00:00:07
going to continue to work relentlessly till we find Hannah Graham. >> Somebody's got to know where she is.
00:00:19
>> Cuz it's been a week and we can't find her. My Facebook feed was just waterlogged
00:00:26
with, you know, Hannah Graham missing, missing, missing, missing. >> My initial reaction was, "How could this
00:00:34
be?" >> The reaction on Twitter is a pretty good barometer of the way people care.
00:00:43
Neil Logenstein, WTOP News. The disappearance of Hannah Graham brought us down here to Charlottesville for what
00:00:49
was the most extensive search in Virginia history and it left the audience across the country hungry for
00:00:55
every detail on Twitter. Everyone had an idea about what police could do to find
00:01:00
her. >> She's our only daughter and she's enormously precious to us all. >> You know, immediately I contacted the
00:01:09
police department and said, "What do we have here? You know, do you feel like this person went missing on her own?"
00:01:14
They said, "No, this was out of character. This is being seen as suspicious." You've got different women within that
00:01:23
area who had gone missing. You had Morgan Harrington, Alexis Murphy, you know, Hannah Graham was the latest one.
00:01:30
You know, all these names. You go down the list. Continuing coverage now for the search for Alexis Murphy. 5 years
00:01:36
since Morgan Harrington was last seen alive. >> Searches on for a missing University of
00:01:41
Virginia student. Your heart squeezes and you say, "Oh no, not another one." >> I received a call from the University of
00:01:49
Virginia police who informed me that Morgan's purse had been found in a parking lot.
00:01:55
>> I knew that minute [music] something terrible had had happened. >> We still haven't found Alexis, but the
00:02:04
tapes [music] in and of themselves are haunting. What happened? What transpired in those minutes that we don't have her
00:02:11
on camera that caused her to disappear literally into thin air? [laughter] >> We are part of a club. We're part of a
00:02:19
ugly little club. [music] >> The surveillance tapes really were the the turning point in this case.
00:02:28
>> She's coming from the direction you were coming from the University of Virginia.
00:02:33
>> In one of those images, she's walking with a man. We do have tape here supposedly shows them together.
00:02:40
>> After the uh Hannah Graham case broke and my chief deputy said, you know, that
00:02:45
looks just like our composite. He [music] looks like the asalent in our case. In my mind, this was not a first
00:02:51
timer. [music] >> We had these missing girls and of course their families were looking for answers.
00:02:57
>> DNA science is ultimately what connected three separate cases. I'm Susan Spencer. Tonight on 48 Hours,
00:03:16
Hannah Graham, Deadly Connections, 48 hours. We'll be back in 90 seconds. Charlottesville is beautiful.
00:03:49
Beautiful downtown mall, great restaurants. It's a, you know, college town. >> Charlottesville, Virginia. Historic,
00:04:00
[music] quaint, home to the prestigious University of Virginia. 18-year-old Hannah Elizabeth Graham
00:04:11
loved it here. When she went missing on September 13th, 2014, she had just started her second year.
00:04:20
A few days later, her distraught parents, Sue and John Graham, appealed for help. that this is every parent's
00:04:28
worst nightmare. I'm certain that everybody knows that what happened to Hannah could happen to
00:04:35
their child. Please, please help us. >> The disappearance outraged the entire community. From fellow students,
00:04:44
>> you make things good, Hannah Graham. >> To the police chief, Tim Longo. >> We're going to continue our work.
00:04:52
going to continue to work relentlessly until we find Hannah Graham. >> We knew at that time that she had gone
00:05:02
out to dinner with friends that night and that, you know, like most college students, she had gone to a couple
00:05:08
parties. >> I'm going to start with the family. >> WTVR reporter Laura French, a 48 hours
00:05:14
consultant, has followed this story from day one. We know that after she left that party, no one had heard from her
00:05:22
other than a couple text messages. And that text at 1:06 a.m. was, you know, I'm trying to get to a party, I believe,
00:05:29
and I'm lost. >> I'm lost. >> It wasn't completely out of character that she'd be lost
00:05:36
here. She moved into off-campus housing. School had just started. We were just a
00:05:41
few weeks into the school year and you know you can lose your bearings especially in and out of that downtown
00:05:46
mall area. >> So this is the mall in Charlottesville. This is the last place really where we
00:05:51
see Hannah Graham. >> That's right. This is known as the downtown Charlottesville pedestrian mall
00:05:57
and it is the last known image that we have of Hannah Graham on this mall. >> Popular place with the kids.
00:06:02
>> You definitely see kids down here but this is not what we would call the hangout.
00:06:08
Britishborn Hannah Graham moved with her parents to Virginia when she was just 5
00:06:13
years old. Her friend [music] Llaya Nasser remembers her as super smart, musically gifted, and with a dry sense
00:06:22
of humor. >> She's one of those people who just knew who she was. Uh very much a go-getter.
00:06:28
She was very confident um and driven. Hannah is uh witty and much smarter than any coach that was on the field.
00:06:39
>> Just shy of six feet, Hannah was a standout on the softball field. High school coach Craig Maniglia.
00:06:46
>> As time went on, she moved herself up to her senior year when she became captain
00:06:50
of the team. [snorts] >> Vivacious, popular, talented. No surprise that Hannah Graham's
00:06:55
disappearance exploded on social media. >> Prosecutors say that will happen. WTOP
00:07:02
radio reporter Neil Augenstein, who worked with 48 Hours on this investigation, was tweeting details
00:07:08
almost by the minute. >> We've been able to tell it as it's developing. With Twitter, you can tell
00:07:15
the little bits that caught your attention and do add color and perspective and and context to a story.
00:07:23
>> County Sergeant testified today >> and the story became even more intriguing as video began to surface.
00:07:30
Here is Hannah at a UVA event only 10 days before she went missing. An eerie contrast to the grainy images of her
00:07:40
caught on tape by surveillance cameras the night she disappeared. >> Well, the Hannah Graham case resonated
00:07:49
so much more with Charlottesville because, you know, she was living here in Charlottesville. attorney and
00:07:56
longtime Charlottesville resident Lloyd Snook has been following the case closely.
00:08:01
>> Her disappearance was reported within a day. They could track through the various video cameras where she had
00:08:10
gone. She had been downtown and then the trail goes cold. Then she just vanished.
00:08:19
He walked us through the videos of Hannah's last known hours. Starting as she leaves her apartment, a normal kid
00:08:27
out on a Friday night. This is McGrady's. This was a restaurant. And you will see Hannah Graham coming in
00:08:34
from the left, the lower left. She's highlighted. Now, I'm going to stop that because, you know, that stumble to some
00:08:40
people who watch this is very telling. >> She seems a little unsteady on her feet
00:08:45
both here and later on in the video. She's coming from the direction uh that you would come from if you were coming
00:08:51
from the University of Virginia. >> And then after a few minutes, we see her. She reemerges.
00:08:57
And what do you think this was all about? >> My guess, purely a guess, is that she
00:09:04
went by McGrady's to see if a friend was in there who might buy her a drink or something like that.
