00:00:06
going to continue to work relentlessly till we find Hannah Graham. >> Somebody's got to know where she is.
00:00:17
Cuz it's been a week and we can't find her. >> My Facebook feed was just waterlogged
00:00:25
with, you know, Hannah Graham missing, missing, missing, missing. My initial reaction was, "How could this
00:00:32
be?" >> The reaction on Twitter is a pretty good barometer of the way people care.
00:00:42
Neil Logenstein, WTOP News. The disappearance of Hannah Graham brought us down here to Charlottesville for what
00:00:48
was the most extensive search in Virginia history, and it left the audience across the country hungry for
00:00:53
every detail on Twitter. Everyone had an idea about what police could do to find
00:00:59
her. >> She's our only daughter and she's enormously precious to us all. >> You know, immediately I contacted the
00:01:08
police department and said, "What do we have here? You know, do you feel like this person went missing on her own?"
00:01:13
They said, "No, this was out of character. This is being seen as suspicious." You've got different women within that
00:01:22
area who had gone missing. You had Morgan Harrington, Alexis Murphy, you know, Hannah Graham was the latest one.
00:01:29
You know, all these names, you go down the list. >> Continuing coverage now for the search
00:01:33
for Alexis Murphy. >> 5 years since Morgan Harrington was last seen alive on for a missing University
00:01:39
of Virginia student. >> Your heart squeezes and you say, "Oh no, not another one."
00:01:46
>> I received a call from the University of Virginia police who informed me that
00:01:50
Morgan's purse had been found in a parking lot. I knew that minute something terrible
00:01:57
had had happened. >> We still haven't found Alexis, but the tapes in and of themselves are haunting.
00:02:05
What happened? What transpired in those minutes that we don't have her on camera
00:02:10
that caused her to disappear literally into thin air? >> We are part of a club. We're part of a
00:02:18
ugly little club. The surveillance tapes really were the the turning point in this case.
00:02:27
>> She's coming from the direction you were coming from the University of Virginia.
00:02:31
>> In one of those images, she's walking with a man. >> We do have tape here supposedly shows
00:02:36
them together. >> After the uh Hannah Graham case broke and my chief deputy said, you know, that
00:02:44
looks just like our composite. He looks like the asalent in our case. In my mind, this was not a first- timer.
00:02:51
>> We had these missing girls and of course their families were looking for answers.
00:02:56
DNA science is ultimately what connected three separate cases. I'm Susan Spencer. Tonight on 48 hours,
00:03:15
Hannah Graham. Deadly connections. 48 hours. We'll be back in 90 seconds. Charlottesville is beautiful. Beautiful
00:03:48
downtown mall, great restaurants. It's a, you know, college town. >> Charlottesville, Virginia. Historic,
00:03:59
quaint, home to the prestigious University of Virginia. 18-year-old Hannah Elizabeth Graham
00:04:09
loved it here. When she went missing on September 13th, 2014, she had just started her second
00:04:18
year. A few days later, her distraught parents, Sue and John Graham, appealed for help.
00:04:25
>> This is every parent's worst nightmare. I'm certain that everybody knows that
00:04:31
what happened to Hannah could happen to their child. Please, please help us. The disappearance outraged the entire
00:04:40
community from fellow students. >> You make things good, Hannah Graham. >> To the police chief, Tim Longo.
00:04:47
>> We're going to continue our work. We're going to continue to work relentlessly
00:04:53
until we find Hannah Graham. We knew at that time that she had gone out to dinner with friends that night
00:05:04
and that, you know, like most college students, she had gone to a couple parties.
00:05:08
>> I'm going to start with the family. And >> WTVR reporter Laura French, a 48 hours
00:05:12
consultant, has followed this story from day one. >> We know that after she left that party,
00:05:19
no one had heard from her other than a couple text messages. And that text at 1:06 a.m. was, you know, I'm trying to
00:05:26
get to a party, I believe, and I'm lost. >> I'm lost. >> It wasn't completely out of character that she'd be lost
00:05:35
here. She moved into off-campus housing. School had just started. We were just a
00:05:39
few weeks into the school year, and you know, you can lose your bearings, especially in and out of that downtown
00:05:44
mall area. >> So, this is the mall in Charlottesville. This is the last place really where we
00:05:50
see Hannah Graham. >> That's right. This is known as the downtown Charlottesville pedestrian mall
00:05:55
and it is the last known image that we have of Hannah Graham on this mall. >> Popular place with the kids.
00:06:01
>> You definitely see kids down here, but this is not what we would call the hangout.
00:06:07
Britishborn Hannah Graham moved with her parents to Virginia when she was just 5
00:06:12
years old. Her friend Llaya Nasser remembers her as super smart, musically gifted, and with a dry sense of humor.
00:06:22
She's one of those people who just knew who she was. Uh very much a go-getter. She was very confident um and driven.
00:06:31
>> Hannah is uh witty and much smarter than any coach that was on the field. >> Just shy of 6 feet, Hannah was a
00:06:40
standout on the softball field. High school coach Craig Maniglia. >> As time went on, she moved herself up to
00:06:47
her senior year when she became captain of the team. >> Vivacious, popular, talented. No
00:06:53
surprise that Hannah Graham's disappearance exploded on social media. >> Prosecutors say that will happen.
00:07:00
>> WTOP radio reporter Neil Augenstein, who worked with 48 Hours on this investigation, was tweeting details
00:07:07
almost by the minute. We've been able to tell it as it's developing. With Twitter, you can tell
00:07:14
the little bits that caught your attention and do add color and perspective and and context to a story.
00:07:22
>> County Sergeant testified today. >> And the story became even more intriguing as video began to surface.
00:07:29
Here is Hannah at a UVA event only 10 days before she went missing. An eerie contrast to the grainy images of her
00:07:39
caught on tape by surveillance cameras the night she disappeared. >> Well, the Hannah Graham case resonated
00:07:48
so much more with Charlottesville because, you know, she was living here in Charlottesville.
00:07:54
>> Attorney and longtime Charlottesville resident Lloyd Snook has been following
00:07:58
the case closely. >> Her disappearance was reported within a day. They could track through the
00:08:05
various uh video cameras where she had gone. She had been downtown >> and then the trail goes cold. Then she
00:08:14
just vanished. >> He walked us through the videos of Hannah's last known hours. Starting as
00:08:23
she leaves her apartment, a normal kid out on a Friday night. >> This is McGrady's. This was a
00:08:30
restaurant. And you will see Hannah Graham coming in from the left, the lower left. She's highlighted. Now, I'm
00:08:36
going to stop that because, you know, that stumble to some people who watch this is very telling.
00:08:41
>> She seems a little unsteady on her feet both here and later on in the video. She's coming from the direction uh that
00:08:48
you would come from if you were coming from the University of Virginia. >> And then after a few minutes, we see
00:08:54
her. She reemerges. And what do you think this was all about? My guess, purely a guess, is that
00:09:02
she went by McGrady's to see if a friend was in there who might buy her a drink or something like that.
00:09:09
>> Police believe Hannah had been drinking that night. She's next seen on video from a nearby gas station. And this
00:09:17
time, I mean, she is running. Who knows what that means? >> You know, it it's really hard to say. I
00:09:25
It's not a particularly dangerous neighborhood. It's a well lit area >> and I think that the cops have looked at
00:09:30
this and there doesn't appear to be anybody running after her. >> So, she's running now. She's going
00:09:35
toward the mall. >> Just seconds before Hannah next surfaces on security footage near a local
00:09:41
pizzeria, its camera catches a man walking on the downtown mall. >> You'll notice he's a pretty distinctive
00:09:51
looking guy. He's a big man. He's got dreads. It's kind of obvious why people would notice him over the course of the
00:09:59
next half hour. >> He disappears here briefly and then we're about to see Hannah here. She's by
00:10:06
herself. >> By herself. >> But soon the man makes a Uturn and then reappears now walking in Hannah's
00:10:15
direction. >> So you see a pretty big guy there. >> Yeah. >> Keeping behind several other people. And
00:10:22
at that point, he's probably 20, 30 yards behind Hannah. >> The last video from a jewelry store
00:10:30
camera shows Hannah and the unidentified man now walking side by side, >> and they seem to be walking in sync
00:10:38
together. >> By enhancing the picture, police note that his arm is around her waist. very
00:10:46
strange to watch two people on videotape and and realize how much their lives are
00:10:53
going to change. You can only imagine what was going on in her mind. You can only imagine what was going on in in his
00:10:59
mind. >> There is no video from her last known stop. >> So this is the Tempo Bar. This is the
00:11:07
last place that she was seen in public. >> In public. No images of her. Um, but the
00:11:14
police say that several eyewitnesses put her inside that bar with the suspect. >> If that young lady's touched your life
00:11:24
in any way, you have the responsibility to help us find her. >> Somebody knows what happened to Hannah.
