CHEAT LAKE, W.Va. (WBOY) — A man whose remains were found in a wooded area near West Virginia’s Cheat Lake in late February has been identified as a professional rugby player from England, the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Office said.

Bryn Hargreaves, a professional rugby player went missing in January 2022. He was 36 at the time.

Hargreaves played rugby for the Bradford Bulls before he retired in 2012. He then moved to Pittsburgh after finding love with a girl in Mexico who was from the U.S. When they broke up, Hargreaves moved to north central West Virginia in 2017.

Hargreaves’ last known location was his apartment at the Whisper Creek Apartment Complex, off of South Pierpont Road in Monongalia County.

“Where he lives, it’s amazing,” said Maria Andrews, Hargreaves’ mother, who spoke to Nexstar’s WBOY last year about the search for her son. “But unfortunately, it’s so isolated. And that’s what’s happened, he became a recluse,”

Andrews said she thinks Hargreaves suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, because of repeated head hits while playing rugby. It caused him to have seizures that wouldn’t go away. He crashed his Jeep on Dec. 8, 2021, after having a seizure and had to stop working after the crash, Andrews said.

“That would have been Bryn’s worst nightmare because he couldn’t walk, he was bed-bound,” she said.

Hargreaves had a conversation with his younger brother over the phone on Jan. 3 at his apartment. He hadn’t been seen or heard from since that day.

His remains were found in between South Pierpont Road and The Hannalei Development near Cheat Lake.

The sheriff’s office said it is waiting for an autopsy to be completed by the medical examiner before Hargreaves’ cause and manner of death are determined.

The medical examiner said it would release that information once it is determined.