HANNAH GRAHAM & MORGAN HARRINGTON, VA. MISSING/MURDERED

[username]

It appears they found her body.

[Duchess]

Police believe they have found the body of missing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham.

Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy J. Longo announced at a press conference Saturday that human remains were found in an abandoned property in Albemarle County, Virginia around noon on Saturday. The body has not been formerly identified as Graham pending forthcoming forensic tests.

"Countless hours, thousands of hours have been spent by law enforcement and volunteers in an effort to find Hannah," said Longo. "We think they have proved their worth."

Longo said the "difficult" phone call had been made to Graham's parents, John and Susan Graham "to share with them this preliminary discovery."

The announcement was made by the joint police forces investigating the student's disappearance which has made national headlines for the last 35 days.

Albermarle Police Chief Steve Sellers said from the podium, "This, sadly, is now a death investigation."

"Today's discovery is a significant development," said Sellers. "And we have a great deal of work ahead of us. We cannot and will not jump to any conclusions in regards to today's discovery."

Story

[QueenBee]

I am sure it is her. Hope so for her family's sake and peace of mind. Now they can lay her to rest properly.

[HairOfTheDog]

Good to see that Hannah's body has apparently been found.

I hope her killer left evidence behind and is held accountable for taking the Grahams' daughter away from them.

Hannah's body was found on property about 10 miles from where she was last seen with Jesse Matthew. It's not been revealed what led to the discovery of her body yet.

[HairOfTheDog]

New Charges Filed Against Jesse Matthew

Snip:
Jesse Matthew was indicted by a grand jury in Fairfax, Virginia on Monday for the 2005 sexual assault on charges that also included attempted murder and abduction.

According to the indictment, Matthew, 32, "did feloniously, willfully, deliberately, intentionally and with premeditation attempt to kill (the victim) in the commission of or subsequent to an abduction with the intent to defile."

The then-26-year-old victim in that attack was able to provide enough of a detailed description to yield a police sketch, one that years later would link Matthew to the case of Morgan Harrington, the Virginia Tech student who vanished in Charlottesville in October 2009. Harrington was found dead the following January. Police at the time said "forensic evidence" linked the two cases.

Fairfax County prosecutor Ray Morrogh said Monday that he could not comment on how this investigation and indictment relates to the Harrington or Graham cases, but said "the facts and details will be revealed in the judicial process."

Ref: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/20/us/han...index.html

[HairOfTheDog]

New Details About the Discovery of Hannah Graham's Remains

Snip:
More than a month after her disappearance, on October 18, Sgt. Dale Terry of the Chesterfield Sheriff's Department and his small search team were finishing up for the day when behind an abandoned home -- just eight miles from where Hannah Graham was last seen -- they (police) found a skull and bones scattered across a creek bed.

"It was not buried, and its location was not far from the road," he told a local television station. "There was not any crushing of any bones (HOTD: Morgan Harrington's parents have said that her bones were crushed when her body was found in 2010). As far as the skull, everything looked to be intact to me." Nearby was a pair of black pants, similar to ones Graham was wearing when she was last seen.

"I do believe God wanted us to find what we found," Terry said. "I don't know how else to explain it other than something inside me told me to just continue to look." (HOTD: doesn't look like Matthew offered up the location of Hannah's body.)

Ref: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/20/us/han...index.html

[HairOfTheDog]

Remains Confirmed to be those of Hannah Graham

Snip:
The remains found Saturday were identified (as those of Hannah Graham) after a review by the Virginia Medical Examiner's office. After the discovery, police called off searches for Graham and re-classified the case a death investigation.

In a statement, Graham's parents thanked Charlottesville police chief Timothy Longo, along with those who participated in the searches and provided them support.

"When we first met Chief Longo he promised to find our precious daughter, Hannah, and during five long weeks his resolve to fulfill that promise never wavered," wrote Hannah's parent John and Sue Graham, in a statement. "When we started this journey together we all hoped for a happier ending. Sadly that was not to be, but due to the tenacity and determination of Chief Longo, Hannah is coming home to us and we will be eternally grateful to him for this."