00:11:33
We don't know who that is, but somebody knows what happened to Hannah. >> That somebody police think may well be
00:11:39
that man on tape. who made the odd Uturn to walk in Hannah's direction. want to split him up. Couple guys on the
00:12:15
right, couple guys on the left. >> Yeah, sounds good. >> Yeah. >> News of Hannah Graham's disappearance
00:12:19
put normally peaceful Charlottesville on high alert. >> I was terrified when I found out just
00:12:26
because I know it could have easily been me cuz I've walked home alone. I definitely thought differently walking
00:12:31
to my car at night, having worked in that area. You know, I wanted to make sure at, you know, when I was leaving
00:12:36
after a newscast at 11:30 at night, that there was someone watching me walk to my
00:12:40
car. It was definitely on the back of everyone's minds. >> Also on the back of everyone's mind,
00:12:47
events of 5 years earlier when another young woman simply vanished off these streets. 2009, you have this Virginia
00:12:56
Tech student, Morgan Harrington, who is last seen at a Metallica concert at the John Paul Jones Arena.
00:13:16
It was Saturday, October 17th, 2009. 20-year-old Morgan Harrington drove from her parents' home in Rowanoke, Virginia
00:13:24
to the UVA campus arena to see one of her favorite bands. >> Morgan had come to spend the weekend
00:13:31
with us, which was not unusual, and was really excited about the Metallica concert. It was the last time her
00:13:38
parents, Jill and Dan Harrington, would see their daughter alive. How long was it before you were aware that anything
00:13:47
at all was wrong? >> On Sunday morning about 11:00, I received a call from the University of
00:13:52
Virginia police who informed me that Morgan's purse had been found in a parking lot.
00:13:58
>> I knew that minute something terrible had had happened. And Morgan, you knew was gone.
00:14:08
>> Morgan was like the moon. She was reflecting the light that was in the world.
00:14:14
>> Lindsay Crisp grew up with Morgan friends since elementary school. >> Wherever she walked in, there was a
00:14:21
shift in the energy. Morgan was a lot of fun. you know, she had finally reached that point in life where we had a adult
00:14:30
relationship with her and it was really an exciting um very gratifying point in time.
00:14:36
>> She was someone who loved art and music did not like math and science which is
00:14:43
we are math and science people. >> Lindsay was in Europe when Morgan went missing only to come home to a terrible
00:14:51
shock. My parents stood me in the den and they said, "We need to let you know Morgan's
00:14:56
gone. She's been missing for 10 days." It felt like there was no hope in that moment. And um so I ran upstairs and
00:15:05
just cried. Investigators had little to work with. At one point, Morgan had left
00:15:10
her friends. Something had happened and she ended up outside the arena. Morgan left to go to the restroom and we
00:15:20
have a witness that Morgan was bleeding from an injury on her face. So, we assumed that at some point between the
00:15:28
seat and the restroom, Morgan fell. And then the next thing we heard was that Morgan had left the building and they
00:15:36
wouldn't let her back in. >> There was a report that um she was seen hitchhiking. Does that make sense to
00:15:43
you? >> It does. Now she was reported to be confused and how's Morgan going to get
00:15:50
home? >> Morgan Harrington was last seen on this bridge alone on foot and possibly
00:15:58
injured. Unable to get back into the concert, she may have simply decided to find her own way to her friend's
00:16:04
apartment. A casual decision that likely cost her her life. >> I think Morgan was impaired. I think she
00:16:12
she was injured. She was not thinking clearly. >> Yeah. I think that someone driving a
00:16:17
taxi cab stopped and Morgan felt safe and got in >> and I think the rest is history.
00:16:25
>> But this is your theory about theory. Nobody actually saw a cab or saw her get
00:16:30
into a cab. >> No. >> This weekend's search for Morgan Harrington will start here where she was
00:16:35
last seen on this bridge. >> Within days, Morgan's disappearance was dominating the local news and social
00:16:42
media. Family members, volunteers, and friends will scour the Charlottesville area
00:16:48
looking for clues, looking for anything that could lead them to Morgan. And as with Hannah Graham, years later, the
00:16:55
community responded. >> We had 2,000 people searching for Morgan over a weekend.
00:17:01
>> Morgan's case was one of the first cases that used social media to solicit information and tips and as a
00:17:07
crimesolving tool. >> Was passing out flyers. We felt that the only way that we could help Morgan was
00:17:13
to not let Morgan's case be swept under the rug. >> If Morgan is out there and hears us, um,
00:17:21
please come home. >> We are trying to find you. We will never stop. We are trying, honey. Hang on.
00:17:29
>> Even Metallica tried to help. Any information, no matter how small you might think it is, could be that crucial
00:17:37
piece investigators need to help solve the case. >> Somewhere out there lies the answers or
00:17:42
lies the vital link of information that we need. >> Help us bring Morgan home for Christmas.
00:17:47
>> You are basically swinging on a pendulum between hope and despair. >> It becomes pretty clear after a couple
00:17:55
days that, you know, it's probably not going to turn out good. You are basically swinging on a pendulum
00:18:11
between hope and despair. >> It becomes pretty clear after a couple days that you know it's probably not
00:18:18
going to turn out good. >> Tragically, Morgan's father was right. Breaking news this afternoon out of
00:18:25
Albam Marl County. >> In January 2010, three months after Morgan disappeared, human remains were found on a farm just
00:18:34
10 miles from the UVA campus. >> We're fairly confident at this time that the remains are those of Morgan Dana
00:18:42
Harrington. >> She was found by a farmer who was checking his fences and saw what he
00:18:47
thought initially was, you know, a deer carcass, >> but it was not. it was our daughter.
00:18:55
>> But a forensic exam of the remains apparently yielded no clues as to who her asalent was. That would come from a
00:19:04
t-shirt. >> The t-shirt, I believe, was found in November, a couple weeks after Morgan
00:19:08
was killed. >> Found one day draped over a bush near the UVA campus. The most disturbing to
00:19:16
me was that it had been put out like a trophy and just the nerve and cockiness of a perpetrator who would leave a
00:19:28
trophy like that in the middle of a campus. >> They were able to actually pick up some
00:19:32
of Morgan's DNA in the t-shirt. >> Even more importantly, testing picked up unknown DNA and when police ran it
00:19:41
through their database, they got a hit. not to a person, but to another crime four years earlier and 100 miles away.
00:19:53
>> They had foreign DNA in their case, which was matched to my foreign DNA in my case.
00:19:58
>> In the fall of 2005, a man attacked, beat, and sexually assaulted a young woman in Fairfax, Virginia. Detective
00:20:06
Michael Boon was the lead investigator. >> This is just an aerial of the general
00:20:11
area. >> It is. It's a 2005 aerial. >> The woman who asked to be identified only as RG was walking home from her
00:20:21
local supermarket sometime after 8:30 p.m. She's captured here on a security camera.
00:20:27
>> She felt somebody behind her and she turned and was face to face with the suspect and asked him if she could help
00:20:35
him and he stated something to the effect that he was waiting for a friend or something and she felt uncomfortable.
00:20:42
Um, she had a vibe and just kept moving and when she reached the front of her residence, she said she heard footsteps
00:20:50
coming quickly behind her and then she was picked up off the ground. >> And how violent an attack was this?
00:20:56
>> You know, you call it a blitzkrieg type of attack. Comes out of nowhere. >> Blitzkrieg type of attack.
00:21:00
>> Yeah. Comes out of nowhere. Very fast, very violent. He takes her and carries
00:21:05
her across the parking lot into the wooded area down where this large tree is. I parked roughly where that green
00:21:11
truck is over there. >> Uhhuh. >> It was just blind luck that Mark Castro came along when he did.
