who was looking for a second part-time job. She said her granddaughter did not use drugs and didn’t have $200 she was alleged to have given Johnson for 30 pills of Clonazepam.

“We know her. I know her,” Calcagno said. “I talked to her for an hour and 45 minutes the other day. There ain’t no way. She was a good girl.”

The grandmother believes the truth is still out there and that “somebody knows."

“I know that a lot of kids know and they’re afraid to come forward,” Colcagno said. “Don’t be afraid to come forward.

“Call the Worth police, call any police department. Let’s straighten it out,” she said.