Brendan Brown, 38, died at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center on Thursday, Oct. 8, just hours after being arrested for drunk in public.

Brown, a Springfield resident, was found unresponsive in his single cell that morning, according to the Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD). The Fairfax County Sheriff's Office (FCSO) said he was pronounced dead at 7:25 a.m. He had been booked into the jail earlier that morning, the FCPD said.

Deputies and jail medical staff began CPR before Fairfax County Fire and Rescue arrived to continue lifesaving efforts, the sheriff's office said in a separate statement.

The FCPD's Major Crimes Bureau is investigating. Detectives said foul play is not suspected at this stage. An autopsy will be performed, per FCSO policy for all in-custody deaths.

No cause of death has been released.

The police department did not say where or when Brown was arrested, only that he had been in custody since that morning. Brown was charged with drunk in public, the FCPD told FFXnow, which first reported the death.

Third death at detention center in 2026

Brown's death is the third at the facility this year, according to the FCSO's recent-news page. An unidentified inmate who had been receiving hospice care at a local hospital died on Aug. 9. Ricky Edwards, 61, was found unresponsive in his cell on Aug. 12 while being held without bond on a trespassing charge. The sheriff's office said Edwards' death appeared to be from natural causes.

FFXnow reporter Angela Woolsey tallied 20 in-custody deaths at the facility since 2017, citing the sheriff's office's own press releases. The two FFXnow tallies differ: the Oct. 9 report cites 20 deaths since 2017, while an earlier report on the Edwards death cited 19 since 2018. The discrepancy in start year and total has not been publicly explained.

State reporting requirements

Virginia law requires every local jail to report each in-custody death to the State Board of Local and Regional Jails, including the circumstances surrounding it. The board must analyze the data and issue annual reports to the governor, General Assembly and attorney general.

Neither the sheriff's office nor the police department mentioned the broader pattern of deaths or jail medical screening procedures in their statements on Brown's death.