00:21:18
>> What was the reason that you were even here that night? >> I was here uh to see a boxing match at
00:21:24
my friend's house. >> Just stop by and see the boxing match. >> That's right. >> When Mr. Castro pulled in and parked in
00:21:31
this general area, the lights from his car would have been shining into the area where they were. Those lights may
00:21:37
have saved the woman's life. >> The suspect stood up, looked up, and looked towards the parking lot, which is
00:21:44
where Mr. Castro was standing. And she said he took off running. >> Out the corner of my eye, I see a figure
00:21:50
standing roughly in front of that trash can. I was just shocked and I'm, you know, can am I believing what I'm seeing
00:21:55
right now? >> What were you seeing? >> I was seeing uh a lady that was beaten nearly to death and she was covered in
00:22:01
mud and covered with blood and she was walking towards me. >> Did she say anything about what had
00:22:05
happened? Uh she told me that you know there's a guy back there >> just back there meaning back in the
00:22:10
woods >> and after that I sprinted back there screaming at the top of my voice telling
00:22:14
whoever it was to come out >> but the attacker was gone. >> I turned around and come back to her and
00:22:20
then uh made sure to get her to safety. I knocked on uh each and every house until someone answered the door.
00:22:27
She went to Fairbeck's Hospital, uh, the emergency room, where we bring in a forensic nurse who does the sexual
00:22:35
assault exam. Uh, they scrape the underside of the fingernails >> and there was DNA evidence.
00:22:41
>> Yes. The next day, the victim, RG, was able to describe her asalent to a sketch
00:22:48
artist who produced a composite >> approximately um 6 6'2, maybe 200 lb, short hair with mustache and beard.
00:23:00
>> But a description of the suspect, a sketch, even his DNA did not answer the central question. Who was he? It would
00:23:09
take another tragedy and another lost life to answer that. >> The DNA evidence had been found in the
00:23:15
Morgan Harrington case and I just had a feeling on the Hannah Graham case. You make things good. Hannah Graham,
00:23:47
where are you? We want you back where you belong. >> The days go by with no trace of
00:23:56
secondyear UVA student Hannah Graham. Despite what would become the largest search in Virginia's history,
00:24:06
>> members of the Charlottesville community have turned out in forced help. Armies of Hannah's university friends
00:24:13
have been helping. >> Each day, hundreds of volunteers show up, including one who has lived through
00:24:20
this all before. >> I read that Alexis Murphy's aunt Trina was helping. Thank you, ma'am. When my
00:24:28
niece was missing, I wanted the whole world looking for her. >> When they had the the big search for
00:24:32
Hannah, I went out to help look for her. Um, it just it's just heartbreaking. >> Like the Grahams and the Harringtons,
00:24:41
Trina Murphy knows the pain of having a child go missing. She knows it all too well. The FBI is in day three of its
00:24:50
search for Alexis Murphy and there's still no sign of him. >> If anybody know anything, please,
00:24:55
please let us know. Please. >> They have expanded their search for Murphy. >> The more people that are looking, the
00:25:02
better chance we have of finding her. On August 3rd, 2013, four years after Morgan's murder, a year
00:25:12
before Hannah Graham went missing, Trina's niece, 17-year-old Alexis Murphy, left her home in Shipman,
00:25:20
Virginia, on a routine errand, Shipman's less than 40 miles from Charlottesville.
00:25:26
She was planning to go to Lynchberg um to buy hair extensions because she was getting her hair done for her senior
00:25:32
pictures. Her last tweet was birdbound. >> Alexis's mother, Laura Murphy. >> And this is a kid who tweets and calls
00:25:40
all the time. He's constantly trying to stay in touch, >> right? She was a very happy child.
00:25:48
Lexis love making people laugh. >> Go. We had videos where she dancing and she she could dance.
00:26:06
Her mother and aunt knew something was seriously wrong when they heard nothing from Alexis for hours.
00:26:12
>> There was not a single tweet, not a single text message, not a single phone call, no activity on her cell phone once
00:26:18
she left Liberty. That's the Liberty Gas Station where Alexis was last seen. Like Hannah
00:26:26
Graham, her movements caught on tape. What did you think then when you saw that tape? You know, how could she go
00:26:33
missing from the Liberty Gas Station? What happened? What transpired in those minutes that we don't have her on
00:26:40
camera? In surveillance video not yet released to the public, Alexis's car is seen leaving this gas station,
00:26:48
apparently following an SUV. Investigators identify its owner as one Randy Taylor, and witnesses say he often
00:26:56
would just hang around the gas station watching people. >> I just think that he had been stalking
00:27:01
her. He knew her routine. >> It didn't take much time to link him to her disappearance. They found her hair
00:27:09
extensions um in his trailer. She had a Monroe piercing. She had a nose piercing. She had false fingernails.
00:27:16
They were found in there. Um and her blood on the shirt he was wearing that day. Um seen in the video. Police find
00:27:24
her car in a movie theater parking lot in Charlottesville. Inside the car, they find DNA they can't
00:27:31
identify from several sources, but none of it matches the unknown DNA from the Harrington murder and the Fairfax rape.
00:27:39
Even without finding Alexis, they arrest Randy Taylor and charge him with her murder. His trial is attended by someone
00:27:47
who truly understands what the Murphy's are going through. >> Well, Jill reached out to us probably
00:27:53
about 3 weeks after Alexis was abducted. Jill Harrington makes the three and a halfhour round trip every day. And
00:28:02
>> I also wanted to be there and shoulder and support them any way I could. >> It means a great deal to us. Jail has
00:28:10
really, really helped me. >> Guilty on all counts. This >> the jury convicts Randy Taylor. He is
00:28:16
sentenced to life. Alexis never has been found. When we left court, they said, "We're never
00:28:26
going to give up searching for her." >> And now the Murphy's and the Harringtons
00:28:31
join the Grahams in the search for Hannah. >> Trina Murphy and I converged on Charlottesville to to talk to the
00:28:39
community to ask for tips, to ask for participation in search because the Grahams were unable to do that at that
00:28:46
time. And we wanted to get as many people out there looking for Hannah as possible
00:28:51
>> just to hold their hand, to hold her mother's hand and um pray for their closure, you know, for them to find
00:28:58
their daughter. >> We're part of a ugly little club that we have some knowledge and and some
00:29:06
understanding of how to proceed. Once you know how bad it feels to have a murdered child, you want to do whatever
00:29:16
you can to help anyone else who's in the same terrible spot that you're in. >> Police say they do have a person of
00:29:25
interest in the disappearance of Hannah Graham. >> On day six of Hannah's disappearance,
00:29:29
acting on a tip, police identify and locate the man seen on tape with her in the mall.
00:29:36
>> They search his apartment. They seize his car. They obtain something out of his wallet. It's a tip that's used for
00:29:43
cigars and they take that into evidence and they send it off to be analyzed. Within a day, the man's name leaks out.
00:29:53
He is 32-year-old Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. and before police can even confirm it to reporters, he simply walks into
00:30:02
the police station voluntarily. So Jesse Matthew arrived at the the Charlottesville police station and uh he
00:30:10
said he wanted to to get a lawyer. Matthew didn't answer any questions. Wasn't interested in in telling police
00:30:17
anything. Uh and he left the the police station >> with no concrete evidence. They can't
00:30:24
hold him. But that doesn't stop them from following him. Several hours later, while police were were following um
00:30:32
Jesse Matthew, he took off from his grandmother's house. >> Driving his sister's car, he suddenly
00:30:41
floors it >> and they lose him. Excuse me. They lose him. >> Astonishingly, the only suspect in
00:30:49
Hannah Graham's disappearance leaves police in the dust. >> Police did not have the authority to
00:30:56
chase him. They didn't have enough to arrest him really at that point, but they really thought they had their
00:31:02
suspect >> and he's gone. >> When news broke that Jesse Matthew was on the lamb, Twitter exploded.
00:31:10
>> Have all these people who are already deeply involved uh in this case, searching for answers, racking their
00:31:16
brains, and they're coming up with ideas and saying, "Well, why don't aren't police doing that? Why can't police do
00:31:23
this?" Things don't work as quickly in real life as they do on a TV show. >> I believe Jesse Matthew was the last
00:31:32
person she was seen with before she vanished off the face of the earth cuz it's been a week and we can't find her.
00:31:41
But somebody knows where she is. Somebody's got to know where she is. So, I hope and pray
00:31:50
that we might have an opportunity to talk to Jesse Matthew again because I think he can help us find
00:31:56
Hannah Graham. >> And just days after fleeing, Matthew, still on the run, is formally
00:32:03
charged in Hannah's abduction. >> The Commonwealth felt we had sufficient probable cause to
00:32:10
seek an arrest warrant for Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. of Charlottesville charging him with a
00:32:17
class 2 felony of abduction with the intent to defile. >> And for the first time,
00:32:23
>> my name is Sue Graham. >> Hannah's mother speaks out. >> Somebody listening to me today either
00:32:29
knows where Hannah is or knows someone who has that information. We appeal to you to come forward and
00:32:38
tell us where Hannah can be found. They only knew that Hannah was missing. They didn't know where she was. They
00:32:45
didn't know if she was alive or dead. Everybody had their fears, but nobody knew.