00:09:10
>> Police believe Hannah had been drinking that night. She's next seen on video from a nearby gas station. And this
00:09:18
time, I mean, she is running. Who knows what that means? >> You know, it it's really hard to say. I
00:09:26
It's not a particularly dangerous neighborhood. It's a well-lit area. >> And I think that the cops have looked at
00:09:32
this and there doesn't appear to be anybody running after her. Right. >> So, she's running now. She's going
00:09:36
toward the mall. Just seconds before Hannah next surfaces on security footage near a local pizzeria, its camera
00:09:44
catches a man [music] walking on the downtown mall. >> You'll notice he's a pretty distinctive
00:09:52
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
00:10:01
next half hour. He disappears here briefly and then we're about to see Hannah here. She's by herself.
00:10:08
>> By herself. >> But soon the man makes a Uturn and then reappears now walking in Hannah's
00:10:17
direction. >> So you see a pretty big guy there. >> Yeah. >> Keeping behind several other people.
00:10:23
>> And at that point he's probably 20, 30 yards behind Hannah. The last video from a jewelry store camera shows
00:10:32
Hannah and the unidentified man now walking side by side >> and they seem to be walking in sync
00:10:39
[music] together. >> By enhancing the picture, police note that his arm is around her waist.
00:10:47
>> Very strange to watch two people on videotape and and realize how much their lives are going to change. You can only
00:10:55
imagine what was going on in her mind. and you can only imagine what was going on in in his mind.
00:11:03
>> There is no video from her last known stop. >> So, this is the Tempo Bar. This is the
00:11:08
last place that she was seen in public. >> In public. No, no images of her. Um, but
00:11:15
the police say that several eyewitnesses put her inside that bar with the suspect.
00:11:23
If that young lady's touched your life in any way, you have the responsibility to help us find her.
00:11:31
>> Somebody knows what happened to Hannah. We don't know who that is, but somebody
00:11:36
knows what happened to Hannah. >> That somebody police think may well be that man on tape
00:11:46
who made the odd Uturn to walk in Hannah's direction. >> [music] >> want to split them up. Couple guys on
00:12:16
the right, couple guys on the left. >> Yeah, sounds good. >> Yeah. >> News of Hannah Graham's disappearance
00:12:21
put normally peaceful Charlottesville on high alert. >> I was terrified when I found out just
00:12:27
because I know it could have easily been me cuz I've walked home alone. I definitely thought differently walking
00:12:33
to my car at night, having worked in that area. You know, I wanted to make sure at, you know, when I was leaving
00:12:38
after a newscast at 11:30 at night, that there was someone watching me walk to my
00:12:42
car. It was definitely on the back of everyone's minds. >> Also on the back of everyone's mind,
00:12:48
events of 5 years earlier when another young woman simply vanished off these streets. 2009, you have this Virginia
00:12:57
Tech student, Morgan Harrington, who is [music] last seen at a Metallica concert
00:13:02
at the John Paul Jones Arena. >> Do you feel good? >> It was Saturday, October 17th, 2009.
00:13:21
20-year-old Morgan Harrington drove from her parents' home in Rowan Oak, Virginia
00:13:26
to the UVA campus arena to see one of her favorite bands. >> Morgan had come to spend the weekend
00:13:32
with us, which was not unusual, and was really excited about the Metallica concert.
00:13:38
>> It was the last time her parents, Jill and Dan Harrington, would see their daughter alive. How long was it before
00:13:46
you were aware that anything at all was wrong? On Sunday morning about 11 o'clock, I received a call from the
00:13:53
University of Virginia police who informed me that Morgan's purse had been found in a parking lot.
00:14:00
>> I knew that minute something terrible had had happened. >> And Morgan, you knew, was gone.
00:14:10
>> Morgan was like the moon. She was reflecting the light that was in the world.
00:14:16
Lindsay Crisp grew up with Morgan, friends [music] since elementary school. >> Wherever she walked in, there was a
00:14:22
shift in the energy. >> Morgan was a lot of fun. You know, she had finally reached that point in life
00:14:29
where we had a adult relationship with her and it was really an exciting um very gratifying point in time. She was
00:14:38
someone who loved art and music, did not like math and science, which is we are math and science people.
00:14:47
>> Lindsay was in Europe when Morgan went missing only to come home to a terrible
00:14:52
shock. >> My parents stood me in the den and they said, "We need to let you know Morgan's
00:14:58
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
00:15:06
just cried. >> Investigators had little to work with. At one point Morgan had left her
00:15:12
friends. Something had happened and she ended up outside the arena. >> Morgan left to go to the restroom and we
00:15:21
have a witness that Morgan was bleeding from an injury on her face. So we assume
00:15:28
that at some point between the seat and the restroom, Morgan fell. And then the next thing we heard was that Morgan had
00:15:36
left the building and they wouldn't let her back in. >> There was a report that um she was seen
00:15:42
hitchhiking. Does that make sense to you? >> It does now. She was reported to be
00:15:48
confused and how's Morgan going to get home? >> Morgan Harrington was last seen on this
00:15:55
bridge alone, on foot, and possibly injured. Unable to get back into the concert, she may have simply decided to
00:16:03
find her own way to her friend's apartment. A casual decision that likely cost her her life.
00:16:11
>> I think Morgan was impaired. I think she she was injured. She was not thinking
00:16:16
clearly. >> Yeah. I think that someone driving a taxi cab stopped and Morgan felt safe
00:16:23
and got in and I think the rest is history. >> But this is your theory about theory.
00:16:29
Nobody actually saw a cab or saw her get into a cab. >> No. >> This weekend's search for Morgan
00:16:34
Harrington will start here where she was last seen on this bridge. >> Within days, Morgan's disappearance was
00:16:40
dominating the local news and social media. >> Family members, volunteers, and friends
00:16:46
will scour the Charlottesville area looking for clues, looking for anything that could lead them to Morgan.
00:16:53
>> And as with Hannah Graham, years later, the community responded. We had 2,000
00:16:59
people searching for Morgan over a weekend. >> Morgan's case was one of the first cases
00:17:04
that used social media to solicit information and tips and as a crimesolving tool.
00:17:10
>> Was passing out flyers. >> We felt that the only way that we could help Morgan was to not let Morgan's case
00:17:16
be swept under the rug. >> If Morgan is out there and hears us, um, please come home.
00:17:23
>> We are trying to find you. We will never stop. We are trying. Honey, hang on.
00:17:31
>> Even Metallica tried to help. >> Any information, no matter how small you might think it is, could be that crucial
00:17:38
piece investigators need to help solve the case. >> Somewhere out there lies the answers or
00:17:44
lies the vital link of information that we need. >> Help us bring Morgan home for Christmas.
00:17:49
>> You are basically swinging on a pendulum between hope and despair. It becomes
00:17:54
pretty clear after a couple days that, you know, it's probably not going to turn out good.
00:18:09
>> You are basically swinging [music] on a pendulum between hope and despair. >> It becomes pretty [music] clear after a
00:18:17
couple days that, you know, it's probably not going to turn out good. Tragically, Morgan's father was right.
00:18:25
>> Breaking news this afternoon out of Albamarl County. >> In January 2010, 3 months after Morgan
00:18:31
disappeared, human remains were found on a farm just 10 miles from the UVA campus.
00:18:38
>> We're fairly confident at this time that the remains are those of Morgan Dana
00:18:43
Harrington. She was found by a farmer who was checking his fences and saw what he
00:18:49
thought initially was, you know, a deer carcass, >> but it was not. It was our daughter.
