Virginia Searchers Find Remains, Could Be Those Of Missing University Student
Searchers discovered human remains Saturday, which could be that of Hannah Graham, a British-born University of Virginia sophomore who went missing Sept. 13.
According to Tim Longo, Charlottesville police chief, additional forensic testing will need to be done to positively identify if the remains are of Graham. The remains had been found by a Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office search team in southern Albermale County on abandoned property.
Since her disappearance, thousands of volunteers have turned out to look for her.
32-year-old Jesse Leroy Matthew, Jr. has been arrested and charged with abduction with intent to defile the student. Longo, one week after Graham’s disappearance, described Matthew is great detail without giving his name and calling him a “person of interest”. According to Longo, since Matthew was the last person to see Graham, they had searched the apartment he was staying in.
According to police account, Matthews came to police headquarters, asked for an attorney and sped off, which prompted a “reckless driving” charge to be added once he was named a suspect. Longo asked the public for information regarding the night Graham disappeared and Matthew’s association with her that night.
He was found in Galveston, Texas several days later and placed under arrest.
While in Texas, Virginia police included the charge of abduction with intent to defile. According to Virginia law, it’s a violent felony that makes suspects submit to DNA testing.
Shortly afterwards, Virginia State Police said there was a “forensic” link between the DNA and Morgan Harrington’s death in 2009. Her body was discovered three months after her disappearance in a haystack. The FBI said the DNA evidence is also associated with the 2012 rape of a Fairfax, Virginia woman.
Upon his arrest, Christopher Newport University said in a statement that Matthew had been named in a Sept. 7, 2003 police file for sexual assault on its Newport News campus. Matthew had been a student at the university from January 2003 until Oct. 15, 2003.
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