00:32:52
Now, police aren't just looking for one missing person. They are looking for two.
00:33:10
Days are going by and we don't know where Jesse Matthew is. In Alberl County, searches had become daily
00:33:17
events. Searches for both UVA student Hannah Graham and for the only suspect in her disappearance, Jesse Matthew.
00:33:26
Not only do we have each day that's ticking by that the Graham family doesn't know where their daughter is,
00:33:32
but we also have the person that they say was last seen with her. We don't know where he is. There's no clues being
00:33:39
offered. It was tense. >> This press conference and every press conference hereafter is about one thing
00:33:46
and one thing only, and that is finding Hannah. >> This was a very heated few days. I'm
00:33:52
hoping that they're hearing my words and and and and seeing my frustration. >> Chief Longo was was obviously very
00:34:00
involved in this >> and pick up the phone and tell us something regardless of how
00:34:05
insignificant you think it might be. >> He was speaking to the press and speaking directly to um Jesse Matthew.
00:34:12
>> I've made no mistake about it. We want to talk to Jesse Matthew. We want to talk about his interaction with a sweet
00:34:20
young girl that we can't find cuz he was with her. >> Surely someone had information about
00:34:26
Jesse Matthew. After all, the then 32-year-old grew up in Charlottesville, went to high school there, and was
00:34:33
working at the University Hospital transporting patients. >> People have been trying to learn more
00:34:40
about Jesse Matthew since uh they first heard his name. People who've known him had called him a gentle giant. This was
00:34:46
a guy who was a football player. This was a guy who was working in Charlottesville with kids. He was a a
00:34:54
volunteer uh football coach. >> He was a quiet guy and mentored these high school students. In fact, the night
00:35:02
that Hannah Graham went missing, he was at the game that Friday night helping these kids, cheering them on. So, on the
00:35:09
outside, nothing seemed suspect. I have talked to friends of his who said I trusted him with my children.
00:35:18
>> Nobody said yeah you know Jesse always had trouble and we this is the kind of
00:35:22
thing we would have expected. I mean that >> no if anything it was he was not capable
00:35:26
of premeditating anything. He may have been awkward socially sometimes and quiet but never
00:35:36
never could he be capable of this. >> He was a team player. He was always there and and you know participating in
00:35:43
team activities. >> William Hay knew Jesse Matthew when both played football at Virginia's Liberty
00:35:50
University which Matthew attended from 2000 to 2002. >> He knew how to play football. Um and he
00:35:57
was actually great at it. I I thought he had potential to do some some great things on the football field. But off
00:36:04
the field, information began to circulate that cast Matthew or LJ as his friends called him, in a much different
00:36:14
light. >> My head coach let us know they were going to put LJ off the team because
00:36:20
apparently he had um forced himself on a female student. Uh >> did anybody ever say, "Hey, you know
00:36:27
what happened? Is this true?" Once he was kicked off the team, no no one that I know of actually went out their way
00:36:34
just to get more detail. His roommate said that he he may not have known that he was going too far. Um but again,
00:36:40
that's speculation here from his roommate. There were so many rumors going around, but no, there was no
00:36:46
concrete evidence. >> Lynchburg police did confirm they conducted an investigation of an alleged
00:36:52
rape that occurred around the same time, but no criminal charges were filed. Still, Matthew left. Not just the
00:37:00
football team, but the university and teammates says Hayith quickly put the incident and Jesse Matthew behind them.
00:37:09
>> None of us came in defense of them. I mean, it lingered on for maybe a couple
00:37:12
of days, but then we we kept it moving. >> After Liberty, Matthew attended Christopher Newport University in
00:37:20
Newport News, Virginia. Again, he was on the football team. and again he left after just a few months amid allegations
00:37:30
of another sexual assault. >> What happened to these cases? >> It went under the radar. Um they didn't
00:37:37
press charges. So the next university did not know what they were getting. >> There's no requirement that that
00:37:43
>> there was no requirement that they needed to alert the other university of why he was transferring. So there's
00:37:50
these allegations and next thing you know he's transferred. They never had a determination by any anybody that he was
00:37:58
dangerous. >> Attorney Lloyd Snook. Looking back, you can't help but say, gosh, uh, if there
00:38:05
been a requirement that the colleges make this public, >> it's probably more to the point that
00:38:11
that when there is no actual prosecution, that's where the system fails. >> Not once, but twice.
00:38:19
>> That's right. After leaving his second college, Matthew came back to Charlottesville
00:38:25
driving a cab for a few years. He had a few minor run-ins with police, traffic violations, and trespassing.
00:38:33
>> To kill or hurt somebody, that's not my son. >> Matthew's father, like many, was
00:38:41
bewildered at the thought that Jesse could be involved in something as serious as Hannah Graham's abduction. I
00:38:48
can see him maybe trying to give the girl a ride home or help her out. >> Mostly I'm just really shocked.
00:38:59
>> Francis Lee Vandel was Matthew's landlady. >> We don't know a thing yet. We don't know
00:39:04
a thing. Everything seemed to be going well for Jesse. He'd had a promotion at the hospital. Charges are filed against
00:39:11
a man authorities believe was the last person seen with a University of Virginia student before her
00:39:17
disappearance more than one week ago. >> I'm watching the news. I'm shocked. I'm
00:39:20
like, "Wow, this this LJ that went to school with me." >> William Hay hadn't seen or heard from
00:39:26
Matthew in years. When he learned that his former teammate was suspected in Hannah Graham's disappearance, his
00:39:34
reaction was pure shock at first. >> And then next, you know, everything just stopped flashing through my head. The
00:39:40
incident that happened at Liberty, like, wow, could LJ have have done this? >> And how did you answer that?
00:39:46
>> At first, you know, I'm like, um, no. He just seemed to be uh a a caring person.
00:39:54
But again, then when you start looking at some of the other things, then I thought that possibly
00:39:58
>> you you almost get the impression of two Jesse Matthews. >> Who was the real Jesse Matthew? Maybe
00:40:04
this guy was was okay. People were trying to get in touch with the family with his lawyer.
00:40:10
>> I am Mr. Matthews attorney. I was hired by him and his family on Saturday. That's the only comment I'll make at
00:40:18
this time. looking, you know, asking tell us a little bit about him, you know, let us at least paint a picture
00:40:25
that that's fair. I think that everyone was trying to maintain hope that maybe this was a mistake.
00:40:33
>> But as the days wore on with no sign of Hannah Graham or Jesse Matthew, hope was
00:40:39
scarce with memories turning to those other young women for whom searches had failed. They may not have all been
00:40:48
connected, but it definitely was on the minds of people living in and around central Virginia, the Charlottesville
00:40:54
area. >> I think most people were beginning to think pretty bleak thoughts. You know,
00:40:58
somebody give us some information about something. >> Soon someone would, and the twisted
00:41:04
trail of Jesse Matthew would take a surprising turn into the past. This car came in front of me and stopped
00:41:20
and the fellow that was sitting in the driver's seat kind of glares at me. I had seen his face on the news every
00:41:26
morning. My heart literally probably stopped beating because I knew that was him.
00:41:37
This special two-part edition of 48 hours will continue. This special two-part edition of 48
00:42:09
Hours continues. >> There is a developing story out of Charlottesville. It was just a few hours
00:42:26
after this picture was taken that Hannah Elizabeth Graham went missing. >> Hannah Graham had just started her
00:42:35
second year at the University of Virginia. >> Going to continue to work relentlessly
00:42:41
until we find Hannah Graham. >> The first thing that came to my mind was the name Morgan Harrington.