00:18:56
>> But a forensic exam of the remains apparently yielded no clues as to who her asalent was. That would come from a
00:19:05
t-shirt. >> The t-shirt, I believe, was found in November, a couple weeks after Morgan
00:19:10
was killed. found one day draped over a bush near the UVA campus. >> The most disturbing to me was that it
00:19:20
had been put out like a trophy and just the nerve and cockiness of a perpetrator
00:19:28
who would leave a trophy like that in the middle of a campus. >> They were able to actually pick up some
00:19:34
of Morgan's DNA in the t-shirt. Even more importantly, testing picked up unknown DNA. And when police ran it
00:19:43
through their database, they got a hit, not to a person, but to another crime four years earlier and 100 miles away.
00:19:54
>> They had foreign DNA in their case, which was matched to my foreign DNA in my case. In the fall of 2005, a man
00:20:02
attacked, beat, and sexually assaulted a young woman in Fairfax, Virginia. Detective Michael Boon was the lead
00:20:09
investigator. >> This is just an aerial of the general area. >> It is. It's a 2005 aerial.
00:20:16
>> The woman who asked to be identified only as RG was walking home from her local supermarket sometime after 8:30
00:20:25
p.m. She's captured here on a security camera. she felt somebody behind her and she turned and was face to face with the
00:20:33
suspect and asked him if she could help him and he stated something to the effect that he was waiting for a friend
00:20:40
or something and she felt uncomfortable. Um, she had a vibe and just kept moving
00:20:46
and when she reached the front of her residence she said she heard footsteps coming quickly behind her and then she
00:20:53
was picked up off the ground. >> And how violent an attack was this? You know, you call it a blitzkrieg type of
00:20:59
attack. Comes out of nowhere. >> Blitzkrieg type of attack. >> Yeah. Comes out of nowhere very fast,
00:21:04
very violent. He takes her and carries her across the parking lot into the wooded area down where this large tree
00:21:10
is. >> I parked roughly where that green truck is over there. >> Uh-huh. It was just blind luck that Mark
00:21:17
Castro came along when he did. >> What was the reason that you were even here that night?
00:21:22
>> I was here uh to see a boxing match at my friend's house. just stop by and see
00:21:27
the boxing match. >> That's right. >> When Mr. Castro pulled in and parked in this general area, the lights from his
00:21:34
car would have been shining into the area where they were. >> Those lights may have saved the woman's
00:21:40
life. >> The suspect stood up, looked up, and looked towards the parking lot, which is
00:21:45
where Mr. Castro was standing, and she said he took off running. >> Out the corner of my eye, I see a figure
00:21:51
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
00:21:57
right now? >> What were you seeing? >> I was seeing uh a lady that was beaten nearly to death and she was covered in
00:22:02
mud and covered with blood and she was walking towards me. >> Did she say anything about what had
00:22:06
happened? >> Uh she told me that, you know, there's a guy back there >> just back there meaning back in the
00:22:12
woods. >> And after that, I sprinted back there screaming at the top of my voice telling
00:22:15
whoever it was to come out. >> But the attacker was gone. I turned around and come back to her and then
00:22:22
made sure to get her to safety. I knocked on uh each and every house until someone answered the door.
00:22:28
>> She went to Fairbeck's hospital uh the emergency room where we bring in a forensic nurse who does the sexual
00:22:36
assault exam. Uh they scrape the underside of the fingernails >> and there was DNA evidence.
00:22:43
>> Yes. The next day, the victim, RG, was able to describe her asalent to a sketch
00:22:50
artist who produced a composite >> approximately um 6 6'2, maybe 200 lb, short hair with mustache and beard.
00:23:01
>> But a description of the suspect, a sketch, even his DNA did not answer the central question. Who was he? It would
00:23:10
take another tragedy and another lost life to answer that. >> The DNA evidence had been found in the
00:23:17
Morgan Harrington case and I just had a feeling on the Hannah Graham case. You make things good. Hannah Graham,
00:23:48
where are you? We want you back where you belong. >> The days go by with no trace of
00:23:57
secondyear UVA student Hannah Graham. Despite what would become the largest search in Virginia's history. Members of
00:24:07
the Charlottesville community have turned out enforced to help. Armies of Hannah's university friends
00:24:14
have been helping. Each day, hundreds of volunteers show up, including one who has lived through this all before.
00:24:23
>> I read that Alexis Murphy's aunt Trina was helping. Thank you, ma'am. >> When my niece was missing, I wanted the
00:24:30
whole world looking for her. >> When they had the the big search for Hannah, I went out to help look for her.
00:24:36
Um, it just it's just heartbreaking. >> Like the Grahams and the Harringtons, Trina Murphy knows the pain of having a
00:24:45
child go missing. She knows it all too well. >> The FBI is in day three of its search
00:24:51
for Alexis Murphy, and there's still no sign of her. >> If anybody know anything, please,
00:24:57
please let us know. Please. >> They have expanded their search for Murphy. >> The more people that are looking, the
00:25:03
better chance we have of finding her. On August 3rd, 2013, four years after Morgan's murder, a year
00:25:14
before Hannah Graham went missing, Trina's niece, 17-year-old Alexis Murphy, [music]
00:25:20
left her home in Shipman, Virginia, on a routine errand, Shipman's less than 40 miles from Charlottesville.
00:25:27
>> She was planning to go to Lynchber um to buy hair extensions because she was getting her hair done for her senior
00:25:33
pictures. Her last tweet was birdbound. >> Alexis's mother, Laura [music] Murphy.
00:25:40
>> And this is a kid who tweets and calls all the time. He's constantly trying to
00:25:44
stay in touch, >> right? She was a very [music] happy child. Lexis love making people laugh.
00:25:52
>> Go. First, [laughter] >> we had videos where she dancing and she she could dance.
00:26:07
>> Her mother and aunt knew something was seriously wrong when they heard nothing
00:26:11
from Alexis for hours. >> There was not a single tweet, not a single text message, not a single phone
00:26:17
call, no activity on her cell phone once she left Liberty. That's the Liberty Gas Station where
00:26:25
Alexis was last seen. Like Hannah Graham, her movements caught on tape. What did you think then when you saw
00:26:33
that tape? You know, how could she go missing from the Liberty Gas Station? What happened? What transpired in those
00:26:40
minutes that we don't have her on camera? In surveillance video not yet released to the public, Alexis's car is
00:26:47
seen leaving this gas station, apparently following an SUV. Investigators identify its owner as one
00:26:54
Randy Taylor, and witnesses say he often would just hang around the gas station watching people.
00:27:01
>> I just think that he had been stalking her. He knew her routine. >> It didn't take much time to link him to
00:27:08
her disappearance. They found her hair extensions um in his trailer. She had a Monroe piercing. She had a nose
00:27:15
piercing. She had false fingernails. They were found in there. Um and her blood on the shirt he was wearing that
00:27:22
day. Um seen in the video. Police find her car in a movie theater parking lot in Charlottesville.
00:27:30
Inside the car, they find DNA they can't identify from several sources, but none
00:27:35
of it matches the unknown DNA from the Harrington murder and the Fairfax rape. Even without finding Alexis, they arrest
00:27:43
Randy Taylor and charge him with her murder. His trial is attended by someone who truly understands what the Murphy's
00:27:52
are going through. >> Well, Jill reached out to us probably about 3 weeks after Alexis was abducted.
