Gina Nicole Bryant, inset, was found dead near fuel pumps at a truck stop in LaSalle, Ill. on Oct. 13, 2023. (Memorial poster via Facebook; Google Maps)
A beloved University of Michigan-Flint student is dead after being abducted and killed by her ex-boyfriend last week, authorities in Illinois say. The kidnapper-turned-killer also took his own life in a kidnapping and murder-suicide spanning three states.
The assailant was identified as Justin S. Wendling, 26, a Flint-area doctor who hailed from Holly, Michigan, according to the LaSalle Police Department. The victim was identified as Gina N. Bryant, 25 of Macomb, Michigan, by the LaSalle County Coroner’s Office.
“It’s with a heavy heart that we write this post,” Charlotte Jolly, one of the deceased woman’s friends, wrote on Facebook. “The family has suffered an unspeakable and tragic loss due to domestic violence.”
Like many domestic violence victims, Bryant tried to get away. Like many, she made pains to leave but didn’t get far enough.
“Gina is, was, and always will be my very best friend,” Jolly’s post concludes.
Two weeks before the incident, Bryant left the abusive relationship and the apartment she shared with Wendling in Grand Blanc Township, her mother and sister told The Detroit News. The pair helped her move out, they said, after Bryant revealed to them that Wendling, a doctor who worked as a resident at Ascension Genesys Hospital, had been abusing her for months. Bryant had only been dating Wendling since August 2022 – 11 months — before she was shot and killed.
“She was very beautiful, down-to-earth, giving woman,” the victim’s oldest sister, Angelica Gintner, told the paper. “She could brighten up a day with just her smile. She’d give you the shirt off your back. She was caring and compassionate.”
On Oct. 12, Bryant went home for lunch.
“Coworkers became concerned when she did not return to work following her lunchbreak and they began receiving odd text messages from her phone,” the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Facebook post. “[An] investigation revealed that the suspect had been waiting at the victim’s home when she returned for lunch.”
As time passed, her employer, where she worked as a medical assistant, called in a missing persons report.
The next day, LaSalle police were dispatched to the Flying J Travel Stop along Interstate 80 and Civic Road. Bryant’s body was discovered was next to the fuel pumps. According to the sheriff’s office, her body had been left there for hours.
She had been shot in the head, police said. At the time of her death, Bryant was studying to become a nurse.
“There are truly no words to fully capture the anguish that losses like this cause our community,” UM-Flint School of Nursing Dean Cynthia McCurren said in a statement. “Gina was an extraordinary young woman with much ahead of her.”
Wendling allegedly called his parents on Oct. 13 and told them he took Bryant to Illinois and killed her.
“They alerted law enforcement officials to the location of the suspect and victim in LaSalle,” the sheriff’s office said. “The suspect also stated he had killed the victim and was going to kill himself.”
Police in LaSalle say neither Bryant nor Wendling had any prior connection to the area where the shooting occurred. LaSalle is located nearly 350 miles southwest of Grand Blanc Township.
Learning that the suspect had fled, LaSalle police issued a nationwide alert bulletin. But Wendling himself would be dead within hours. Just before midnight, police in Bettendorf, Iowa found the doctor’s vehicle. He was still inside and alive at the time, but as law enforcement approached, a shot rang out. Wendling killed himself as well.
Police have not released any further information about the suspect.
Law&Crime reached out to the LaSalle Police Department for additional information on this case but no response was immediately forthcoming.
Another best friend, Courtney Pefley, spoke to the Detroit News and recalled the light that was extinguished last week.
“She was the best possible friend you could have,” Pefley said. “She was always looking out for you. You picked up the phone, she would be there.”
The two friends volunteered together at a nonprofit for families with special needs children.
“She is just selfless like that,” Pefley told the paper. “She loved to make her world bigger.”
A candle lighting memorial service for Bryant will be held on Friday evening.
Her sister is accepting donations via Venmo under the username: Angelica-Gintner.
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