00:42:47
>> Police are again desperate for details in the case of missing Morgan Harrington. Morgan was another college
00:42:54
student that had gone to a concert one October 2009 night. >> The FBI is in day three of its search
00:43:02
for Alexis Murphy and there's still no sign of her. >> Here you have a high school student who
00:43:08
leaves for the day to get some hair products. >> Alexis, if you can hear me, this is your
00:43:14
dad. I'm letting you know that I won't give up. I want you home. >> Hannah Graham, Morgan Harrington, Alexis
00:43:19
Murphy. Why in this nice area are these young girls going missing? >> If Morgan is out there and and hears us,
00:43:28
please come home. >> If anybody know anything, please let us know. >> We are trying to find you. We will never
00:43:36
stop. >> All we want to do now is to bring Hannah home safely. >> They could track through the various uh
00:43:45
video cameras where she had gone. They knew that she had been at the University of Virginia at a bar. Then she had been
00:43:51
walking around a bar a mile away. Then she had been downtown. Then she just vanished.
00:43:58
>> Somebody listening to me today either knows where Hannah is or knows someone who has that information.
00:44:05
>> They didn't know if she was alive or dead. Everybody had their fears, but nobody knew.
00:44:10
>> Split them up. Couple guys on the right. >> You are basically swinging on a pendulum
00:44:14
between hope and despair. If you attend the University of Virginia, if that young lady's touched
00:44:20
your life in any way, you have the responsibility to help us find her. >> When Alexis was missing, I wanted the
00:44:28
whole world looking for her. >> Over the weekend, 1,200 volunteers covered 85% of the city, searching for
00:44:35
additional clues. >> This is probably one of the greatest coordinated search efforts in the
00:44:39
history of the Commonwealth. And now we have reason to believe she was inside of a bar on this mall with an
00:44:48
individual. >> Having done a little bit more investigating, that is when they started
00:44:53
learning the name Jesse Matthew Jr. >> Jesse Matthew was the last person she was seen with before she vanished off
00:45:00
the face of the earth. >> People have been trying to learn more about Jesse Matthew since they first
00:45:05
heard his name. >> They search his apartment. They seize his car. >> So certainly he is the focus of our
00:45:10
investigation. and they're they're coming out with evidence. >> Police say forensic evidence also
00:45:15
connects him to the death of Morgan Harrington. >> And I think that's when they started
00:45:19
thinking, could this be the same person? >> Several hours later, while police were
00:45:25
following Jesse Matthew, he took off from his grandmother's house >> and they lose him.
00:45:31
>> Excuse me. They lose him. >> They They really thought they had their suspect >> and he's gone.
00:45:38
>> We want to talk to Jesse Matthew. We want to talk about where Hannah Graham is.
00:45:50
>> I'm Susan Spencer. Tonight on 48 Hours, Hannah Graham, stalked by evil. The disappearance of Hannah Graham left
00:46:18
the audience across the country hungry for every detail on Twitter. >> September 21st, 2014, a week after
00:46:28
Hannah Graham went missing. And Jesse Matthew, the one person who may hold the key to her whereabouts, is missing as
00:46:36
well. Matthew was last seen Saturday speeding away from police who were following him.
00:46:42
>> I hope and pray that we might have an opportunity to talk Jesse Matthew again
00:46:46
cuz I think he can help us find Hannah Graham. >> It was tense. It was already tense and
00:46:52
it was even tenser cuz now we don't know where he is. >> WTVR reporter and 48 hours consultant
00:46:59
Laura French wasn't the only one speechless to learn that police had let their only suspect slip away. So Jesse
00:47:07
Matthew is gone. >> Jesse Matthew is gone. I even joked with one of the investigators and said, "You
00:47:15
guys really know where he is. You're watching him." >> Surely here are some serious accusations
00:47:21
against this individual. And you don't know where he is. He fled. And he fled far. Police have released this wanted
00:47:29
poster of Jesse Leroy Matthew. >> He is the last person that was with Hannah. So certainly he is the focus of
00:47:35
our investigation. Remarkably, 4 days after he fled, Jesse Matthew is spotted in, of all places, Galveastston, Texas,
00:47:44
on a near empty beach, 1300 miles from Charlottesville. >> Fast forward to September 24th. We have
00:47:53
a woman out on the beach looking just for a peaceful afternoon to watch the water.
00:47:59
>> That woman was Karen Monk. His tent was about right here, close to the grass,
00:48:04
and his car was parked on the other side. >> She's sitting in the back of her car,
00:48:08
and she sees this man in a tent, you know, few yards down from her, doesn't think much of it until he drives
00:48:18
by her. >> This car came in front of me and stopped. And the fellow that was sitting
00:48:22
in the driver's seat, his windows were down. He leans over and looks, kind of glares at me.
00:48:28
Monk suddenly found herself face to face with one of the most wanted men in the country.
00:48:35
>> When I looked up and I saw him, I mean, his facial features are unmistakable. I
00:48:40
just held my breath just hoping he would just keep going. Um, my heart literally probably stopped
00:48:47
beating because I knew that was him. >> You mean to tell me that she recognized him on the beach from a wanted poster
00:48:54
that she'd seen on television or what? >> From a mug shot. And she's like, "Okay,
00:48:58
do I leave because I'm probably in danger or do I stay here so I can tell police exactly where he is?"
00:49:05
>> She not only stayed, she called every law enforcement agency she could think of, finally getting a response from the
00:49:12
Galveastston County Sheriff's Office. They found Jesse Matthew on the beach and arrested him without incident.
00:49:21
>> How does she view what she did? >> She's very humble. She views it as being in the right place at the right time and
00:49:29
doing the right thing. >> We're here tonight to announce that Jesse Matthew was in custody in
00:49:34
Galveston, Texas. >> And apparently he had bigger travel plans than Texas. A map of Mexico was
00:49:42
found in his car. Now in custody, he was headed not south, but north back to Charlottesville, Virginia. He was locked
00:49:51
up in Galveston for 40ome hours. Charlottesville authorities came and flew him back here and they had him by
00:50:00
their side at all times. >> But Matthew quickly dashed any hope police had that he'd give them
00:50:06
information about Hannah Graham. >> He never cooperated with anybody as far as answering questions voluntarily.
00:50:14
>> Never has. >> Never has. >> We have a person in custody, but there's a long road ahead of us. And that long
00:50:19
road includes finding Hannah Graham. >> Now the search expanded out from Charlottesville and the university
00:50:26
campus here to the surrounding countryside. And despite the growing odds against this having a good outcome,
00:50:34
no one was giving up. In fact, the volunteers just kept on coming. >> I got three more for your team.
00:50:41
>> It wasn't clear whether she was alive or or dead at this point. prosecutor >> Neil Augenstein covered this story both
00:50:48
for WP radio and online. He's also a 48 hours consultant. >> As time went on, people were thinking
00:50:57
more and more that she probably had had died. >> This specialized team of trackers
00:51:03
searched for Hannah Graham on Friday afternoon. The team, which includes a navigator, a dog, and a handler, is
00:51:09
directing the dog off trail to find any trace of a human scent. Okay, >> nice job.
00:51:16
>> People wanted answers. People wanted closure. People wanted it now. >> But no one wanted the news that came on
00:51:26
October 18th, 35 days after Hannah disappeared. We're following a developing story out
00:51:34
of Albamarl County. Sometime before noon today, a search team from the Chesterfield County Sheriff's Department
00:51:40
was searching an abandoned property along Old Lynchburg Road in southern Alamoral County when they discovered
00:51:48
what appears to be human remains. >> Where the human remains were found was uh behind a home that nobody was living
00:51:57
in at the time. And this was within a few miles of a home where Jesse Matthew had grown up and spent time uh with his
00:52:06
family. >> How far was this from Charlottesville? >> Uh so this house was five, six, seven
00:52:11
miles out of downtown Charlottesville. >> What also intrigued investigators, the
00:52:17
site where Morgan Harrington's remains had been found four years earlier was only a few miles away.
00:52:26
With the discovery of Hannah's body, the community that had searched so long and
00:52:31
hard with John and Susan Graham now could only grieve with them. As a parent, my heart sank because it was
00:52:39
final. Their worst fears had come to light, but at the same time, they were able to bring her home.
00:52:45
>> The focus turns now to the suspect in custody and charged with her abduction,
00:52:50
32-year-old Jesse Matthew. The next challenge, building a solid case against Jesse Matthew. He wasn't
00:52:58
talking, but science was about to do the talking for him. >> I obtained a search warrant for Mr.
00:53:06
Matthews for his DNA. I have a lot of friends that go to UVA. My initial reaction was,
00:53:35
"How could this be?" After a month of vigils and hopes and prayers for Hannah Graham, the reality
00:53:45
of her murder was a horrific shock. >> This is our opportunity to create a silver
00:53:52
lining in the tremendous cloud that that that um Hannah's fate represented to us.
