Police connect second case to missing Va. student probe

RICHMOND, Va. – A forensic clue uncovered in the investigation of a missing University of Virginia student has led investigators to believe they have “a significant break” in the unsolved death of another young woman who vanished from the campus five years ago, police said Monday, and perhaps an unsolved rape from years before.

Jesse L. Matthew Jr., 32, was charged last week with abduction with intent to defile in the case of 18-year-old Hannah Graham, who was last seen Sept. 13 after she attended a party.

Leading up to Matthew’s arrest, police had searched his car and home and removed items, including clothing, that they consider evidence, though they have not been specific. Monday, the Virginia State Police said in a statement that the arrest “provided a significant break in this case with a new forensic link for state police investigators to pursue” in the death of 20-year-old Morgan Harrington, who, like Graham, vanished from the Charlottesville campus.

The Virginia Tech student from Roanoke had gone to John Paul Jones Arena for a Metallica concert Oct. 17, 2009. 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.

The state police statement provided no specifics about what sort of forensic evidence led to the connection in the cases.

The latest development also may help solve a 2005 sexual assault in Fairfax City, since the FBI previously said DNA from Harrington’s attacker matched that of the person who committed the sexual assault.

Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI profiler, 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.

He said he was “not trying to indict the guy” but added that police likely will investigate Matthew for other crimes against women, including the 2005 sexual assault. At least two other women from the Charlottesville area are missing. Police previously said they had no reason to link those cases to Graham’s disappearance.

Harrington’s mother, Gil Harrington, told Richmond television station WTVR, “We worked five years to get to this point, so we are relieved.”

If convicted, Matthew could face up to life in prison. Intent to defile in the law means intent to sexually molest.

Graham was reported missing a day after she was captured on surveillance videos as she walked or ran unaccompanied past a pub and a service station, then onto Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall. Police said that after leaving an off-campus party, Graham had sent friends several texts, including one saying she was lost, and that she was last seen by witnesses with Matthew at a bar.