Crime & Safety
As Mourners Gather for John Malvar, Teen Killed on Skateboard, Father Found Dead
Father was to attend a memorial service and party for his son.
When friends who were gathering this weekend to memorialize an Arlington teen killed on his skateboard noticed his father was missing, they started a search. A little later, the boy's father was found dead in his apartment.
The friends were gathering at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More on Saturday to memorialize John Malvar, the Washington Post reported. When they noticed his father, George Malvar, was not at the cathedral, they first tried calling him, then sent a maintenance man into his apartment.
George Malvar was found dead in his bed, the Post reported, apparently of natural causes.
John Malvar died June 4 after latching onto a moving pickup truck while he was skateboarding, losing his grip and falling.
The Post reported the friends and family were following Filipino Catholic custom, gathering Saturday on the 40th day after the death. George Malvar had planned to gather with his son's friends to pray at his grave site, attend a noon Mass and then attend a party honoring the young man's life, according to the Post.
John Malvar was a senior at Washington-Lee High School and the Arlington Career Center. His name was read during graduation ceremony on June 20. His father was to be on hand to accept his diploma.
The day following John Malvar's death, hundreds of students turned out at Washington-Lee for a candlelight vigil.
George Malvar told Fox 5 at the time that his son didn't like to wear a helmet and that he hoped other skateboarders would learn a lesson from John's mistake. He called the skateboarding mishap "disastrous."
"All I can say is I miss my son," he told Fox then.
John Malvar was an active parishioner of the Cathedral of St. Thomas More, where he served in a leadership role in the church's youth ministry and worked in the rectory assisting priests and parish staff, according to the Catholic Herald.
Since John Malvar's death, the 17-year-old student driving the pickup truck has been charged with reckless driving.
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