Graham's parents said they were "devastated" by their daughter's loss.

"Put simply, Hannah lit up our lives, the lives of our family and the lives of her friends and others who knew her. Although we have lost our precious Hannah, the light she radiated can never be extinguished."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/human-remain...ah-graham/
----------------------------------------------

Hannah's parents are class acts. Chief Longo struck me as being personally invested and very determined to keep his promise to the Grahams -- I'm glad they can at least bury their daughter.

Matthews hasn't been charged with Hannah's murder yet. There are serious other charges pending against him that will keep him caged for a good long time while investigators get all their ducks in a row to file murder charges for Hannah and Morgan Harrington (and maybe more).

[SIXFOOTERsez]

Stitching the bag closed on this asshole a little at a time...

http://www.freep.com/story/news/nation/2.../16522733/

Photo stuns father of murdered Virginia student


The father of a Virginia Tech student murdered five years ago said Tuesday the similarities between his daughter's death and the Sept. 13 disappearance of U.Va. sophomore Hannah Graham hit home when he saw a photo of the man charged with Graham's abduction.

Dan Harrington's daughter, 20-year-old Morgan Harrington, disappeared after a rock concert on U.Va.'s Charlottesville campus five years ago. Her body was found in a central Virginia hay field three months later.

A sketch of a suspect was circulated, but no arrest was ever made.



"I thought it seemed very similar to Morgan's situation, the question of her maybe being somewhat impaired and someone just picking her up," Harrington said on NBC's "Today" show. "It really came to me about two weeks ago when I saw the picture (of Matthew) .... at that point I said, 'Oh my gosh, I think it's the same person.'"

Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said Matthew's arrest in the Morgan case "provided a significant break" in the Harrington case, citing unspecified forensic evidence.

The evidence also could link Matthew to the September 2005 abduction and rape of a 26-year-old woman in Fairfax City, outside Washington, D.C. In July 2010, six months after Harrington's body was found, authorities announced that DNA evidence linked her killing to the man wanted for attacking the Fairfax City woman as she walked home from a grocery store.

Dan Harrington said he and his wife, Gil, have become deeply involved in efforts to promote personal safety, particularly among young women.

"We are sad this has happened," he said, adding that the arrest and focus on personal safety of young women may be "a way for us to not have events like this occur in central Virginia."

Gil Harrington appealed to Matthew "to give the family information where Hannah is. We need to find Hannah."

[HairOfTheDog]

2005 Rape and Attempted Murder Charges against Jesse Matthew-- Update

While he awaits the next legal steps in the death of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, Jesse Matthew appeared in court Friday to answer charges on another case -- an alleged abduction, sexual assault and attempted murder from nearly a decade ago.

During a brief appearance at the Fairfax County Courthouse in northern Virginia, Matthew only uttered two words -- "Not guilty" -- to all three charges related to the September 2005 incident.

Judge Dennis Smith set a trial date of March 9. The trial is expected to last six or seven days.

Authorities say that on September 24, 2005, a 26-year-old woman was returning from a grocery store in the city of Fairfax when someone grabbed her from behind and sexually assaulted her.

"We saw her purse on the front sidewalk," said neighbor Stacey Simkins. "He had already dragged her behind our units to the dark pool area." The FBI would say later that "the offender was scared away by a passerby."

The victim in the 2005 case was able to provide enough of a detailed description to yield a police sketch. Years later, that information (HOTD: and DNA) would link Matthew to the case of another missing young woman -- Morgan Harrington, a Virginia Tech student who vanished in Charlottesville in October 2009 and was found dead a few months later. (HOTD: Police have said there is a forensic connection between Morgan Harrington's case and Hannah Graham's case, one that involves Jesse Matthew.)

At Friday's court hearing, lawyers for the 32-year-old Matthew waived the hearing of the charges against him. But according to the indictment in the 2005 case, he "did feloniously, willfully, deliberately, intentionally and with premeditation attempt to kill (the victim) in the commission of or subsequent to an abduction with the intent to defile."

The woman now lives in India and is prepared to fly to the United States to testify in the upcoming trial, Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Morrogh told reporters Friday.