00:27:57
Jill Harrington makes the three and a halfhour round trip every day. >> And I also wanted to be there and
00:28:06
shoulder and support them any way I could. >> It means a great deal to us. Jail has
00:28:12
really, really helped me. >> Guilty on all counts. This >> the jury convicts Randy Taylor. He is
00:28:18
sentenced to life. Alexis never has been found. When we left court, they said, "We're never
00:28:27
going to give up searching for her." >> And now the Murphy's and the Harringtons
00:28:32
join the Grahams in the search for Hannah. >> Trina Murphy and I converged on Charlottesville to to talk to the
00:28:40
community to ask for tips, to ask for participation in search because the Grahams were unable to do that at that
00:28:47
time. And we wanted to get as many people out there looking for Hannah as possible
00:28:52
>> just to hold their hand, to hold her mother's hand and um pray for their closure, you know, for them to find
00:28:59
their daughter. >> We're part of a ugly little club that we have some knowledge and and some
00:29:07
understanding of how to proceed. Once you know how bad it feels to have a murdered child, you want to do whatever
00:29:17
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
00:29:26
interest in the disappearance of Hannah Graham. >> On day six of Hannah's disappearance,
00:29:31
acting on a tip, police identify and locate the man seen on tape with her in the mall.
00:29:37
>> They search his apartment. They seize his car. They obtain something out of his wallet. It's a tip that's used for
00:29:44
cigars and they take that into evidence and they send it off to be analyzed. Within a day, the man's name leaks out.
00:29:54
He is 32-year-old Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. and before police can even confirm it to reporters, he simply walks into
00:30:04
the police station voluntarily. So Jesse Matthew arrived at the the Charlottesville police station and uh he
00:30:11
said he wanted to to get a lawyer. Matthew didn't [clears throat] answer any questions. Wasn't interested in in
00:30:17
telling police anything. Uh and he left the the police station >> with no concrete evidence. They can't
00:30:25
hold him. But that doesn't stop them from following him. Several hours later, while police were were following um
00:30:34
Jesse Matthew, he took off from his grandmother's house. >> Driving his sister's car, he suddenly
00:30:42
floors it >> and they lose him. Excuse me. They lose him. >> Astonishingly, the only suspect in
00:30:50
Hannah Graham's disappearance leaves police in the dust. >> Police did not have the authority to
00:30:58
chase him. They didn't have enough to arrest him really at that point, but they really thought they had their
00:31:04
suspect >> and he's gone. >> When news broke that Jesse Matthew was on the lamb, Twitter exploded.
00:31:11
>> Have all these people who are already deeply involved uh in this case, searching for answers, racking their
00:31:18
brains, and they're coming up with ideas and saying, "Well, why don't aren't police doing that? Why can't police do
00:31:24
this?" Things don't work as quickly in real life as they do on a TV show. >> I believe Jesse Matthew was the last
00:31:33
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.
00:31:43
But somebody knows where she is. Somebody's got to know where she is. So, I hope and pray
00:31:52
that we might have an opportunity to talk to Jesse Matthew again because I think he can help us find
00:31:57
Hannah Graham. >> And just days after fleeing, Matthew, still on the run, is formally
00:32:04
charged in Hannah's abduction. >> The Commonwealth felt we had sufficient probable cause to
00:32:11
seek an arrest warrant for Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. of Charlottesville charging him with a
00:32:18
class 2 felony of abduction with the intent to defile. >> And for the first time,
00:32:24
>> my name is Sue Graham. >> Hannah's mother speaks out. >> Somebody listening to me today either
00:32:30
knows where Hannah is or knows someone who has that information. We appeal to you to come forward and
00:32:39
tell us where Hannah can be found. They only knew that Hannah was missing. They didn't know where she was. They
00:32:46
didn't know if she was alive or dead. Everybody had their fears, but nobody knew.
00:32:53
Now, police aren't just looking for one missing person. They are looking for two.
00:33:11
Days are going by and we don't know where Jesse Matthew is. In Alberl County, searches had become daily
00:33:18
events. Searches for both UVA student Hannah Graham and for the only suspect in her disappearance, Jesse Matthew.
00:33:27
Not only do we have each day that's ticking by that the Graham family doesn't know where their daughter is,
00:33:34
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
00:33:41
offered. It was tense. >> This press conference and every press conference hereafter is about one thing
00:33:48
and one thing only, and that is finding Hannah. >> This was a very heated few days. I'm
00:33:54
hoping that they're hearing my words and and and and seeing my frustration. >> Chief Longo was was obviously very
00:34:01
involved in this >> and pick up the phone and tell us something regardless of how
00:34:06
insignificant you think it might be. >> He was speaking to the press and speaking directly to um Jesse Matthew.
00:34:14
>> I've made no mistake about it. We want to talk to Jesse Matthew. We want to talk about his interaction with a sweet
00:34:21
young girl that we can't find cuz he was with her. >> Surely someone had information about
00:34:27
Jesse Matthew. After all, the then 32-year-old grew up in Charlottesville, went to high school there, and was
00:34:35
[music] working at the University Hospital transporting patients. >> People have been trying to learn more
00:34:41
about Jesse Matthew since uh they first heard his name. People who've known him had called him a gentle giant. This was
00:34:48
a guy who was a football player. This was a guy who was working in Charlottesville with kids. He was a a
00:34:55
volunteer uh football coach. >> He was a quiet guy and mentored these high school students. In fact, the night
00:35:03
that Hannah Graham went missing, he was at the game that Friday night helping these kids, cheering them on. So, on the
00:35:10
outside, nothing seemed suspect. I have talked to friends of his who said I trusted him with my children.
00:35:19
>> Nobody said yeah you know Jesse always had trouble and we this is the kind of
00:35:23
thing we would have expected. I mean that >> no if anything it was he was not capable
00:35:28
of premeditating anything. He may have been awkward socially sometimes and quiet but never
00:35:37
never could he be capable of this. >> He was a team player. He was always there and and you know participating in
00:35:44
team activities. >> William Hay knew Jesse Matthew when both played football at Virginia's Liberty
00:35:52
University which Matthew attended from 2000 to 2002. >> He knew how to play football. Um and he
00:35:59
was actually great at it. I I thought he had potential to do some some great things on the football field. But off
00:36:06
the field, information began to circulate that cast Matthew or LJ as his friends called him, in a much different
00:36:15
light. >> My head coach let us know they were going to put LJ off the team because
00:36:21
apparently he had um forced himself on a female student. Uh >> did anybody ever say, "Hey, you know
00:36:28
what happened? Is this true?" Once he was kicked off the team, no no one that I know of actually went out their way
00:36:35
just to get more detail. His roommate said that he he may not have known that he was going too far. Um but again,
00:36:42
that's speculation here from his roommate. There were so many rumors going around, but no, there was no
00:36:47
concrete evidence. >> Lynchburg police did confirm they conducted an investigation of an alleged
00:36:53
rape that occurred around the same time, but no criminal charges were filed. Still, Matthew left. Not just the
00:37:02
football team, but the university and teammates says Hayith quickly put the incident and Jesse Matthew behind them.
00:37:10
>> None of us came in defense of them. I mean, it lingered on for maybe a couple
00:37:14
of days, but then we we kept it moving. >> After Liberty, Matthew attended Christopher Newport University in
00:37:21
Newport News, Virginia. Again, he was on the football team. and again he left after just a few months amid allegations
00:37:31
of another sexual assault. >> What happened to these cases? >> It went under the radar. Um they didn't
00:37:38
press charges. So the next university did not know what they were getting. >> There's no requirement that that
00:37:45
>> there was no requirement that they needed to alert the other university of why he was transferring. So there's
00:37:51
these allegations and next thing you know he's transferred. They never had a determination by any anybody that he was
00:37:59
dangerous. >> Attorney Lloyd Snook. Looking back, you can't help but say, gosh, uh, if there
00:38:06
been a requirement that the colleges make this public, >> it's probably more to the point that
00:38:12
that when there is no actual prosecution, that's where the system fails. >> Not once, but twice.
