University of Virginia Student Hannah Graham Goes Missing

[libby]

On September 13th, Hannah Graham, apparently with a lot of other students, wandered around the area surrounding the campus, visiting bars, drinking, having fun; she was last caught on street and other cameras after midnight, walking with a man. At some point she texted some friends, said she was lost, asked somebody to pick her up. (She had moved recently, and was headed in the wrong direction.) Charlottesville police think they have identified the man she was last seen with. He even went and talked to them, but they didn't have grounds at the time to retain him. Police now say they found evidence in his car that justifies arresting and charging him, but he's disappeared. He's not a student - he worked as a hospital patient aide.

[libby]

The above has been all over the news here in Northern Virginia. Suspect it's going to be a messy one because the "suspect" is 32 and black, the missing girl, who is from this area, is 18 and white. The following is from the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, which was easier to access and copy/post than the WP:


Suspect charged in case of missing UVa student - Bluefield Daily Telegraph: News

 
Missing UVa Student

In this image provided by the Charlottesville Police Department via WRIC-TV Tuesday Sept. 23, 2014 shows the wanted poster issued for Leroy Matthew Jr. Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo said at a news conference Tuesday night that officers are looking for Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr., 32, after obtaining a felony arrest warrant from a magistrate on a charge of abduction with intent to defile.

They also continue to search for 18-year-old Hannah Graham, who went missing early the morning of Sept. 13. (AP Photo/Charlottesville, VA. Police Department via WRIC-TV)
Posted: Wednesday, September 24, 2014 10:04 am

Associated Press |
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Even with a suspect charged in the disappearance of a missing University of Virginia student, police are stressing the search for the 18-year-old sophomore from northern Virginia remains in full force.

Authorities late Tuesday obtained a felony arrest warrant from a magistrate on a charge of abduction with intent to defile against 32-year-old Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr., who police believe was the last person seen with Hannah Graham. Graham was last seen early the morning of Sept. 13.

Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo said at a news conference that officers were looking for Matthew, a campus employee and longtime Charlottesville resident, who was last seen Saturday when he stopped by the police station with his mother and uncle to ask for a lawyer. Police say he sped away afterward, losing officers who had him under surveillance and prompting authorities to issue two arrest warrants for reckless driving.

Longo said police, who have searched Matthew's car once and his apartment twice, decided they had probable cause to charge him in Graham's disappearance. He declined to say what new information police had, and he did not take questions. However, he walked back to the podium when a reporter asked whether police were still looking for Graham, an alpine skier and alto saxophone player, according to family members and police.

"We absolutely are continuing our search for Hannah, even as we speak, and we will continue our search for Hannah," he said.

According to police, Graham met friends at a restaurant for dinner on Sept. 12 before stopping by two parties at off-campus housing units. The sophomore from northern Virginia left the second party alone, police have said, and sent a text message to a friend saying she was lost.

Surveillance videos showed her walking, and at some points running, past a pub and a service station and then onto the Downtown Mall, a seven-block pedestrian strip lined with shops and restaurants where police believe she entered a bar with Matthew.

Matthew has been employed at the University of Virginia Medical Center since Aug. 12, 2012, as a patient technician in the operating room, university spokesman McGregor McCance said.

Online court records show Matthew was convicted of trespassing in 2010 but provide no details about the incident. Details also were unavailable for two other charges of assault and attempted grand larceny relating to a 2009 incident that were not prosecuted. Matthew also has several traffic infractions, records show.

[Anne]

It has been on the news here too. Didn't they arrest him someplace in Texas today?

[Locutus]

Yes, the suspect was arrested on a beach in Galveston Texas.  He's apparently waived extradition. 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/25/us/virginia-hannah-graham/

[Purplelady1040]

Glad he was arrested. It is just scary and one thing that we warned our niece about that don't go off with anyone that she did not know.

[Bo D]

The latest news says that the bartender where she was last seen said she was so drunk that she was incapacitated.

[Purplelady1040]

The latest news says that the bartender where she was last seen said she was so drunk that she was incapacitated.

I haven't seen that Bo D. I wonder if someone slipped something in her drink to make her incapacitated. I am not saying that anyone did but wonder if they did.

[Bo D]

I haven't seen that Bo D. I wonder if someone slipped something in her drink to make her incapacitated. I am not saying that anyone did but wonder if they did.

Could be but I doubt it. UVA was once voted the best "party school" in the country and I sense that there are large vestiges of that image hanging on there. I go through Charlottesville at least once a year. The last time I was there we had dinner near the University and I was amazed at the number of drunken students on the street.

[Bo D]

I haven't seen that Bo D. .....

Here ya go...

http://www.wtop.com/120/3709349/Bar-owner-Graham-could-barely-walk

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) -- The owner of a bar where a missing University of Virginia student was last seen with a man charged in her abduction says she could barely walk that night without the man's support.

Tempo Restaurant owner Brice Cunningham told The Associated Press on Thursday that Hannah Graham appeared to be incapacitated as she walked away with Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. nearly two weeks ago.

Matthew, a 32-year-old operating room technician at the university's hospital, had been drinking at the bar earlier that night before he encountered the 18-year-old sophomore outside on Charlottesville's pedestrian Downtown Mall, Cunningham said.

Matthew then briefly re-entered the bar, ordered what credit card records suggest were two beers, and rejoined the teenager outside. The bar's door monitor told police they walked off with Matthew's arm around her for support, he said.

[Purplelady1040]

Here ya go...

http://www.wtop.com/120/3709349/Bar-owner-Graham-could-barely-walk

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) -- The owner of a bar where a missing University of Virginia student was last seen with a man charged in her abduction says she could barely walk that night without the man's support.

Tempo Restaurant owner Brice Cunningham told The Associated Press on Thursday that Hannah Graham appeared to be incapacitated as she walked away with Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. nearly two weeks ago.

Matthew, a 32-year-old operating room technician at the university's hospital, had been drinking at the bar earlier that night before he encountered the 18-year-old sophomore outside on Charlottesville's pedestrian Downtown Mall, Cunningham said.

Matthew then briefly re-entered the bar, ordered what credit card records suggest were two beers, and rejoined the teenager outside. The bar's door monitor told police they walked off with Matthew's arm around her for support, he said.

Thanks, for posting that Bo D. It is amazing how trusting these college kids are.

[Locutus]

Matthew appears to be culpable in something that happened, otherwise he wouldn't have hauled ass to Galveston, TX. 

[Bo D]

Thanks, for posting that Bo D. It is amazing how trusting these college kids are.

I don't know if I would call it trusting ... maybe stupid? And it isn't just college kids that get stupid when they're rip-roaring drunk.

[Bo D]

Matthew appears to be culpable in something that happened, otherwise he wouldn't have hauled ass to Galveston, TX.

Count on it! And he camped out on the beach there.

[Purplelady1040]

I don't know if I would call it trusting ... maybe stupid? And it isn't just college kids that get stupid when they're rip-roaring drunk.

So very true on that. It never ceases to amaze me how naïve and trusting people are.

[Locutus]

I don't know if I would call it trusting ... maybe stupid? And it isn't just college kids that get stupid when they're rip-roaring drunk.

This is kind of off topic, but what you said reminds me of the "famous last words of a redneck" line.

"Hold my beer and watch this!"