Jesse Matthew Jr. indicted in murder of Virginia Tech student
Dan, left, and Gil Harrington talk about their slain dauhter, Morgan. Erica Yoon | The Roanoke Times
The Roanoke Times | Sept. 15, 2015 | PDF and PDF
By Amy Friedenberger
The man accused of killing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham last year has been indicted on a charge of first-degree murder in the 2009 death of Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, authorities said Tuesday.
An Albemarle County grand jury indicted Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr., 33, in the slaying, Virginia State Police said. He has also been charged with abduction with intent to defile. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Nearly six years ago in October, Harrington, 20, disappeared while attending a Metallica concert at the John Paul Jones Arena at the University of Virginia. An Albemarle farmer found her skeletal remains in a field in January 2010.
The announcement filled the Harrington family with mixed emotions when the commonwealth’s attorney told them about the indictments Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s not something you’re happy about because it’s not a joy-filled subject,” Harrington’s mother, Gil Harrington, said at her home in north Roanoke County. “But we’re pleased to have this acknowledgement and validation that he killed our daughter. An act that terrible must have some consequences, and finally, the dominoes of consequences are starting to fall for him.”
Morgan Harrington left the John Paul Jones Arena to use the bathroom and became separated from friends when she wasn’t able to get back inside. She was last seen walking that night near the arena. A massive search commenced after her disappearance, which garnered nationwide attention.
Her cellphone and purse were found near the arena. Her T-shirt was found near apartment buildings in Charlottesville. Then her body turned up in a hayfield less than 10 miles south of Charlottesville.
Matthew worked as a cab driver in Charlottesville around the time of Harrington’s disappearance, but it’s not clear whether that period of working there included the day Harrington disappeared.
For years, it seemed that justice was elusive. In July 2010, investigators announced that forensic evidence established a tie between an abduction and sexual assault in Fairfax in 2005 and Harrington’s case. Then last November, a search warrant revealed that a cigar butt and a T-shirt linked Matthew, of Charlottesville, to Harrington.
“We knew someone was out there,” said Dan Harrington, 63, Morgan’s father, holding hands with his wife on a couch in their home.
For about a year after their daughter’s death, the Harringtons said they emotionally shut down. Then the couple turned their heartbreak into others’ benefit.
“I think if we had spent six years of our life waiting for justice, then I think we would still be pretty broken people,” said Gil Harrington, 58, who wore her signature purple scarf in memory of her daughter. “We have chosen instead to find healing in service to people and other families and the victims and trying to help save the next girl in a very practical way to try and prevent other such crimes.”
They’ve spoken at campus rallies to denounce violence against women. They’ve lobbied Congress to restore funding for a missing person organization and have advocated for better laws in Virginia aimed at protecting sexual assault victims on college campuses. They’ve helped establish a memorial scholarship at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute. They’ve taken their daughter’s passion for teaching halfway across the world to Africa, where an educational building, named for Morgan, was built in Zambia.
The centerpiece of their efforts has been Help Save the Next Girl, a nonprofit formed in honor of Morgan to educate people about personal safety and help search for missing people. For Gil Harrington, who is president of the nonprofit, regardless of what happens with Matthew in court, her mission continues.
“Just because this person has been stopped, there are other people we still need to be prudent around,” she said.
When Graham, 18, disappeared, Gil Harrington became a strong presence at rallies and a vigil for the missing UVa student. She’s attended court for the Graham case and the Fairfax assault case.
Graham was last seen walking with Matthew in Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall when she went missing a year ago this past Sunday. Matthew was arrested a few weeks later. Graham’s body was found in October. Matthew, charged with capital murder and abduction in that case, has his trial set for July 5, 2016.
Matthew is scheduled to be sentenced in October on charges of attempted capital murder, sexual penetration with an object and abduction with the intent to defile in the September 2005 case in Fairfax; the DNA link was obtained when he was arrested in the Graham case. The victim in the Fairfax attack recounted from the stand in June the night she was grabbed from behind on her way home from the grocery store, dragged into the nearby woods and pummeled by her attacker, who then molested and attempted to rape her.
Matthew was charged years later after DNA linked him to that case. Matthew submitted Alford pleas, which means the defendant acknowledges that the prosecution likely has enough evidence against him to secure a conviction but does not admit guilt.
Gil Harrington said she’ll be in court every time Matthew appears for the case in her daughter’s slaying.
“I want him to know I’m not going away,” Gil Harrington said. “I want him to know I know what he did to my daughter, and I want to look at his face. I really want to be a beacon of accountability for him. I want him to see me. Maybe it’s kind of a weak attempt at intimidation. But I want him to see the flame of my face in the courtroom every time I’m there. And he knows darn well who I am.”
Matthew is scheduled to make his first court appearance in the Harrington case in Charlottesville on Wednesday.
