Brandon Crisp

On March 6, 2009, the CBC's national news program The Fifth Estate aired an hour-long report on video game addiction and the Brandon Crisp story, titled "Top Gun: When a video gaming obsession turns to addiction and tragedy". The program had sent a team to Barrie to interview Crisp's parents and friends before his body had been found, and those segments were combined with interviews of gaming industry representatives and others. While the program did acknowledge that video gaming was not directly responsible for his death, many journalists and bloggers felt that the program was not balanced and fair, singling out the video game industry and focusing less on the need for parents to educate themselves about video games. Columnist Steve Tilley of newspaper the Toronto Sun called the report "Lazy, cheap and disappointingly one-sided", though he does admit that the report succeeds "in exploring why Brandon Crisp might have become so addicted to Call of Duty 4".

On October 13, 2008, Crisp was involved in an argument with his parents over what they described as obsessive playing of the video game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on his Xbox 360, after they took the system away. Brandon filled a yellow and grey backpack with clothes and left home riding his bicycle. His parents allowed him to leave and expected "he would be home later that day with his tail between his legs".

Police ended the ground search for Crisp on October 30, 2008, but made clear that the investigation was on-going and continuing around-the-clock. One week later, on November 5, hunters discovered Crisp's body in an overgrown area near what had been the police search area. An autopsy confirmed the identity of the teen via dental records and determined the cause of death to be "injuries to the chest area that are consistent with a fall from a tree". Barrie Police noted that no foul play was suspected, and that the investigation was ongoing to determine an exact timeline. Although a police spokesman stated "We're doing the best to come up with the answers everybody wants", no further details or updates have been released to the public.

The news of the discovery of Brandon Crisp's body made national news throughout Canada, with coverage on all major TV networks and national newspapers. The Toronto Sun published it as the front-page headline and picture on November 6, 2008. Thousands of people also flooded the Facebook group and other internet forums with expressions of grief and sympathy for the family.

Brandon Crisp was buried in Barrie on November 14, 2008, in a service attended by more than 1,700 fellow students, friends, family, and community members. National media covered the service, featured as the lead-item on most Ontario newscasts. The Crisp family has created the Brandon Crisp Endowment Fund, working with Canadian Tire's JumpStart charity program for assisting families in financial need to participate in minor sports and recreational activities. By October 2009 over $140,000 has been raised.

Brandon Emmett Crisp (January 18, 1993 – c. October 13, 2008) was a Canadian teenage boy who disappeared on October 13, 2008, when he ran away from his home in Barrie, Ontario, Canada after his parents took away his Xbox 360 video game console due to failing grades and his excessive playing of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. He was last seen alive on a nearby trail.