“The guy that walked the Chihuahua.”
That is how a neighbor remembered Brian Cole Jr. In Woodbridge, he was a familiar sight: a small dog, shorts, red Crocs, even when it was cold. He kept to himself. His grandmother, Loretta Cole, described him as gentle and said she did not believe the charge against him. [13]
His arrest in December 2025 made his name national news. His family has been trying to tell people about the Brian they know ever since. [6]
Hylton High, class of 2013.
InsideNoVa published his 2011 Hylton yearbook portrait after the arrest. Prince William County schools told NBC he graduated in 2013. [3] [1]
Work and home in Woodbridge.
At the time of his arrest, Brian lived with family in Woodbridge and worked at Brian Cole Bail Bonds, his father’s company. His grandmother confirmed his work there to the New York Post. [1] [13]
In September 2024, his mother posted a photograph for National Son’s Day: Brian in a shirt and tie, smiling broadly. It is the portrait on this site’s homepage. [4]
A grandmother’s coat. A mother’s masks.
For Christmas in 2020, Loretta bought Brian a winter coat. Almost six years later, she told reporter Steve Baker she recognized it in Capitol surveillance footage. Baker reported that a store tag was still attached and that she had used her Kohl’s credit card to buy it. [10]
His mother, Delicia, had another detail to offer. During the pandemic she sewed masks for the family in Washington Football Team burgundy and gold. Brian disliked plain white N95 masks, she told Baker. He reported that she cried when he showed her a screenshot from January 5. [8]
A coat bought on a Kohl’s card. Masks sewn at home. Someone can check both.
In March 2026, the family’s lawyer told FOX 5 that Brian spoke with his parents and grandmother nearly every day while in custody. His grandfather, Earl Donnette, called him “very respectable” and “very courteous.” [2]
They say the camera shows their son.
The government says the man in the gray hoodie was southeast of the Capitol. The video his family recognizes shows a man in a light jacket on the northwest side, in the same minutes. If that man is Brian, he was not planting those devices. [8] [20] The evidence page is where the cameras, the clothes, and the open questions are laid out.
Where the case stands
Brian has pleaded not guilty. His family’s campaign says he has not been convicted and asks for help with legal expenses. The sources reviewed here do not establish an acquittal. Read the family’s campaign.
His family cannot do this alone.
Someone has to check the camera clocks, read the interrogation, and pull apart the phone records. That is lawyer work, and it costs money. The family’s defense fund pays for it.