“No matter what happens with the case, Morgan is gone, and there’s a hole in our lives forever,” Dan Harrington said.
By Amy Friedenberger
The man accused of killing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham last year has been indicted on a charge of first-degree murder in the 2009 death of Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, authorities said Tuesday.
An Albemarle County grand jury indicted Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr., 33, in the slaying, Virginia State Police said. He has also been charged with abduction with intent to defile. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Nearly six years ago in October, Harrington, 20, disappeared while attending a Metallica concert at the John Paul Jones Arena at the University of Virginia. An Albemarle farmer found her skeletal remains in a field in January 2010.
The announcement filled the Harrington family with mixed emotions when the commonwealth’s attorney told them about the indictments Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s not something you’re happy about because it’s not a joy-filled subject,” Harrington’s mother, Gil Harrington, said at her home in north Roanoke County. “But we’re pleased to have this acknowledgement and validation that he killed our daughter. An act that terrible must have some consequences, and finally, the dominoes of consequences are starting to fall for him.”
Morgan Harrington left the John Paul Jones Arena to use the bathroom and became separated from friends when she wasn’t able to get back inside. She was last seen walking that night near the arena. A massive search commenced after her disappearance, which garnered nationwide attention.
Her cellphone and purse were found near the arena. Her T-shirt was found near apartment buildings in Charlottesville. Then her body turned up in a hayfield less than 10 miles south of Charlottesville.
Matthew worked as a cab driver in Charlottesville around the time of Harrington’s disappearance, but it’s not clear whether that period of working there included the day Harrington disappeared.
For years, it seemed that justice was elusive. In July 2010, investigators announced that forensic evidence established a tie between an abduction and sexual assault in Fairfax in 2005 and Harrington’s case. Then last November, a search warrant revealed that a cigar butt and a T-shirt linked Matthew, of Charlottesville, to Harrington.
“We knew someone was out there,” said Dan Harrington, 63, Morgan’s father, holding hands with his wife on a couch in their home.
For about a year after their daughter’s death, the Harringtons said they emotionally shut down. Then the couple turned their heartbreak into others’ benefit.
“I think if we had spent six years of our life waiting for justice, then I think we would still be pretty broken people,” said Gil Harrington, 58, who wore her signature purple scarf in memory of her daughter. “We have chosen instead to find healing in service to people and other families and the victims and trying to help save the next girl in a very practical way to try and prevent other such crimes.”
They’ve spoken at campus rallies to denounce violence against women. They’ve lobbied Congress to restore funding for a missing person organization and have advocated for better laws in Virginia aimed at protecting sexual assault victims on college campuses. They’ve helped establish a memorial scholarship at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute. They’ve taken their daughter’s passion for teaching halfway across the world to Africa, where an educational building, named for Morgan, was built in Zambia.
The centerpiece of their efforts has been Help Save the Next Girl, a nonprofit formed in honor of Morgan to educate people about personal safety and help search for missing people. For Gil Harrington, who is president of the nonprofit, regardless of what happens with Matthew in court, her mission continues.
“Just because this person has been stopped, there are other people we still need to be prudent around,” she said.
When Graham, 18, disappeared, Gil Harrington became a strong presence at rallies and a vigil for the missing UVa student. She’s attended court for the Graham case and the Fairfax assault case.
Graham was last seen walking with Matthew in Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall when she went missing a year ago this past Sunday. Matthew was arrested a few weeks later. Graham’s body was found in October. Matthew, charged with capital murder and abduction in that case, has his trial set for July 5, 2016.
Matthew is scheduled to be sentenced in October on charges of attempted capital murder, sexual penetration with an object and abduction with the intent to defile in the September 2005 case in Fairfax; the DNA link was obtained when he was arrested in the Graham case. The victim in the Fairfax attack recounted from the stand in June the night she was grabbed from behind on her way home from the grocery store, dragged into the nearby woods and pummeled by her attacker, who then molested and attempted to rape her.
Matthew was charged years later after DNA linked him to that case. Matthew submitted Alford pleas, which means the defendant acknowledges that the prosecution likely has enough evidence against him to secure a conviction but does not admit guilt.
Gil Harrington said she’ll be in court every time Matthew appears for the case in her daughter’s slaying.
“I want him to know I’m not going away,” Gil Harrington said. “I want him to know I know what he did to my daughter, and I want to look at his face. I really want to be a beacon of accountability for him. I want him to see me. Maybe it’s kind of a weak attempt at intimidation. But I want him to see the flame of my face in the courtroom every time I’m there. And he knows darn well who I am.”
Matthew is scheduled to make his first court appearance in the Harrington case in Charlottesville on Wednesday.
“No matter what happens with the case, Morgan is gone, and there’s a hole in our lives forever,” Dan Harrington said.