00:38:21
>> That's right. After leaving his [music] second college, Matthew came back to Charlottesville driving a cab for a few
00:38:28
years. He had a few minor run-ins with police, traffic violations, and trespassing.
00:38:34
>> To kill or hurt somebody, that's not my son. >> Matthew's father, like many, was
00:38:42
bewildered at the thought that Jesse could be involved in something as serious as Hannah Graham's abduction. I
00:38:49
can see him maybe trying to give the girl a ride home or help her out. >> Mostly I'm just really shocked.
00:39:00
>> Francis Lee Vandelle was Matthew's landlady. >> We don't know a thing yet. We don't know
00:39:05
a thing. Everything seemed to be going well for Jesse. He'd had a promotion at the hospital. Charges are filed against
00:39:12
a man [music] authorities believe was the last person seen with a University of Virginia student before her
00:39:18
disappearance more than one week ago. >> I'm watching the news. I'm shocked. I'm
00:39:22
like, "Wow, this this LJ that went to school with me." >> William Hay hadn't seen or heard from
00:39:28
Matthew in years. When he learned that his former teammate was suspected in Hannah Graham's disappearance, his
00:39:35
reaction was pure shock at first. >> And then next, you know, everything just stopped flashing through my head. The
00:39:42
incident that happened at Liberty, like, wow, could LJ have have done this? >> And how did you answer that?
00:39:48
>> At first, you know, I'm like, um, no. He just seemed to be uh a a caring person.
00:39:55
But again, then when you start looking at some of the other things, then I thought that possibly
00:39:59
>> you you almost get the impression of two Jesse Matthews. >> Who was the real Jesse Matthew? Maybe
00:40:05
this guy was was okay. People were trying to get in touch with the family with his lawyer.
00:40:11
>> I am Mr. Matthews attorney. I was hired by him and his family on Saturday. That's the only comment I'll make at
00:40:19
this time. looking, you know, asking tell us a little bit about him. What, you know, let us at least paint a
00:40:26
picture that that's fair. I think that everyone was trying to maintain hope that maybe this was a mistake.
00:40:34
>> But as the days wore on with no sign of Hannah Graham or Jesse Matthew, hope was
00:40:41
scarce with memories turning to those other young women for whom searches had failed. They may not have all been
00:40:49
connected, but it definitely was on the minds of people living in and around central Virginia, the Charlottesville
00:40:55
area. >> I think most people were beginning to think pretty bleak thoughts. You know,
00:40:59
somebody give us some information about something. >> Soon someone would, and the twisted
00:41:05
trail of Jesse Matthew would take [music] a surprising turn into the past. This car came in front of me and
00:41:21
stopped. And the fellow that was sitting in the driver's seat kind of glares at me. I had seen his face on the news
00:41:27
every morning. My heart literally probably stopped beating because I knew that was him.
00:41:38
>> This special two-part edition of 48 hours will continue. >> [music] [music] >> This special two-part edition of 48
00:42:10
Hours continues. news. >> There is a developing story out of Charlottesville. >> It was just a few hours after this
00:42:28
picture was taken that Hannah Elizabeth Graham went missing. >> Hannah Graham had just started her
00:42:36
second year at the University of Virginia. going to continue to work relentlessly
00:42:42
until we find Hannah Graham. >> The first thing that came to my mind was the name Morgan Harrington.
00:42:48
>> Police are again desperate for details in the case of missing Morgan Harrington.
00:42:53
>> Morgan was another [music] college student that had gone to a concert one October 2009 night.
00:43:01
>> The FBI is in [music] day three of its search for Alexis Murphy and there's still no sign of her. Here you have a
00:43:08
high school student who leaves for the day to get some hair products. >> Alexis, if you can hear me, this is your
00:43:15
dad. I'm I'm letting you know that I won't give up. I want you home. >> Hannah Graham, Morgan Harrington,
00:43:19
[music] Alexis Murphy, why in this nice area are these young girls going missing?
00:43:26
>> If Morgan is out there and hears us, please come home. >> If anybody know anything, please let us
00:43:33
know. We [music] are trying to find you. We will never stop. >> All we want to do now is to bring Hannah
00:43:42
home safely. >> They could track through the various uh video cameras where she had gone. They
00:43:48
knew that she had been at the University of Virginia at a bar. Then she had been
00:43:53
walking around a bar a mile away. Then she had been downtown. Then she'd just vanished. Somebody listening to me today
00:44:01
either knows where Hannah is or knows someone who has that information. [music] >> They didn't know if she was alive or
00:44:08
dead. Everybody had their fears, but nobody knew. >> Split them up. A couple guys on the
00:44:13
right. >> You are basically swinging [music] on a pendulum between hope and despair. If
00:44:18
>> you attend the University of Virginia, if that young lady's touched your life
00:44:22
in any way, you have the responsibility to help us find her. [music] When Alexis was missing, I wanted the
00:44:29
whole world looking for her. >> Over the weekend, 1,200 volunteers covered 85% of the city searching for
00:44:36
additional clues. This is probably one of the greatest coordinated search efforts in the history of the
00:44:41
Commonwealth. And now we have reason to believe she was inside of a bar on this mall with an
00:44:49
individual. Having done a little bit more investigating, [music] that is when they started learning the name Jesse
00:44:56
Matthew Jr. >> Jesse Matthew was the last person she was seen with before she vanished off
00:45:01
the face of the earth. >> People have been trying to learn more about Jesse Matthew since they first
00:45:06
heard his name. >> They search his apartment. They seize his car. >> So certainly he is the focus of our
00:45:12
investigation. >> And they're they're coming out with evidence. >> Police say forensic evidence also
00:45:16
connects him to the death of Morgan Harrington. And I think that's when I started thinking, could this be the same
00:45:22
person? >> Several hours later, while police were following Jesse Matthew, he took off
00:45:29
from his grandmother's house >> and they lose him. >> Excuse me. They lose him. >> They They really thought they had their
00:45:37
suspect >> and he's gone. >> We want to talk to Jesse Matthew. We want to talk about where Hannah Graham
00:45:43
is. I'm Susan [music] Spencer. Tonight on 48 Hours, Hannah Graham stalked by evil.
00:46:03
[music] The disappearance of Hannah Graham left the audience across the country hungry
00:46:21
for every detail on Twitter. >> September 21st, 2014, a week after Hannah Graham went missing. And Jesse
00:46:32
Matthew, the one person who may hold the key to her whereabouts, is missing as well. Matthew was last seen Saturday
00:46:41
speeding away from police who were following him. >> I hope and pray that we might have an
00:46:45
opportunity to talk Jesse Matthew again cuz I think he can help us find Hannah Graham.
00:46:50
>> It was tense. It was already tense and it was even tenser cuz now we don't know
00:46:56
where he is. >> WTVR reporter and 48 hours consultant Laura French wasn't the only one
00:47:03
speechless to learn that police had let their only suspect slip away. So Jesse Matthew is gone.