Full story: http://us.cnn.com/2014/11/14/justice/jes...?hpt=ju_c2

[HairOfTheDog]

Hannah Graham Cause of Death

A University of Virginia student whose disappearance sparked a monthlong search died from "homicidal violence" but the exact cause is unknown, authorities said Tuesday.

The Albemarle County Police Department outlined the findings from the Virginia medical examiner's office in the death of 18-year-old Hannah Graham but said a final autopsy report has not been issued.

Story: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/officials-ha...-violence/
-----------------------------------------------

I hope the ME can determine the exact cause of death as the investigation unearths more information about the crime. If Matthew is guilty and doesn't confess or plead out, COD will be good to have at trial.

But, if it's not possible to ascertain what exact act of violence caused her to die before trial, I really hope the state doesn't present an elaborate theory that is likely true, but can't be supported strongly by the science. That's been been done in a couple of recent high-profile cases and, in my opinion, it confuses and bothers jurors and risks securing a conviction more than admitting that the specific COD is undetermined. Stick to the facts; even if the case is largely circumstantial.

If I was on a jury and prosecutors were able to present and back up this type of evidence (for example only): the defendant was the last person seen with the victim, the victim was raped and the defendant's DNA was recovered from her clothing, the defendant has a history of violent sexual assault, the defendant's alibi for the time frame of the murder did not check out, the defendant ran from the law when confronted with the crime, the victim was brutally beaten and possibly strangled, BUT the specific act of violence which caused her to take her last breath is uncertain", I'd be able to find the defendant guilty.

The perceived "CSI Effect" and attempts by prosecutors to overcome it is frustrating. I really hope it doesn't come into play in this case.

[HairOfTheDog]

UPDATES
Since he was arrested for the murder of Hannah Graham, Jesse Matthew's potential involvement in other cases of missing/murdered women in Virginia has been under investigation.


CLEARED IN ALEXIS MURPHY CASE

Alexis Murphy is the 17-year-old Virginia girl who went missing in 2013 and has never been found. However, her t-shirt, a finger fragment and other physical evidence was found at the trailer home of a man caught on surveillance video leaving a gas station at the same time as Alexis, which was the last time Alexis was seen alive.

Following Mathew's arrest in October, the attorney for Randy Allen Taylor - the man at the gas station who was convicted of Murphy's murder - requested that Matthew be properly examined as a possible suspect in the teen's death. It's just been announced that DNA testing has cleared Matthew of any involvement in Alexis' disappearance and murder.


DNA LINK TO MORGAN HARRINGTON CASE

Jesse Matthew Jr.’s DNA was found on the discarded black “Pantera” shirt that Morgan Harrington wore the night she disappeared outside the Metallica concert at the John Paul Jones theater in Charlottesville on October 17, 2009. According to a search warrant obtained by media in late November 2014, "the probability of randomly selecting an unrelated individual who would be included as a contributor to the DNA mixture profile is greater than one in 7.2 billion, which is approximately the world population.” Matthew has not been charged in Morgan's case.


Police are still investigating Matthew's possible ties to the disappearance of 19-year-old Samantha Ann Clarke of Orange, Virginia, the August 2009 killing of Virginia Tech students Heidi Childs and David Metzler, and the October 2009 killing of 23-year-old Cassandra Morton of Lynchburg, Virginia

[HairOfTheDog]

Jesse Matthew goes on trial for 2005 Sexual Assault



The trial starts next week.

The victim's identity is being protected. Matthew was linked to the assault by DNA from the rape kit after he was arrested for the murder of Hannah Graham.

Yesterday, the sexual assault victim positively identified Matthew as her attacker at a pre-trial hearing. Matthew's defense attorney tried to block the identification by suggesting that the victim could have been influenced by the publicity surrounding Matthew, but the judge denied the defense's motion.

Matthew has also been charged in the murder of Hannah Graham last year. Though his DNA was found on the discarded PANTERA t-shirt Morgan Harrington was wearing when she was abducted and murdered, he has not been charged with her 2009 murder at this time.