00:54:01
>> When it comes to these sort of girl gone missing stories, there's always this
00:54:06
barrier of ignorance where you don't know the person who's on the other side of the screen.
00:54:13
And I did this time. Hannah's friend, Llaya Nasser. It's something that's so overwhelming and so powerful and you
00:54:21
can't understand or fathom why anybody would do this. >> Law enforcement wanted to ask that very
00:54:29
question to Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. who now sat in jail formally charged with abduction with intent to defile Hannah
00:54:38
Graham. He was not charged with murder. >> People have been calling for the death
00:54:43
for Jesse Matthew before Hannah Graham's body was even found. This is showing the
00:54:48
power of Twitter and and not necessarily for good. Uh you know, people were convinced of his guilt.
00:54:55
>> While Matthew was behind bars in Charlottesville, a case a 100 miles away in Fairfax,
00:55:02
Virginia, ice cold for nearly 10 years was about to heat up. >> I was u getting ready to leave to go out
00:55:09
of town uh to to Georgia to a funeral. I was watching the video of Hannah Graham
00:55:16
going through the mall down there. >> Detective Michael Boon had never stopped working at unsolved rape case from 2005
00:55:24
involving the victim known only as RG. He'd had little to go on but the composite sketch of her rapist.
00:55:31
>> Hey, we're searching for Hannah. >> But then one day, he happened to glimpse news coverage of the Graham case. The
00:55:38
person Charlottesville police most want to question is this man, Jesse Matthew. >> I saw the picture of Jesse Matthews and
00:55:46
I saw the picture of the composite drawing. So, I mean, I knew they had the the right person.
00:55:51
>> You knew the second you saw his picture? >> Yeah. >> He had been looking at that composite
00:55:58
for almost 10 years, and his gut told him that without question, his rapist and Jesse Matthew were one and the same.
00:56:07
that Matthew's DNA would match the unidentified DNA in his rape case. So Boon gets a search warrant and speeds
00:56:15
off to Charlottesville to meet with his suspect. So you take this sample and what did you do with the sample?
00:56:22
>> I drove it to the Department of Forensic Science to the Citro Lab in Richmond.
00:56:26
>> A quick turnaround, got an answer in a week. >> So the word was look, you know, we need
00:56:32
this. >> Well, they knew they knew what we were dealing with. Yes. What' you think you
00:56:36
were dealing with? >> Very violent sexual offender. >> The results, a bombshell. Boon was
00:56:43
right. Jesse Matthews DNA matched that of the Fairfax rapist. >> I held out hope every year that he was
00:56:50
going to get identified. It's just like finally. >> But there was more. Because remember,
00:56:55
the rapist DNA matched DNA found on Morgan Harrington's t-shirt after her murder. Now, investigators knew whose
00:57:04
DNA it was. >> Breaking news. >> We were able to confirm today that Jesse Matthew Jr. has been linked. Forensic
00:57:12
evidence has linked him to the Morgan Harrington case from 2009. >> Wow. You broke this.
00:57:19
>> I did. We know that Jesse Matthew at some point made contact with Virginia Tech student Morgan Dana Harrington the
00:57:28
night she disappeared and three months later was later found murdered. That's what we do know. Doesn't mean he did
00:57:34
something. >> Fast forward to 2014 to Jesse Matthew and the Hannah Graham case. >> We know that police have forensic
00:57:42
evidence that places her with him. What that is, we don't know. >> We know she was with him.
00:57:49
She's on tape with him. >> But the question is, did she leave in his car? That's what's not been made public.
00:57:58
>> The key would be evidence showing what happened to Hannah after she was last seen at the restaurant with Matthew.
00:58:05
Police searched his car within days of her disappearance and will say only that no blood was found. the state has in its
00:58:15
um possession a digital record from a cell tower from Hannah Graham's phone. We also know that there's digital
00:58:22
records from her Facebook account, Skype, Snapchat, Twitter, all those different social media venues. But
00:58:29
there's about 50 plus search warrants. So half of those we don't know about. But on October 20th, 2014, two days
00:58:38
after Hannah Graham's remains were discovered, authorities indict Jesse Matthew. Not for Hannah's murder, nor
00:58:46
for Morgan's, but for the attempted capital murder, abduction, and sexual assault of the
00:58:53
anonymous RG back in 2005. Apparently feeling that the rape case was the strongest.
00:59:02
It was bittersweet news for Jill and Dan Harrington. Why have there been no charges filed in Morgan's case?
00:59:10
>> I think they're trying to they want to finish prosecuting the Fairfax case. >> So, you fully expect that there will be.
00:59:17
>> Uh, yes, I do. >> To show their support, the Harringtons will be front and center at Jesse
00:59:23
Matthews upcoming rape trial. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, prosecutors are scrambling to build a
00:59:31
solid case against Matthew for the murder of Hannah Graham. And pressure is building.
00:59:48
Suspected killer Jesse Matthew was safely behind bars, but each passing day brought the question
00:59:56
When would he be charged with Hannah Graham's murder? >> On Monday, February 2nd, 2015, Jesse
01:00:02
Matthew Jr. was indicted in Albam Marorrow County for abduction and murder of Hannah Graham.
01:00:09
>> It was 5 months after she vanished before prosecutors had the evidence they needed.
01:00:17
>> What we don't know is what they found in his apartment. We can report this much
01:00:21
though. In the second search of his apartment, police went in there for something very specific. And when asked
01:00:28
if they got what they went in there for, they said, "Yes, we did." Those details
01:00:35
presumably will come out in court. >> But relief that the Graham case was moving forward mixed with
01:00:41
disappointment, especially once again in the Twitter sphere. >> When Jesse Matthew was first charged
01:00:47
with first-degree murder, people were outraged. Why were they going to go for the death penalty?
01:00:52
>> Jesse Matthew Jr. was served that new indictment. >> That all changed three months later when
01:00:58
the Commonwealth attorney announced she would seek the death penalty. After all,
01:01:03
>> the Commonwealth received some additional forensic information in late February that led to this increase in
01:01:10
charge. >> Was upping the charges to capital murder a strategic move or was that based on
01:01:15
some bombshell evidence they may have had? >> They haven't told us. Charlottesville
01:01:19
attorney Lloyd Snook has been following the Graham case. >> Some other evidence, maybe there's some
01:01:25
DNA evidence that hadn't come back from the lab yet. In addition, there is a second analysis
01:01:31
and that is to weigh aggravating and mitigating circumstances. >> What would those be?
01:01:36
>> Well, that's a long way of saying that it was a really, really awful crime. Not
01:01:41
just awful because all murders are awful, but something really, really bad. I want to see what happens when evil
01:01:49
intersects with justice. >> Jill Harrington was at a pre-trial hearing in Hannah Graham's case the day
01:01:57
the change to the death penalty was announced. >> She supports the move. >> I really don't know what the
01:02:04
justification for changing the the charge is, but some bad things happened. Lives were lost.
01:02:12
As the years have gone by, her daughter's case has seemed to be stalled. Despite that t-shirt DNA
01:02:19
linking Matthew to Morgan, a trial for Morgan, we do want to have that day, but it really changes nothing in our lives.
01:02:27
Our lives are as empty. The pain that we'll have after a trial is the same pain that we have today.
01:02:34
>> By spring of 2015, Matthew faced two trials. for the murder of Hannah Graham and for the 2005 abduction, sexual
01:02:42
assault, and attempted capital murder of the woman known as RG. And questions were raised about a
01:02:51
Matthew connection to the Alexis Murphy case. Questions generated by attorneys for her convicted killer, Randy Taylor.
01:02:58
They demanded evidence be tested for Matthew's DNA just in case. >> We're fine with that. Let's say by the
01:03:07
off chance they do find Jesse Matthews DNA in her car. It just means that he was also involved. It doesn't make Randy
01:03:13
Taylor any less guilty than he is now. >> What do you think the the odds of that
01:03:17
are? >> Honestly, I think it's pretty slim. >> Trina Murphy, Alexis's aunt, was right.
01:03:25
No DNA link with Matthew was found. >> You Jesse Leroy Matthew Junior. >> Meanwhile, after nearly a decade, RG's
01:03:34
case was moving forward. attempt to kill RG in the commission >> with hearings. >> How do you plead to that charge?
01:03:40
>> Not guilty. >> And finally, in June 2015, a trial with Jesse Matthews fate depending on the DNA
01:03:50
and on testimony from the anonymous victim RG. >> She was hesitant. She was worried.
