As UVa Student Goes Missing, 'Deep Concern'

Hannah Graham, 18, is 4th in 5 years to vanish in area
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 16, 2014 1:51 PM CDT
As UVa Student Goes Missing, 'Deep Concern'
Missing University of Virginia student Hannah Elizabeth Graham is seen in an undated photo. Graham has been missing since early Saturday, Sept. 13.   (AP Photo/Charlottesville, Va., Police Department)

University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, 18, was alone early Saturday, on her way home from a party, and police say she'd been drinking heavily. She texted a friend around 1:30am to say that she was lost in an area just off campus, then her phone went silent. The search for the UVa student from Alexandria, Va., entered its third day today, and as NBC29 reports, Charlottesville police are using everything from public appeals for tips to bloodhounds to Graham's cellphone records in hopes of getting a break. "We’ve gotten probably about 60 calls in relation to the case, and every little bit helps," a police rep tells the Daily Progress; he adds that authorities have expanded the search area and may call in additional agencies to help out. UVa President Teresa Sullivan says the community is "united in our deep concern" over her disappearance. Graham is described as 5-foot-11, slender, responsible, and unlikely to simply have taken off.

The particulars of Graham's disappearance are eerie in an area of central Virginia that's seen at least three other young people disappear over the last five years, notes the Daily Progress. The most high-profile of those, 20-year-old Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, disappeared in Charlottesville in October 2009 after becoming separated from her friends at a Metallica concert. Her body was found dumped on farmland about 15 miles outside town three months later. No arrests have been made. The other two are still missing:

  • Samantha Ann Clarke, 19, disappeared in September 2010 after leaving her townhouse in a neighboring county.
  • DaShad Laquinn "Sage" Smith, 19, vanished after he set out to meet a young man in Charlottesville in November 2012.
(More missing person stories.)

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