Hearing postponed for suspect in U.Va. missing student case
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — A hearing was postponed Thursday for the suspect in the abduction of University of Virginia sophomore Hannah Graham, whose disappearance 19 days ago has shaken local residents and raised questions of a possible link to a string of similar tragedies involving young women in Virginia over several years.
Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. — "LJ" to friends — had been set to appear for an arraignment on a reckless driving charge linked to his brief flight to Texas before his arrest.
The hearing was rescheduled for December without explanation.
But in this central Virginia college town built in the shadow of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello home, residents are far more interested in where Graham is and whether the suspect is responsible for other similar cases over the past decade.
"If they have legitimately linked him to all these cases, then I'd say great, they got him," said Jason Havner, 29. "It's a tough job. The police can't knock on every door in the county looking for Hannah."
Witnesses saw Matthew at a downtown bar with Graham,18, before she vanished in the early hours of Sept. 13. A week later, with police closing in, he walked into Charlottesville police headquarters, asked for a lawyer, then fled, police say. His hasty flight is the source of the reckless driving charge, police say.
He was arrested a few days later, camping on a Texas beach, and faces a charge of abduction with intent to defile Graham, of Alexandria, Va.
Authorities have scoured the area around the town looking for any trace of Graham, even asking real estate agents to check abandoned homes and empty summer residences for any evidence as to her whereabouts. Police are also using drones to check the heavily wooded terrain in this largely rural county of just over 100,000 people.
Matthew, 32, was fired from his job as a lab tech at the University of Virginia Hospital after being charged. His lawyer, former Albemarle County commonwealth's attorney Jim Camblos, has declined to discuss his client's defense. He did decide, however, to delay a bail hearing until December that had also been set for Thursday.
Police Chief Timothy Longo said searches of Matthew's apartment and car turned up undisclosed evidence.
Matthew's arrest "provided a significant break" in the case of Morgan Harrington, a Virginia Tech student who vanished after a Metallica concert in Charlottesville in 2009, State Police said. Her body was found three months later, but no one was ever charged in her death.
Evidence also could tie Matthew to the September 2005 abduction and rape of a 26-year-old woman in Fairfax City, outside Washington, D.C. After Harrington's body was found, authorities announced that DNA evidence linked her killing to the man wanted in the Fairfax City attack.
Campbell County authorities say they are also reviewing the case of a 23-year-old woman, Cassandra Morton, who went missing in 2009 on the same evening Harrington disappeared, The Daily Progress reports. Morton's body was found several weeks later in a shallow grave on Candlers Mountain.
In addition, police in Newport News, Va., where Matthew attended Christopher Newport University more than a decade ago, have said they are looking into the cases of two women who disappeared in 2003.
In downtown Charlottesville, many people are cautiously optimistic that police have their man.
Judy Berger, 46, who lives and works not far from Charlottesville, is not quick to convict Matthew. "I think everybody is innocent until proven guilty," Berger said. "We need to be patient and let this play out in court."
Resident Robert Histon, 44, agrees that Matthew deserves his day in court. But, he says he doesn't need much more convincing.
"I think they should fry his ass, especially if he is involved with the other girls," Histon said. "They were young and innocent. It looks like he is a sick, twisted person."