01:03:56
>> Commonwealth Attorney Ray Morrow. >> She is a very dignified woman from a different culture, very well educated, I
01:04:04
might say, brilliant. and she wanted her privacy, but at the same time, we tried
01:04:10
to make sure she had the opportunity to to get her voice heard. >> Since the rape, RG had moved back home
01:04:20
to Asia to a new life. Seeking justice meant not only traveling halfway around the world, but publicly reliving perhaps
01:04:29
the most terrifying moments of her life. What do you think the specific impact was on her?
01:04:36
>> The trauma. The trauma of it. It just so violent. >> Detective Boon had always kept in touch
01:04:43
with her, contacting RG with any news about the case. >> I picked her up at the airport. You
01:04:48
know, I hadn't seen her in such a long time. She was nervous. She's going to see him in court, and that's very
01:04:54
stressful for a victim. Very stressful. She did not want to be victimized again by some who might blame the victim. She
01:05:03
didn't want people around her to know about it and it she didn't want it to define her.
01:05:07
>> She did nothing wrong. >> No. No. Here we understand that. But some people don't.
01:05:13
>> And the composite sketch RG helped put together back in 2005 posed a problem.
01:05:20
The attack was at night. She was traumatized and predictably the defense insists that neither it nor an updated
01:05:28
version looks anything like Jesse Matthew. >> So going into this then you have the
01:05:35
sketch and you've got a victim. You don't know how she's going to testify, >> right?
01:05:38
>> You you're a little nervous as this starts. >> I try not to be nervous, but it's always
01:05:42
a risk to have a jury trial. I was concerned >> justifiably so. We're moving along
01:05:50
rather quickly, so that's a good thing. >> It was a move not many saw coming, including
01:05:53
>> the outcome of this trial. Like everything else in these tangled cases, would defy everyone's predictions.
01:06:01
>> I'm kind of reeling. This wasn't just a rape case. This was a rape case that was tied to the Hannah
01:06:25
Graham case. >> The trial of Jesse Matthew for attempted murder, abduction, and sexual assault
01:06:32
takes place in the shadow of the Hannah Graham case. Although unlike Hannah, this victim, known only as RG, does
01:06:39
survive. In June of 2015, she travels from her home in Asia here to Fairfax, Virginia for Matthew's trial, hoping to
01:06:48
help put him behind bars. And not just for herself. >> We thought about our victim in our case
01:06:55
and Hannah and Morgan pretty much every day from the day that we found out that this was our man. It strikes at your
01:07:02
heart, you know, as a as a father myself, but just as a human being. I mean, I can't think of anything worse
01:07:07
than attacking a woman or a child. Hopefully, we'll be out of court soon. And >> Commonwealth Attorney Ray Mura was happy
01:07:12
to have his case against Matthew go first, hoping to pave the way for future prosecutions for Hannah and for Morgan.
01:07:21
>> I think every bit of testimony that was heard in this case, you were listening
01:07:25
with the thought that could this somehow be related to these other cases. The judge allowed no cameras, but sketches
01:07:34
and Neil Augenstein's tweets painted a vivid picture. From the first moment RG walked into the courtroom,
01:07:43
>> this was the first time that she was in the same room with with Jesse Matthew in
01:07:48
10 years, I and everyone else in the courtroom was looking to see who was making eye contact with with who.
01:07:54
>> Did she ever look at him? I never once saw her look at Jesse Matthew. >> Did he look at her?
01:08:01
>> He looked at her the whole time. >> I think there was some expectation that at the trial she would sit there and go,
01:08:09
you know, that's him. >> Yeah, that was an issue, but she hadn't seen it in 10 years. So, I wasn't going
01:08:13
to press her on that. She came just a whisper from being murdered. And um there in the courtroom 20t from her sits
01:08:23
the man who who tried to murder her. In a hushed voice, RG testified about that horrible night, saying her attacker
01:08:32
picked her up from behind like a baby. And then she went on, "He put me on the ground and he sat on my legs and he
01:08:40
banged my head on the grass on the ground. He hit my face, beat me. I was screaming and yelling." I think at first
01:08:48
she was extremely nervous and admitted certain parts that she put in a part of her mind that she didn't want to bring
01:08:57
back out, but she knew she had to. I was punching him. I was trying to kick. He sealed my nose and my mouth with his
01:09:03
hands and he choked me. He was pulling my pants down. I was still struggling. >> She told the story she didn't seek
01:09:13
vengeance on the stand. He said, "I will kill you. If you scream again, I'll twist your neck. Let me do this. I'll
01:09:20
let you go." The nightmare only ended, she said, when he dragged her into a ditch and ran off. RG was a very good
01:09:29
witness. >> I didn't see anybody, but you know. >> Also testifying was Mark Castro, the
01:09:35
passer by who heard RG's cries that night. He found her confused and covered in blood. He got a neighbor to call 911
01:09:43
and stayed until the ambulance arrived. What did you feel was the most important
01:09:48
thing that you needed to get across to the jury? >> Uh her condition. It was not a uh just a
01:09:54
typical assault. This is attempted murder. She looked like somebody that was near dead.
01:09:58
>> You wanted to be sure they understood how badly hurt she was. >> That's right.
01:10:02
>> I'll look at the defendants to see if there's any emotion, expression. There wasn't any from him. Unlike RG, Michael
01:10:10
Boone did look Jesse Matthew in the eye as the lead detective testified about how he got the vitally important sample
01:10:18
of Matthew's DNA. >> I went through and explained to him how I collected it, put on gloves, and then
01:10:24
swabbed the inside of his mouth and uh took that back and submitted it to Department of Forensic Science.
01:10:30
>> DNA was pivotal to the trial. Experts testified that the sample from Matthew matched what was found under RG's
01:10:39
fingernail. >> How strong was the DNA evidence? What were the >> What were the numbers?
01:10:44
>> It was one in uh 7 billion that it could have been anyone else but the defendant.
01:10:50
So, one in greater than the world's population. >> One in seven billion is pretty clear.
01:10:55
>> That's a pretty good number. After two and a half days, the prosecution rested and attention turned
01:11:02
to the defense. >> The defense asked for a brief recess. The brief uh recess lasted longer and
01:11:10
longer. >> What are you thinking during all this? >> At first, I just thought they were
01:11:14
trying to decide what whether they were going to uh put on a defense or not. >> Then you see Jesse's family get taken in
01:11:21
the back. Then you see them go back and forth, but then you see prosecutors just
01:11:25
sitting there. So you're thinking there can't be a deal going on. Then you see his mom in tears. What's happening?
01:11:32
>> It was at that point that Neil Augenstein, who at over 6 feet tall, has a rather good vantage point, noticed
01:11:39
something else. >> I watched the the uh the prosecutors walking down the aisle. And I looked at
01:11:45
the paperwork. It said Alfred plate. So, I went on Twitter and started tweeting that the defense and prosecution were
01:11:52
handling uh printed copies of an Alfred plea. >> Neil's tweets broke the story that there
01:11:58
would be no jury verdict. Jesse Matthew would plead guilty, albeit a slightly qualified guilty.
01:12:06
>> They kind of threw the towel in on it. Made a decision to plead Alford, which
01:12:10
is a type of guilty plea where the defendant is allowed to say, "The evidence against me is overwhelming. I'm
01:12:17
pleading guilty, but I do not admit that I committed the crime. >> You did not offer this.
01:12:22
>> No, I never offered any plea agreement. You know, we wanted the jury to decide
01:12:26
it. >> The only thing that he's gaining by doing an offered plea here is not having
01:12:31
to look at his mother in the eye and say, "This is what I did." >> The plea stunned everyone, including
01:12:38
Jill Harrington, who attended the trial to show support. >> RG is one exceptional human being. I
01:12:46
applaud her courage and determination in finding her justice in this court building today.
01:12:54
>> The trial didn't end as expected, but the result was all that mattered. >> He's convicted, so we've done our job.
01:13:02
He's off the street. We gave him no breaks. This is a good thing. >> In the end, the judge gave Matthew the
01:13:09
maximum in this case, three life sentences. For RG, it was a difficult but triumphant trip.
01:13:21
And before flying home, she had some business to attend to with a man she had not seen since the night of the attack.
01:13:30
>> She said, "Thank you. I for saving my life." >> Did you say anything else to her?
