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Vinas friends wonder what happened to the kid they knew

July 26, 2009 By staff writers Marissa Bholan, Keegan Calligar, Keith Herbert, Bart Jones, Robert E. Kessler and Chau Lam. It was written by Jones.

Baseball fan in Medford who loved cars, G.I. Joes and wrestling. Exemplary altar boy at a Patchogue church.

That's what neighbors and friends say they remember most about Bryant Neal Vinas. And their memories have only deepened the mystery of how Vinas went from Patchogue to Pakistan and later Afghanistan, in a determined drive toward jihad.

A quiet but polite and friendly boy, he left...

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