[HairOfTheDog]

GUILTY PLEA IN 2005 SEXUAL ASSAULT AND ATTEMPTED MURDER CASE

Jesse Matthew has entered an Alford plea on charges that he attacked and sexually assaulted a woman in Fairfax, Virginia in 2005, acknowledging that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict him.

Matthew, 33, of Charlottesville, entered the plea on all three counts of capital attempted murder, sexual assault, and abduction with intent to defile, without an explicit admission of guilt.

He faces up to life in prison when sentenced Oct. 2.

He is charged with the murder of Hannah Graham as well; still no trial date set.

[HairOfTheDog]

The Cases Against Jesse Leroy Matthew



2005 Rape and Attempted Murder
In June 2015, a jury found Matthew guilty of attempted murder, sexual assault, and abduction with intent to defile for a brutal attack on a Fairfax, Virginia, victim, in 2005. He had entered an Alford plea in that case, meaning that he conceded that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him. His DNA was matched to the 2005 rape kit late last year. His sentencing in that case is set for October 2015; he faces life in prison.


October 2009 - Abduction and Murder
Yesterday, after 6 years of agony, the parents of Virginia Tech student
Morgan Harrington got word that a grand jury in Albermarle County, Virginia on Tuesday indicted Matthew on charges of first-degree murder and abduction with intent to defile in the death of Morgan. Harrington, 20, disappeared October 17, 2009 after leaving a Metallica concert at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville. Her remains were found months later on a rural farm in Albermarle County. Matthew's DNA was found on the disarded Pantera t-shirt that Morgan was wearing on the night she disappeared. Each charge carries a sentence of up to life in prison.


September 2014 - Abduction and Murder
Matthew was also charged late last year with the kidnapping and killing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham after she went missing in September 2014; she was last seen leaving a downtown Charlottesville bar with Matthew. Her DNA was linked to Matthew. Hannah Graham's remains were found in rural Albermarle County five weeks later. The defendant is charged with capital murder for her death and faces the death penalty if convicted. He pleaded not guilty to the Graham charges and is currently awaiting trial.


Ref: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/jesse-matthe...arrington/

[HairOfTheDog]

CASES CLOSED:
JESSE LEROY MATTHEW JR. PLEADS GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS


]Jesse Matthew Jr., 34, (^ center) will face four consecutive life sentences for the disappearance and murder of Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington (left) in 2009 and University of Virginia student Hannah Graham (right) in 2014.

Matthew entered the guilty plea during a hearing at Albemarle County Circuit Court. In exchange, authorities will not press for the death penalty previously sought in the Graham case.

The parents of both Graham and Harrington were in the courtroom when the pleas were entered. Matthew did not speak during the 45-minute proceeding.

A spokesman for the Matthew family expressed sorrow for what he had done and for the anguish the parents of the two students suffered.

Matthew, a nursing assistant and former college football player, had been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of abduction with intent to defile. DNA linked both murders to Matthew.

He pleaded guilty last year to a 2005 sexual assault in Fairfax County, Virginia, and is serving three life terms.

Morgan Harrington, 20, disappeared after leaving a Metallica concert in Charlottesville in October 2009, police have said.

Her remains were found about three months later in a rural area. Virginia State Police have said a forensic connection in her death was made to Matthew.

Hannah Graham, a sophomore, was 18 when she went missing in September 2014. Charlottesville police said she and Matthew were seen on a video surveillance camera walking on a downtown mall together.

Matthew fled the area but he was arrested on a beach in Galveston County, Texas, and returned to Virginia. Graham's remains were found near Charlottesville about five weeks after she disappeared.

Ref: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/susp...0de4034ca3
--------------------------------------------------------------------

If one supports the death penalty, Jesse Leroy Matther Jr. definitely deserved it.

Personally, I'm glad he pleaded guilty in exchange for prosecutors taking the death penalty off the table and the families were okay with it.

His sorry ass will be confined to prison for the rest of his natural life. There's no chance a jury will somehow acquit him. It would be decades before he'd be executed anyway. It saves the taxpayers money overall. And, it frees public law officials to handle other cases.

RIP Morgan and Hannah.

[Duchess]

Nigger