00:47:10
>> Jesse Matthew is gone. I even joked with one of the investigators and said, "You
00:47:16
guys really know where he is. You're watching him." >> Surely here are some serious accusations
00:47:22
against this individual. And you don't know where he is. He fled. And he fled far. Police have released this wanted
00:47:30
poster of Jesse Leroy Matthew. >> He is the last person that was with Hannah. So certainly he is the focus of
00:47:36
our investigation. >> Remarkably, 4 days after he fled, Jesse Matthew is spotted in, of all places,
00:47:44
Galveastston, Texas, on a near empty beach, 1300 miles from Charlottesville. >> Fast forward to September 24th. We have
00:47:54
a woman out on the beach looking just for a peaceful afternoon to watch the water.
00:48:00
>> That woman was Karen Monk. His tent was about right here, close to the grass and
00:48:05
his car was parked on the other side. >> She's sitting in the back of her car and
00:48:10
she sees this man in a tent, you know, few yards down from her, doesn't think much of it until he drives
00:48:19
by her. >> This car came in front of me and stopped. And the fellow that was sitting
00:48:24
in the driver's seat, his windows were down. He leans over and looks, kind of glares at me.
00:48:29
Monk suddenly found herself face to face with one of the most wanted men in the country.
00:48:36
>> When I looked up and I saw him, I mean, his facial features are unmistakable. I
00:48:41
just held my breath just hoping he would just keep going. Um, my heart literally probably stopped
00:48:48
beating cuz I knew that was him. >> You mean to tell me that she recognized him on the beach from a wanted poster
00:48:55
that she'd seen on television or what? >> From a mug shot. And she's like, "Okay,
00:48:59
do I leave because I'm probably in danger or do I stay here so I can tell police exactly where he is?"
00:49:06
>> She not only stayed, she called every law enforcement agency she could think of, finally [music] getting a response
00:49:13
from the Galveastston County Sheriff's Office. They found Jesse Matthew on the beach and arrested him without incident.
00:49:22
>> 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
00:49:30
doing the right thing. >> We're here tonight to announce that Jesse Matthew was in custody in
00:49:35
Galveston, Texas. >> And apparently he had bigger travel plans than Texas. [music] A map of
00:49:42
Mexico was found in his car. Now in custody, he was headed not south, but north back to Charlottesville, Virginia.
00:49:51
He was locked up in Galveston for 40ome hours. [music] Charlottesville authorities came and flew him back here
00:50:00
and they had him by their side at all times. >> But Matthew quickly dashed any hope
00:50:06
police had that he'd give them information about Hannah Graham. >> He never cooperated with anybody as far
00:50:13
as answering questions voluntarily. >> Never has. >> Never has. >> We have a person in custody, but there's
00:50:18
a long road ahead of us. And that long road includes finding Hannah Graham. >> Now the search expanded out from
00:50:26
Charlottesville and the university campus here to the surrounding countryside. And despite the growing
00:50:32
odds against this having a good outcome, no one was giving up. In fact, the volunteers just kept on coming.
00:50:40
>> I got three more for your team. >> It wasn't clear whether she was alive or or dead at this point. prosecutor
00:50:47
>> Neil Augenstein covered this story both for WP radio and online. He's also a 48 hours consultant.
00:50:56
>> As time went on, people were thinking more and more that she probably had had
00:51:01
died. >> This specialized team of trackers searched for Hannah Graham on Friday afternoon. The team, which includes a
00:51:08
navigator, a dog, and a handler, is directing the dog off trail to find any trace of a human scent. it.
00:51:17
>> Nice job. >> People wanted answers. People wanted closure. People wanted it now.
00:51:25
>> But no one wanted the news that came on October 18th, 35 days after Hannah disappeared.
00:51:34
We're following a developing story out of Albamarl County. Sometime [music] before noon today, a search team from
00:51:39
the Chesterfield County Sheriff's Department was searching an abandoned property along Old Lynchberg Road in
00:51:46
southern Alamoral County when they [music] discovered what appears to be human remains.
00:51:53
>> Where the human remains were found was uh behind a home that nobody was living
00:51:58
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
00:52:07
family. >> How far was this from Charlottesville? >> Uh so this house was five, six, seven
00:52:13
miles out of downtown Charlottesville. >> What also intrigued investigators, the
00:52:19
site where Morgan Harrington's remains had been found four years earlier [music] was only a few miles away.
00:52:27
With the discovery of Hannah's body, the community that had searched so long and
00:52:32
hard with John and Susan Graham [music] now could only grieve with them. As a parent, my heart sank because it was
00:52:40
final. Their worst fears had come to light, but at the same time, they were able to bring her home.
00:52:47
>> The focus turns now to the suspect in custody and charged with her abduction,
00:52:51
32-year-old Jesse Matthew. The next challenge, building a solid case against Jesse Matthew. He wasn't
00:52:59
talking, but science was about to do the talking for him. I obtained a search warrant for Mr.
00:53:07
Matthews for his DNA. I have a lot of friends that go to UVA. My [music] initial reaction was,
00:53:36
"How could this be?" >> After a month of vigils and hopes and prayers for Hannah Graham, the reality
00:53:46
of her murder was a horrific shock. This is our opportunity to create a silver lining in the tremendous cloud that that
00:53:56
um Hannah's fate represented to us. >> When it comes to these sort of girl gone missing stories, [music] there's always
00:54:06
this barrier of ignorance where you don't know the person who's on the other side of the screen.
00:54:14
And I did [music] this time. Hannah's friend, Llaya Nasser. It's something that's so overwhelming and so powerful
00:54:22
and you can't understand or fathom why anybody would do this. >> Law enforcement wanted to ask that very
00:54:30
question to Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. who now sat in jail formally charged with abduction with intent to defile Hannah
00:54:39
Graham. He was not charged with murder. People have been calling for the death for Jesse Matthew before Hannah Graham's
00:54:47
body was even found. This is showing the power of Twitter and and not necessarily
00:54:52
for good. Uh you know, people were convinced of his guilt. >> While Matthew was behind bars in
00:54:58
Charlottesville, a case a 100 miles away in Fairfax, Virginia, ice cold for nearly 10 years
00:55:07
was about to heat up. I was uh getting ready to leave to go out of town uh to to Georgia to a funeral. I was watching
00:55:16
the video of Hannah Graham going through the mall down there. Detective Michael Boon had never stopped working at
00:55:22
unsolved rape case from 2005 involving the victim known only as RG. He'd had little to go on but the composite sketch
00:55:31
of her rapist. >> Hey, we're searching for Hannah. But then one day, he happened to glimpse
00:55:36
news coverage of the Graham case. >> The person Charlottesville police most want to question is this man, Jesse
00:55:43
Matthews. >> I saw the picture of Jesse Matthews and I saw the picture of the composite
00:55:49
drawing. So, I mean, I knew they had the the right person. >> You knew the second you saw his picture?
00:55:54
>> Yeah. He had been looking at that composite for almost 10 years, and his gut told
00:56:02
him that without question, his rapist and Jesse Matthew were one and the same. That Matthew's DNA would match the
00:56:10
unidentified DNA in his rape case. So Boon gets a search warrant and speeds off to Charlottesville to meet with his
00:56:18
suspect. So you take this sample and what did you do with the sample? I drove it to the department of forensic science
00:56:25
to the Citro Lab in Richmond. >> A quick turnaround, got an answer in a week. >> So the word was, "Look, you know, we
00:56:33
need this." >> Well, they knew. They knew what we were dealing with. Yes. >> What do you think you were dealing with?
