Police investigating the disappearance of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham believe they may have found a DNA link between the suspect in that case and the 2009 murder of Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington.
According to CNN, investigators said they have found a “forensic link” between the two cases, but have not yet elaborated on what that is and how it might tie Graham suspect Jesse Matthew to the cases.
Harrington, 20, went missing after attending a Metallica concert in Charlottesville in October 2009 and her remains were found several months later after an intensive search of the area by police and volunteers and the offer a $50,000 reward from the band for information about her whereabouts.
Police never made an arrest in the Harrington case and no cause of death was revealed. After Graham, 18, went missing on September 13 police began searching the area and offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to her safe return. Investigators believe that Matthew, 32 — who has been charged with abduction and intent to defile — was the last person seen with Graham.
Washington Post
Graham was reported missing a day after surveillance video showed her walking past a service station in the downtown Charlottesville area, with friends reporting that she’d sent several late-night texts saying she was lost after leaving an on-campus party. Witnesses last reported seeing her with Matthew at a local bar.
Before Matthew’s arrest, police searched his home and car and removed items including clothing that they consider evidence. On Monday, Virginia State Police said that his arrest “provided a significant break in this case with a new forensic link for state police investigators to pursue” in Harrington’s disappearance. Though no direct tie has been made yet, police believe it’s possible the evidence could also help solve a 2005 sexual assault in Fairfax City, Virginia, in which the FBI said DNA from Harrington’s attacker matched that of the person who committed that assault, according to Fox News.
With at least two other women from the Charlottesville area missing, some sources have speculated that a serial rapist/murderer could be on the loose in the region. Matthew was extradited from Texas on Friday after he was found on a beach near Galveston, Texas; he allegedly fled Virginia on September 20 after police named him as a “person of interest” in the Graham case. He is slated to appear in a bond hearing on Thursday.
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