HANNAH GRAHAM & MORGAN HARRINGTON, VA. MISSING/MURDERED

[HairOfTheDog]

University of Virginia student, Hannah Graham, disappeared after a night of partying. She was last seen on the morning of September 13^th.

She is described as an A student, an athlete, and a happy person who moved to the US from England with her family years ago.

Several searches have been conducted and hundreds of tips have been reported to police. It's all over the news.


Hannah Graham, missing. The surveillance shot in the middle shows her in the clothes she is wearing when she was last seen.

[Duchess]

I know someone who lives in that area and he was telling me that Hannah is like the 5^th young woman to have come up missing in the past few years.

I've seen the police chief who is running the investigation speak. He is kickass and passionate about this case.

[HairOfTheDog]

The Timeline

On the evening of September 12, she left a dinner with friends and was seen at a party before friends saw her at an apartment complex a couple blocks away from the party. That was shortly before midnight.


Hannah Graham was captured on surveillance video several times in the hours leading up to her disappearance

On September 13...

About 12:45 a.m. a surveillance camera caught her outside of a pub, about three-quarters of a mile from the apartment complex. A doorman turned her away at the pub, Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo said Sunday.

At 12:55 a.m., she is seen running past a gas station -- no one appears to be pursuing her -- and witnesses say they saw her five minutes later roughly four blocks from the gas station. She was at a restaurant in an area known as Downtown Mall, witnesses said.

At 1:06 a.m., the surveillance camera at an Italian cafe captured her walking along the mall.

The camera at a jewelry store recorded her passing two minutes later. A white male was seen and appeared to be following her. He later went to the police and identified himself. He told police that he was following Hannah because she appeared to be in distress. Then, a black man approached her and put his arm around Hannah. Hannah appeared to be familiar with the man, so the follower went his own way.

At 1:20 a.m. she texted her friends to say she was lost and trying to find a party.

Between 1:30 a.m and 2:00 a.m., she was observed having drinks with a man at a bar. She hasn't been seen or heard from since.

Police believe she may have been under the influence of alcohol, Longo said, and may have been vulnerable or unable to defend herself.

[Duchess]

This is Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo's press conference speaking about Hannah -

[RJs-Ex]

Doesn't anyone think it's odd that Hannah was out wandering around by herself for 2 hours in the middle of the night? Why didn't she have any friends with her? At that age, I wouldn't have gone searching for another party *by myself* if I was already hanging out with friends. Weren't any of those friends concerned about her heading out into the night alone, not knowing where she was going? I find this so odd. Why was she by herself for so long at that time of night?!?

[HairOfTheDog]

The Good Samaritan? And, the POI

After the white male (name not relased) went to police and told them he was following Hannah outta concerns for her safety, police told the public that they were looking for a black male in his 20s or 30s with a shaved head and goatee. Later, police released video of a man following Hannah. He's a large black male in ³⁄₄ length pants with dreadlocks.

I'm not sure if the white male gave them a bad description, or if he saw her with another black male, or what -- but it's inconsistent with what was released next.

Later, The Mail identified the man with the dreads captured on surveillance cam as Jesse Leroy Matthew, a hospital worker.

Police spoke with Matthew. After which, they indicated that he was not involved in whatever happened.

Then it was reported that witnesses said they saw Hannah having drinks with him at a bar -- that's the last she was seen. Police believe she got into his orange car with him.

[HairOfTheDog]

Person of Interest (POI) On the Run

Police have searched Matthew's home and car. Results are pending. Matthew has a criminal record. He used to drive for Yellow Cab.

Matthew admits to buying Hannah drinks, but says Hannah never got into his car with him. He went to the police station on Saturday and said he'd talk if he had a lawyer.

Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo said in a press conference this weekend that they provided Matthew a lawyer with whom Matthew conferred at the station in private.

Then, Matthew walked out of the station and got into a car (believed to be his sister's) with someone else and sped off; police lost him.

Longo has named Jesse Leroy Matthew a POI and put out an arrest warrant on him for reckless driving. They're trying to track him down.

[HairOfTheDog]

I know someone who lives in that area and he was telling me that Hannah is like the 5^th young woman to have come up missing in the past few years.

Yeah, five missing women in as many years along the Route 29 corridor.



Alexis Murphy (pic #2) went missing last year. Her body has not been found, but Randy Allen Taylor was convicted of her murder this year. He is also a suspect in the disappearance of Samantha Ann Clarke (pic #4) a few years earlier.
Dedicated thread: http://mockforums.net/showthread.php?tid=10394

DaShad Laquinn Smith (pic #3) disappeared from the area in Nov. 2012 without a trace.

Morgan Harrington (pic #1) was killed in 2009 after leaving a Metallica concert. She wandered away from her friends intoxicated; left the John Paul Jones stadium on foot. Her body was found in a field the following year (no bodies found for the other four yet). Police were able to extract perp DNA from Morgan's body, which matched the perp DNA extracted from a rape victim.

The rape victim gave a description of the perp and a sketch was composed.

^ This is a sketch of the man suspected of killing Morgan Harrington. Police haven't been able to match his DNA to a name.

Some people think the sketch in Morgan Harrington's case resembles the POI in this case -- Jesse Leroy Matthew, pictured below with short hair.

[SIXFOOTERsez]

Theres a killer on the road...

[HairOfTheDog]

Doesn't anyone think it's odd that Hannah was out wandering around by herself for 2 hours in the middle of the night? Why didn't she have any friends with her? At that age, I wouldn't have gone searching for another party *by myself* if I was already hanging out with friends. Weren't any of those friends concerned about her heading out into the night alone, not knowing where she was going? I find this so odd. Why was she by herself for so long at that time of night?!?