00:56:38
>> Very violent sexual offender. >> The results, a bombshell. Boon was right. Jesse Matthews DNA [music]
00:56:47
matched that of the Fairfax rapist. >> I held out hope every year that he was going to get identified. this just like
00:56:53
finally. >> But there was more because remember the rapist DNA matched DNA found on Morgan
00:57:00
Harrington's t-shirt after her murder. [music] Now investigators knew whose DNA it was.
00:57:07
>> Breaking news. [music] >> We were able to confirm today that Jesse Matthew Jr. has been linked. Forensic
00:57:14
evidence has linked him to the Morgan Harrington case from 2009. >> Wow. You broke this.
00:57:21
>> I did. We know that Jesse Matthew at some point made contact with Virginia Tech student Morgan Dana Harrington the
00:57:29
night she disappeared and three months later was later found murdered. That's what we do know. It doesn't mean he did
00:57:35
something. >> Fast forward to 2014 to Jesse Matthew and the Hannah Graham case. >> We know that police have forensic
00:57:43
evidence that places her with him. What that is, we don't know. >> We know she was with him. She's she's on
00:57:51
tape with him. >> But the question is, did she leave in his car? >> That's what's not been made public.
00:57:59
>> The key would be evidence showing what happened to Hannah after she was last seen at the restaurant with Matthew.
00:58:07
Police searched his car within days of her disappearance and will say only that no blood was found. the state has in its
00:58:17
um possession a digital record from a cell tower from Hannah Graham's phone. We also know that there's digital
00:58:23
records from her Facebook account, Skype, Snapchat, Twitter, all those different social media venues. But
00:58:30
there's about 50 plus search warrants. So half of those we don't know about. But on October 20th, 2014, 2 days after
00:58:40
Hannah Graham's remains were discovered, authorities indict Jesse Matthew. Not for Hannah's murder, nor for Morgan's,
00:58:49
but for the attempted capital murder, abduction, and sexual assault of the anonymous RG back in 2005.
00:58:58
Apparently feeling that the rape case was the strongest. It was bittersweet news for Jill and Dan
00:59:06
Harrington. Why have there been no charges filed in Morgan's case? >> I think they're trying to they want to
00:59:13
finish prosecuting the Fairfax case. >> So, you fully expect that there will be?
00:59:18
>> Uh, yes, I do. >> To show their support, the Harringtons will be front and center at Jesse
00:59:24
Matthews upcoming rape trial. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, prosecutors are scrambling to build a
00:59:32
solid case against Matthew for the murder of Hannah Graham. And pressure is building.
00:59:50
Suspected killer Jesse Matthew was safely behind bars, but each passing day brought the question
00:59:57
When would he be charged with Hannah Graham's murder? >> On Monday, February 2nd, 2015, Jesse
01:00:03
Matthew Jr. was indicted in Albam Marorrow County for abduction and murder of Hannah Graham.
01:00:11
>> It was 5 months after she vanished before prosecutors had the evidence they needed.
01:00:18
>> What we don't know is what they found in his apartment. We can report this much
01:00:23
though. In the second search of his apartment, police went in there for something very specific. And when asked
01:00:29
if they got what they went in there for, they said, "Yes, we did." Those details
01:00:36
presumably will come out in court. >> But relief that the Graham case was moving forward mixed with
01:00:42
disappointment, especially once again in the Twitter sphere. >> When Jesse Matthew was first charged
01:00:48
with first-degree murder, people were outraged. Why were they going to go for the death penalty?
01:00:54
>> Jesse Matthew Jr. was served that new indictment. >> That all changed 3 months later when the
01:01:00
Commonwealth attorney announced she would seek the death penalty after all. >> The Commonwealth received some
01:01:06
additional forensic information in late February that led to this increase in charge.
01:01:12
>> Was upping the charges to capital murder a strategic move or was that based on
01:01:16
some bombshell evidence they may have had? >> They haven't told us. Charlottesville
01:01:20
attorney Lloyd Snook has been following the Graham case. >> Some other evidence, [music] maybe
01:01:26
there's some DNA evidence that hadn't come back from the lab yet. >> In addition, there is a second analysis
01:01:33
and that is to weigh aggravating and mitigating circumstances. >> What would those be?
01:01:37
>> Well, that's a long way of saying that it was a really, really awful crime. Not
01:01:42
just awful because all murders are awful, but something really, really bad. I want to see what happens when evil
01:01:50
intersects with justice. >> Jill Harrington was at a pre-trial hearing in Hannah Graham's case the day
01:01:58
the change to the death penalty was announced. >> She supports the move. >> I really don't know what the
01:02:05
justification for changing the the charge is, but some bad things happened. Lives were lost.
01:02:13
As the years have gone by, her daughter's case has seemed to be stalled. Despite that t-shirt DNA
01:02:20
linking Matthew to Morgan, a trial for Morgan, we do want to have that day, but it really changes nothing in our lives.
01:02:28
Our lives are as empty. The pain that we'll have after a trial is the same pain that we have today.
01:02:35
>> By spring of [music] 2015, Matthew faced two trials. for the murder of Hannah
01:02:40
Graham and [music] for the 2005 abduction, sexual assault, and attempted capital murder of the woman known as RG.
01:02:50
And questions were raised about a Matthew connection to the Alexis Murphy case. Questions generated by attorneys
01:02:57
for her convicted killer, Randy Taylor. They demanded evidence [music] be tested
01:03:02
for Matthew's DNA just in case. >> We're fine with that. Let's say by the off chance they do find Jesse Matthews
01:03:10
DNA in her car. It just means that he was also involved. It doesn't make Randy Taylor any less guilty than he is now.
01:03:17
What do you think the the odds of that are? >> Honestly, I think it's pretty slim.
01:03:23
>> Trina Murphy, Alexis's aunt, was right. [music] No DNA link with Matthew was found.
01:03:30
>> You Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. >> Meanwhile, after nearly a decade, RG's case was moving forward. attempt to kill
01:03:37
RG in the commission >> with hearings. >> How do you plead to that charge? >> Not guilty.
01:03:44
>> And [music] finally, in June 2015, a trial with Jesse Matthews fate depending
01:03:50
on the DNA and on testimony from the anonymous victim RG. >> She was hesitant. She was worried.
01:03:57
[music] >> Commonwealth Attorney Ray Morrow. >> She is a very dignified woman from a
01:04:02
different culture. Very well educated. I might say brilliant. And she wanted her
01:04:08
privacy, but at the same time, we tried to make sure she had the opportunity to to get her voice heard.
01:04:18
[music] Since the rape, RG had moved back home to Asia to a new life. [music] Seeking
01:04:24
justice meant not only traveling halfway around the world, but publicly reliving
01:04:29
[music] perhaps the most terrifying moments of her life. What do you think the specific impact
01:04:36
was on her? >> The trauma. The trauma of it. It just so violent. >> Detective Boon had always kept in touch
01:04:44
with her, contacting RG with any news about the case. >> I picked her up at the airport. You
01:04:50
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
01:04:55
stressful for a victim. Very stressful. She did not want to be victimized again by some who might blame the victim. She
01:05:04
didn't want people around her to know about it and it she didn't want it to define her.
