The victims of a Saturday evening crash in Fairfax County were college sweethearts who had attended Virginia Tech together. They were traveling between home and the grocery store around dinnertime when their car veered off the road and struck a tree, the mother of one of the victims said Sunday.
In the weeks and months before the crash, Benjamin Wenger, 26, had been saving up so he could propose to his girlfriend of nearly five years, Abigail Ryan, 23.
Wenger, of Annandale, and Ryan, of Great Falls, died when the car they were in struck a tree in Great Falls, Fairfax County police said. Ryan’s 15-year-old sister, who was in the car’s back seat, remained hospitalized Sunday with life-threatening injuries, officials said.
“He’d been saving up all his money to buy her a ring,” Wenger’s mother, Patricia Wenger, 59, said. “First he paid off his student loans and then all the rest — every cent — went for that ring.”
The Ryan family could not be reached for comment. Patricia Wenger had fond memories of the woman who would have been her daughter-in-law.
“I love her, she was just wonderful. She was a daughter to me,” she said.
Police said the white 2018 Infiniti Q50 driven by Wenger was headed west on Beach Mill Road in Great Falls when it veered off the road for unknown reasons. The car then crossed back onto the road before striking the tree, police said. The crash occurred in the 10500 block of Beach Mill Road in the Spring Vale area, police said, less than two miles south of the Potomac River.
[Fairfax County police identify 2 people killed in Saturday crash in Great Falls]
The full circumstances of the crash were unknown Sunday and it remains under investigation. Nothing has been ruled out, Fairfax County Police and Fire dispatch supervisor Paul Ballerini said.
Ryan was rising through the ranks at the Marriott hotel chain after earning a business degree with a focus on hospitality and tourism management, according to her LinkedIn profile. Most recently, according to the profile, she had began work as a destination sales executive for Marriott International in Tysons in August.
Patricia Wenger said the couple had been excited after Ryan received a promotion.
Wenger, his mother said, was an Eagle Scout and an athlete from his childhood through college. He attended Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria, she said, where he was a member of the National Honor Society. He played lacrosse and played fullback and linebacker on the football team, where he earned defensive MVP honors.
[Man, woman are killed in Fairfax County crash; “ juvenile female” severely hurt]
Professionally, Wenger was a structural engineer who worked for Ammann & Whitney, a division of the Louis Berger firm specializing in long-span bridges. He majored in civil engineering at Virginia Tech.
Virginia Tech declined to comment, saying in these situations it typically works with families of alumni "to remember them in the manner in which their loved ones desire."
Wenger was the middle sibling to two brothers, who were very close, his mother said.
“There’s a really special bond,” she said. “You know, they do yardwork together, they play lacrosse together, they barbecue.”
She said she learned of the crash through Ryan's mother, who called the Wengers in the immediate aftermath and informed them of the news.
“It was stunning,” Patricia Wenger said. “It still is.”