Link Is Seen Between Virginia Student's Disappearance and 2009 Killing

Monday, September 29, 2014

10:55 PM

By Unknown

In: 2014, News, Top story, Update

Link Is Seen Between Virginia Student's Disappearance and 2009 Killing - New York Times

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U.S. |Link Is Seen Between Virginia Studentâ€™s Disappearance and 2009 Killing

http://nyti.ms/1nCd79Z

The arrest last week of a suspect in the disappearance of a University of Virginia student has led to a â€œsignificant breakâ€ in the investigation into the killing of another college student five years ago, officials said on Monday.

The suspect, Jesse L. Matthew Jr., 32, a hospital worker, was arrested in Texas, and the police said that he was the last person seen with the student, Hannah Graham, 18, who has been missing since Sept. 13. His arrest has provided a â€œnew forensic linkâ€ for police investigating the death of Morgan D. Harrington, a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student who disappeared from the University of Virginia campus during a concert in 2009, the Virginia State Police said in a statement.

The statement said that state police had been â€œaggressively pursuingâ€ the investigation into Ms. Harringtonâ€™s death for the last five years. They did not give specifics about the forensic link and declined to comment further on the break in the case.

â€œThere is still a great deal of work to be done in regards to this investigation, and we appreciate the publicâ€™s patience as we move forward,â€ the statement said.

Mr. Matthew is being held without bond at a jail in Charlottesville, Va., before a hearing scheduled for Thursday. He was transferred there after his arrest in Galveston, Tex., on Wednesday, when a woman told the police he was camping on a beach.

The Charlottesville police have said that Mr. Matthew was responsible for Ms. Grahamâ€™s disappearance, charging him with abduction with intent to defile. They searched his car and apartment after he was seen in a surveillance video with Ms. Graham on a sidewalk.

The authorities are still searching for Ms. Graham, who disappeared after she attended several campus parties and texted a friend saying that she was lost. On Monday, the state police asked for tips about Ms. Harringtonâ€™s death, but said the publicâ€™s focus should remain on working to find Ms. Graham.

A lawyer for Mr. Matthew, James L. Camblos III, did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.

In October 2009, Ms. Harrington disappeared during a Metallica concert at an arena on the Charlottesville campus. Her skeletal remains were found in January 2010 in a field on a farm in southern Albemarle County.

At the time, the state police said that Ms. Harrington left the concert and was hitchhiking on a bridge. Her family and the band Metallica offered a $150,000 reward in her disappearance. Her family has a website dedicated to her case and has created a nonprofit group, Help Save the Next Girl, to educate women about violence prevention. In recent weeks, her parents had been trying to raise awareness about Ms. Grahamâ€™s disappearance.

A version of this article appears in print on September 30, 2014, on page A16 of the New York edition with the headline: Link Is Seen In 2 Cases Of Students In Virginia .