01:13:34
>> I said, "You're welcome. I just did what I thought is the best thing to do." RG
01:13:39
also thanked Detective Boone, whose business card she kept in her wallet all these years.
01:13:46
>> We went back into a conference room and she pulled it out and she said, "I guess
01:13:49
I should give this back to you now." And I told her to keep it. >> The RG case was closed, but suddenly
01:13:56
justice for another victim was moving with shocking speed. >> In your heart, did you think you'd be
01:14:02
standing here today? Jesse. >> Yes. >> Reporters were stunned. >> He was sitting really close to the
01:14:25
Harrington family and looked right at them as he left the courtroom. They're coming out right now. I got to
01:14:32
go. Perhaps no one was more shocked than the Harringtons themselves at the Commonwealth attorney's blockbuster
01:14:40
announcement. >> Misindicted for first-degree murder and abduction with the intent to defile
01:14:47
Morgan Harrington. >> It has been such a long journey. >> The charges coming finally nearly 6
01:14:58
years after Morgan's death. It makes more real the fact that Morgan is dead and yes was murdered.
01:15:06
>> He needs to know that justice is coming. >> To drive the point home, the Harringtons
01:15:13
resolutely locked eyes with Jesse Matthew as he walked past them in court. I wanted him to see this is the face of
01:15:22
justice for Jesse Matthews because I've known and believed for some time that he
01:15:28
killed our Morgan. >> Trina Murphy is there for support. >> God bless you, Trina.
01:15:36
>> So sorry. >> The trial was set for October 2016 in the Harrington case. >> The maximum sentence in Harrington's
01:15:43
murder is life in prison. If convicted for Hannah Graham's murder, Jesse Matthew could face the death penalty.
01:15:50
>> The Hannah Graham murder trial was scheduled for July of 2016, a capital case with plenty of time for a plea.
01:15:59
>> He can plead at any time up until he's found guilty. >> What's he got to lose? He's facing the
01:16:04
death penalty. >> That's a hard call. I will say he's got some good lawyers. You know, I think
01:16:08
they'll fight it out. And with much of the evidence in the Hannah Graham case sealed, it's unclear
01:16:15
how strong a case the state really has. >> We don't know what the evidence is. And
01:16:20
they've actually been very careful in many ways to not put a lot of stuff out there.
01:16:25
>> Based on what you do know, would you be surprised if this ever went to trial?
01:16:29
>> Let's think about some of the the circumstantial evidence issues here. Okay. What we think we know is that they
01:16:36
were seen together, say 1:30 at night, the night that she was last seen. Supposing the defense argues there's no
01:16:45
evidence that he did anything to actually hurt her. That's a problem. >> Hannah's family has grieved in private,
01:16:55
leaving comments about the case to others. Hannah's coach, Craig Maniglia. They're strong and they will figure out
01:17:03
a way to get around this. They won't get over it, but they'll go forward. I can tell you that Grahams want justice,
01:17:09
>> as do friends like Llaya Nasser. >> When you send your kids to college, you send them there to chase their dreams.
01:17:16
Hannah didn't get that chance. Her last moments were at the mercy of a murderer monster.
01:17:26
Hannah's dreams were on everyone's mind this past summer when several of her UVA
01:17:31
classmates took to the mountains. Pausing on the majestic French Alps and the peaks of Tanzania to remember her.
01:17:39
>> We had dreamed of going to hike Mont Blanc talked about this >> 3800 me in the air.
01:17:45
>> So we figured in a symbolic measure we would do this bring her memorial there.
01:17:49
>> This was on Kilamanjaro. A simple tribute, says Alan Q, to an unquenchable spirit.
01:17:56
>> She loved hiking. She loved skiing. So I always imagine her skiing through the
01:18:00
clouds. >> Learning from these tragedies is of great importance to Jill Harrington.
01:18:09
>> I think we are at a critical time. There's a critical number of girls who have been killed or are missing from our
01:18:15
area. >> Never let a friend leave an adventure. >> I will check on friends. To increase
01:18:20
awareness, the Harringtons founded an organization, Help Save the Next Girl. >> We will help save the next girl.
01:18:27
>> Jill believes that what happened to Hannah, Morgan, Alexis, and RG hits close to home for many young women.
01:18:35
>> That's was always my intent was to save the next girl. Unfortunately, we couldn't save Hannah Graham.
01:18:41
>> Jill Harrington's crusade to protect young women continues. And as usual, Trina Murphy is at her side. From the
01:18:49
day we found your story while following the Hannah Graham story, we have not ceased to grieve and pray for you.
01:18:54
>> Alexis's body still has not been found. It's now become bigger than just Alexis.
01:19:01
And it's not about any one case or any one girl or guy. We have to unify. She is out there somewhere. And until we are
01:19:10
able to bring her home, we don't have any closure. >> It's been 720 days. 1,51,000
01:19:18
minutes since the last time we got to see her beautiful face. >> In August 2015, the Murphy's gathered
01:19:24
for the second anniversary of Alexis's disappearance. For her mother, it felt like yesterday.
01:19:31
>> Just getting started in life. >> Hi. >> I never got pictures. I always wanted to
01:19:37
see her dressed up to go to pro. >> I'll never see that. All right, guys. It's 7:16. RELEASE.
01:19:52
>> Families need to understand that you really have to work at keeping their story alive.
01:19:58
>> You just have to beat the drum and it's the only way that we're going to ever
01:20:01
affect change. >> This poem is called Metallic. Morgan Harrington's friend, Lindsay Crisp,
01:20:10
found her own way to keep memories alive. >> See, she was supposed to be at a Metallica concert.
01:20:17
>> In a raw and emotional piece, she wrote and shared at an open mic event. >> Do not let your girlfriends go out
01:20:25
alone. >> A few days after her video hit social media, Lindsay was reunited with Jill
01:20:32
Harrington. >> Love you so much. I'm sorry it came to this, sweetie. on the Copley Bridge for
01:20:38
the first time since Morgan's death. >> Last place where she was of her own valition. It's become kind of a memorial
01:20:44
spot for us. >> So now the bridge is full of color and pictures and a sign that says justice.
01:20:51
It felt good to be able to do something for her. And on the sidewalk, words of thanks to RG, the anonymous rape victim
01:21:01
whose testimony and courage helped take a predator off the streets. >> She's the one that got away. And I'm
01:21:09
sure she didn't feel like the lucky one, but thank God she did. >> She is the hero. I mean, she came back
01:21:16
from far, far away and relive this thing. She didn't have to do it, but at the end of the day, this was something
01:21:22
she had to do for the next woman. and also for herself as a woman. And we're all just so proud of her.
01:21:31
>> But for those left behind without resolution, memories are tinged with heartache and with questions of what
01:21:40
might have been. >> I really sort of thought Morgan would be an artist. >> I mean, she was just chucka block full
01:21:49
of potential. I mean, she could just roll out of bed and be gorgeous. Loved to laugh. She was really, really
01:22:02
funny. >> She achieved everything she could at the highest level she could achieve it.
01:22:12
>> She was very smiley and silly, too, which is what I want people to remember most of all. This warm, sunny, smiley
01:22:20
girl full of life. We start tonight with breaking news in the Jesse Matthew case. A plea agreement
01:22:34
reached on March 2nd, 2016, just a few months before the Hannah Graham murder trial
01:22:41
was to begin. Jesse Matthew accepted a deal. >> Today, Jesse Matthew Jr. plead guilty to
01:22:48
the first-degree murder of Hannah Graham. guilty to the first-degree murder of Morgan Harrington.
01:22:58
>> In exchange for pleading guilty, Matthew no longer faced the death penalty. He
01:23:03
will serve four consecutive life terms with no possibility of ever being released. Both the Harrington and the
01:23:11
Graham families supported the plea agreement. >> I would say the primary emotion is
01:23:17
relief. Um, finding justice for Morgan has been a burden on our family for six and a half years.
01:23:24
>> Today's events do not bring Hannah back to us. Of course, we miss her every day.
01:23:29
At times like this, one has to draw comfort where one can >> after the announcement. The Harringtons
01:23:37
returned to the Copley Bridge. This time to tie green ribbons on the railings as a symbol of new growth and
01:23:46
going forward. Jill said it would be their final visit to the bridge where Morgan was last
01:23:53
seen. >> You don't get over your daughter being murdered, but you can get past it and we
01:24:00
want to do that. >> Hannah's enduring gift to us all is that she enabled this wicked man to be
01:24:06
apprehended and convicted. She did change the world, but at a terrible price.