Funeral for UMW Student To Be Streamed Live

Image: Grace Mann (Photo courtesy of UMW Feminists United, via Facebook)

By Chris Gaudet

A funeral service is scheduled Tuesday for Grace Rebecca Mann, a University of Mary Washington student who was found unconscious Friday by two roommates at the house they shared in Fredericksburg. She was later pronounced dead at Mary Washington Hospital.

A fourth roommate, Steven Vander Briel, 30, was taken into custody several hours later Friday after a citywide manhunt. He has been charged with first-degree murder and abduction, and is being held without bond at the Rappahannock Regional Jail in Stafford.

As of Monday, Fredericksburg police had not released a cause of death or motive in the case.

The funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Temple Rodef Shalom, 2100 Westmoreland St. in Falls Church, followed by interment at King David Memorial Gardens. It is being streamed live; please click here.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to RCASA (Rappahannock Council Against Sexual Assault) www.rcasa.org.

According to her obituary, Grace’s family intends to establish a fund at the University of Mary Washington to honor her.

Grace was the daughter of Thomas P. Mann, a Fairfax County juvenile and domestic relations judge and Melissa Mann.

For students who wish to attend the services, the university is offering a shuttle service at from the Fredericksburg campus, according to the Facebook page of UMW Feminists United. Mann, a junior, served on the group’s executive board.

Students held a vigil for her on Saturday night on the UMW campus at the university’s Relay for Life, according to UMW Feminists United.

The university’s Office of Student Affairs released this statement Saturday:

“It is with great sadness that we report the death of one of our students, Grace R. Mann, a junior from Falls Church, Va. Extensively active on campus, Grace was an executive board member of Feminist United, an active member of PRISM, an appointee to the President’s Task Force on Sexual Assault, a Resident Assistant during her sophomore year, and a member of the Student Government Association Senate. She was a history and American studies major who was pursuing a minor in practical ethics. Under the guidance of her advisor Jess Rigelhaupt, Grace presented with fellow students earlier this month at the annual meeting of Oral History in the Mid-Atlantic Region. The topic was Health Care Delivery, Hospital-Based Medicine, and Narratives of Change at Mary Washington Healthcare”