Police hold evidence in UVa missing student case
By ALAN SUDERMAN and LARRY O'DELL, Associated Press
Sep 30, 2014 1:07 PM CDT
FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Virginia State Police, missing Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, 20, of Roanoke County, Va., is shown. Police say the investigation into the case of missing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham has turned up a lead in Harrington's 2009 disappearance...   (Associated Press)

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — They both were walking alone, separated from their friends late at night, on or near the University of Virginia campus. One was found dead nearly five years ago. The other is still missing.

Now police say there's a link between the 2009 slaying of Morgan Harrington and the Sept. 13 disappearance of Hannah Graham: Forensic evidence found as a result of the arrest of Jesse L. Matthew Jr., who fled the state after being questioned by police in the Graham case.

Matthew, 32, was arrested on a beach near Galveston, Texas, last week and brought back to Virginia on a charge of abduction with intent to defile — or sexually molest — the 18-year-old sophomore from northern Virginia. If convicted, he could face up to life in prison. His bond hearing is set for Thursday.

Virginia State Police said Monday that Matthew's arrest provided a new forensic link for investigators to pursue in the Harrington investigation. In a written statement, they called it a "significant break" released no details about the nature of the evidence, and said they would make no further comment.

The latest development may also help solve a 2005 sexual assault of a 26-year-old woman in Fairfax City, since the FBI previously said DNA from Harrington's attacker matched that of the person who committed that sexual assault. On Monday, Fairfax police spokeswoman Natalie Hinesley said that to maintain the integrity of their investigation, they won't comment on whether their case has been affected by the Matthew arrest.

Matthew has been accused of sexual assault before: When he was a defensive lineman on the Liberty University football team from 2000 to 2002, he was accused of raping a student on campus. That charge was dropped when the person declined to move forward with prosecution, Lynchburg Commonwealth's Attorney Michael Doucette said Friday.

Before his arrest, police had searched his car and home, removing clothing and other items that they sent to the state crime lab for testing. When he became a fugitive and was arrested in Texas, authorities were able to gather more "forensic evidence" as well. Police have released no details about this evidence, nor divulged any results of lab tests.

Matthew's lawyer, James Camblos, said he met with his client for about 2½ hours Tuesday but still doesn't know what police have on him in the Graham case, let alone what evidence might link him to the death of 20-year-old Morgan Harrington, who vanished while attending a rock concert at U.Va. in 2009.

Harrington's mother, Gil Harrington, appealed to Matthew on Tuesday tell authorities what he knows.

"I would like to appeal to him to please give the family information where Hannah is. We need to find Hannah," she said on NBC's "Today" show, where she and her husband Dan Harrington talked about how they have worked to prevent crimes against young women by promoting personal safety after their daughter's slaying.

Harrington, a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student from Roanoke, attended a Metallica concert at John Paul Jones Arena on the Charlottesville campus on Oct. 17, 2009. She left during the concert and vanished. A farmer found her remains three months later in an Albemarle County hayfield, which was among the places searched shortly after Graham disappeared, police have said. At the time, Matthew had a license to drive a taxi, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles. More recently, he worked at the University of Virginia hospital as a patient technician.

Graham disappeared after meeting friends for dinner and attending two off-campus parties. She left the last one alone and was captured on video surveillance walking or running past a pub, a service station and onto Charlottesville's Downtown Mall, where police say witnesses reported seeing her with Matthew at a bar. Graham had sent friends several text messages, including one saying she was lost.

Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI profiler, said he was struck by the similarities — both women were separated from their friends in areas they apparently did not know well, and perhaps were offered assistance by a predator.

"Their looking for help was turned against them," he said.

He also said he was not surprised by the new evidence.

"Since this most recent victim disappeared, I said time and again that if they could find out who was responsible there was a good chance the same person would be responsible for Morgan Harrington and a number of others," he said.

Van Zandt said he's "not trying to indict the guy," but it's standard procedure for police to search for links to similar crimes. In addition to the Harrington case and the 2005 assault, at least two other victims from the Charlottesville area remain missing. Police previously said they had no reason to link those cases to Graham's disappearance.

Matthew, who was returned from Texas late Friday, is being held without bond at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail. He is scheduled to appear via a video link for a bond hearing in Charlottesville General District Court on Thursday.

Graham's disappearance is on the minds of many people in Charlottesville. Having lunch on a park bench near the courthouse, Cora Kessler, 21, said she has lived in the area whole life and this case has made her more cautious, but she still believes her community is safe. "I don't want people to get the idea that it's full of serial killers," she said.

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O'Dell reported from Richmond, Virginia.