I get what you mean -- it's foolish and dangerous, especially if she was also intoxicated.

I used to be foolish like that when I was in my late teens and 20s. I didn't like being in a group for long periods and would take off to go home and stop off somewhere else sometimes, while the original party was still hanging out together. I don't know if that's what Hannah did, though.

Seems she was trying to get to a specific party -- maybe her friends didn't want to go to that one and no one thought much of her taking off on foot in a college town at that time?

[Duchess]

There was just a breaking news scroll stating an arrest warrant has been issued for him for kidnapping with intent to defile.

[HairOfTheDog]

There was just a breaking news scroll stating an arrest warrant has been issued for him for kidnapping with intent to defile.

Well, he went from POI to Suspect rather quickly.

Here's the updated WANTED poster.



I wonder what gave police probable cause to elevate the charges -- did they find evidence that Hannah had been in his car? I think that would do it. For now, police aren't saying what evidence prompted the bumped up charges.

I think Matthew looks like the sketch of the perp in the Morgan Harrington case to some degree. Matthew's upper lip is humungous though -- it's something that I think the rape victim who worked with the sketch artist would remember. IDK.

[Duchess]

I know the cops were all over his vehicle and I know they removed some clothing from his home or place he was staying. If they found something of Hannah's I can see them getting the warrant updated. He had told them she wasn't in his car, I think he said he left her on the mall.

[IroningBroad]

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2014/09/bre...raham.html

Jesse Matthew arrested in Texas

Snip:

"Jesse Matthew is in custody in Galveston, Texas," Police Chief Timothy Longo proclaimed to reporters, adding that the "extradition process is currently underway."

The 32-year-old Matthew is the central figure in a case that has roiled the college town of Charlottesville. Police have charged him with abduction with intent to defile Hannah Graham, an 18-year-old sophomore who went missing Sept. 13.

The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office confirmed one of their deputies located Matthew on a beach in the community of Gilcrest around 3:30 p.m. Central time Wednesday, but they declined to discuss the circumstances surrounding his capture. Charlottesville investigators were expected to travel to Galveston on Thursday.

Longo also did not take any questions about the arrest at his news conference, but indicated that the reward to find the still-missing Graham was now up to $100,000 (from $50,000) out of the "generosity" of donors who wished to remain private.

"This case is nowhere near over. We have a person in custody but we have a long road ahead of us and that long road includes finding Hannah Graham," the chief said. "We're asking everyone within the sound of my voice to help find Hannah Graham."

[HairOfTheDog]

Thanks for the update IroningBroad.

I'd love to find out that Hannah met someone after having drinks with Matthew and just took off for some wild time without telling anyone.

But, that's just wishful thinking on my part. It would be completely out of character for her, based on everything her family and friends have shared. It seems almost certain that she's dead, but I hope she's alive.

Anyway, if Matthew is the the last person to have seen Hannah Graham before her disappearance, I hope he talks soon and tells LE where they can find her.

[SIXFOOTERsez]

Why do these silly assed white chicks think they can go out and safely hang out with boons?
Do they not read the paper? There is a boon on the front page of nearly every newspaper you see and most of them are on there as part of their arrest, or killing.

[HairOfTheDog]

Same reason that white chicks, silly assed or not, go off with white men.

There are white men in the paper every day for serious arrests and white men make up by far the majority of arrested serial killers and child molesters in this country.

As for intimate partner homicides, I don't know the by-race stats, but based on my readings, more white men than black arrested for those murders too (usually for killing women of the same race, but not always).

Those facts haven't changed since the last time you asked the same question, Six. Coons, mudsharks, boons...whatever way you choose to phrase it. I think you only see things in black and white, literally. But, hey, we've all got our limitations of some sort.

[ZEROSPHERES]

If Cracker were only here to give her viewpoint in this discussion. I miss her. I wish she would come back.

[HairOfTheDog]

Matthew was arrested when a citizen noticed a suspicious person camping on the beach in a remote area of Texas and called in the license plate. He's still in Texas, but expected to be moved back to Virginia over the weekend. He waived the extradition hearing. Meanwhile, Chief Longo in Charlottesville is encouraging residents in the area to search their properties for signs of Hannah Graham.

Snip:
Though Matthew was arrested more than 1,000 miles away, Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo said Thursday that he believes Graham is in the city or the nine surrounding counties. Search crews are moving south of the city to rural areas and farmlands, and Longo urged property owners to search their own parcels and realtors to check vacant properties.

Longo said Graham was wearing a shiny, sequined cropped top with black mesh and Capri pants when she disappeared. He also said Graham's iPhone 5S, which has not been located, was in a pink case.

When asked whether property owners should be on the lookout for signs of a deceased person, Longo said he still has hope that Graham is alive.

"I can't lose hope until I have to - until I need to," Longo said. "I have hope, I think Hannah's mom and dad have hope, but we all know as each day goes by, that hope will diminish."

He also urged anyone with knowledge about Jesse Matthew's whereabouts to come forward. "If someone saw Jesse Matthew on Saturday morning [Sept. 13] anywhere and he was alone, we need to know that information. If he was seen in the weeks following, we need to know. If his demeanor or attitude or personality was different, we need to know that," Longo said.

Full story: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/police-ask-p...ah-graham/

[Cheyne]

If Cracker were only here to give her viewpoint in this discussion. I miss her. I wish she would come back.

Sorry to derail the Crime Forum, HotD, but I miss Cracker too...