01:05:08
>> She did nothing wrong. >> No. No. Here we understand that. But some people don't.
01:05:14
>> And the composite sketch RG helped put together back in 2005 posed a problem.
01:05:21
The attack was at night. She was traumatized. And [music] predictably, the defense insists that neither it nor
01:05:29
an updated version looks anything like Jesse Matthew. [music] >> So going into this then you have the
01:05:36
sketch and you've got a victim. You don't know how she's going to testify, >> right?
01:05:39
>> You you a little nervous as this starts. >> I try not to be nervous, but it's always
01:05:44
a risk to have a jury trial. I was concerned >> justifiably so. >> We're moving along rather quickly, so
01:05:52
that's a good thing. It was a move not many saw coming, including >> the outcome of this trial, like
01:05:56
everything else in these tangled cases, would defy everyone's predictions. >> I'm kind of reeling.
01:06:21
This wasn't just a rape case. This was a rape case that was tied to the Hannah Graham case.
01:06:27
>> The trial of Jesse Matthew for attempted murder, abduction, and sexual assault
01:06:33
takes place in the shadow of the Hannah Graham case. Although unlike Hannah, this victim, known only as RG, does
01:06:41
survive. In June of 2015, she travels from her home in Asia here to Fairfax, Virginia for Matthew's trial, hoping to
01:06:50
help put him behind bars. And not just for herself. >> We thought about our victim in our case
01:06:57
and Hannah and Morgan pretty much every day from the day that we found out that this was our man. It strikes at your
01:07:03
heart, you know, as a as a father myself, but just as a human being. I mean, I can't think of anything worse
01:07:08
than attacking a woman or a child. Hopefully, we'll be out of court soon. And >> Commonwealth Attorney Ray Mura was happy
01:07:13
to have his case against Matthew go first, hoping to pave the way for future prosecutions for Hannah and for Morgan.
01:07:22
>> I think every bit of testimony that was heard in this case, you were listening
01:07:27
with the thought that could this somehow be related to these other cases. The judge allowed no cameras, but sketches
01:07:36
and Neil Augenstein's tweets painted a vivid picture. From the first moment RG walked into the courtroom,
01:07:44
>> this was the first time that she was in the same room with with Jesse Matthew in
01:07:49
10 years. I and everyone else in the courtroom was looking to see who was making eye contact with with who.
01:07:56
>> Did she ever look at him? >> I never once saw her look at Jesse Matthew. Did he look at her?
01:08:03
>> He looked at her the whole time. >> I think there was some expectation that at the trial she would sit there and go,
01:08:10
you know, that's him. >> Yeah, that was an issue. But she hadn't seen it in 10 years. So, I wasn't going
01:08:14
to press her on that. She came just a whisper from being murdered. And um there in the courtroom 20 ft from her
01:08:24
sits the man who who tried to murder her. In a hushed voice, RG testified about that horrible night, saying her attacker
01:08:33
picked her up from behind like a baby. And then she went on, "He [music] put me on the ground and he sat on my legs and
01:08:41
he banged my head on the grass on the ground. He hit my face, beat me. I was screaming and yelling." I think in first
01:08:49
she was extremely nervous and admitted certain parts that she put in a part of her mind that she didn't want to bring
01:08:58
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
01:09:05
hands and he choked me. He was pulling my pants down. I was still struggling. >> She told the story she didn't seek
01:09:14
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
01:09:22
let you go." The nightmare only ended, she said, when he dragged her into a ditch and ran off. RG was a very good
01:09:30
witness. >> I didn't see anybody, but you know. >> Also testifying was Mark Castro, the
01:09:36
passer by who heard RG's cries that night. He found her confused and covered in blood. He got a neighbor to call 911
01:09:44
and stayed until the ambulance arrived. What did you feel was the most important
01:09:49
thing that you needed to get across to the jury? >> Uh her condition. It was not a uh just a
01:09:55
typical assault. This is attempted murder. She looked like somebody that was near dead.
01:10:00
>> You wanted to be sure they understood how badly hurt she was. >> That's right.
01:10:03
>> I'll look at the defendants to see if there's any emotion expression. There wasn't any from him. Unlike RG, Michael
01:10:11
Boone did look Jesse Matthew in the eye [music] as the lead detective testified about how he got the vitally important
01:10:19
sample of Matthew's DNA. >> I went through and explained to him how I collected it, put on gloves, and then
01:10:26
swabbed the inside of his mouth and uh took that back and submitted it to the Department of Forensic Science.
01:10:32
>> DNA was pivotal to the trial. Experts testified that the sample from Matthew matched what was found under RG's
01:10:41
fingernail. >> How strong was the DNA evidence? What were the >> What were the numbers?
01:10:46
>> It was one in uh 7 billion that it could have been anyone else but the defendant.
01:10:51
So, one in greater than the world's population. >> One in seven billion is pretty clear.
01:10:56
>> That's a pretty good number. >> After 2 and 1/2 days, the prosecution rested and attention turned to the
01:11:03
defense. The defense asked for a brief recess. The brief uh recess lasted longer and longer.
01:11:12
>> What are you thinking during all this? >> At first, I just thought they were trying to decide what whether they were
01:11:17
going to uh put on a defense or not. >> Then you see Jesse's family get taken in
01:11:22
the back. Then you see them go back and forth, but then you see prosecutors just
01:11:26
sitting there. So, you're thinking, there can't be a deal going on. Then you see his mom in tears. What's happening?
01:11:33
It was at that point that Neil Augenstein, who at over six feet tall, has a rather good vantage point, noticed
01:11:40
something else. >> I watched the the uh the prosecutors walking down the aisle and I [music]
01:11:46
looked at the paperwork. It said Alfred plate. So, I went on Twitter and started
01:11:50
tweeting that the defense and prosecution were handling uh printed copies [music] of an Alfred ple.
01:11:57
>> Neil's tweets broke the story that there would be no jury verdict. Jesse Matthew would plead guilty, albeit
01:12:05
a slightly qualified guilty. >> They kind of threw the towel in on it, made a decision to plead Alford, which
01:12:11
is a type of guilty plea where the defendant is allowed to say, "The evidence against me is overwhelming. I'm
01:12:18
pleading guilty, but I do not admit that I committed the crime." >> You did not offer this.
01:12:23
>> No, I never offered any plea agreement. You know, we wanted the jury to decide
01:12:27
it. The only thing that he's gaining by doing an Alford plea here is not having to look at his mother in the eye and
01:12:34
say, "This is what I did." >> The plea stunned everyone, including Jill Harrington, who attended the trial
01:12:42
to show support. >> Argie is one exceptional human being. I applaud her courage and determination in
01:12:51
finding her justice in this court building today. The trial didn't end as expected, but
01:12:58
the result was all that mattered. >> He's convicted, so we've done our job. He's off the street. We gave him no
01:13:04
breaks. This is a good thing. [music] >> In the end, the judge gave Matthew the maximum in this case, three life
01:13:14
sentences. For RG, it was a difficult but triumphant trip. And before flying home, she had some
01:13:25
business to attend to with a man she had not seen since the night of the attack.
01:13:31
>> She said, "Thank you. I for saving my life." >> Did you say anything else to her?
01:13:36
>> I said, "You're welcome. I just did what I thought is the best thing to do." >> RG also thanked Detective Boon, whose
01:13:42
business card she kept in her wallet all these years. >> We went back into a conference room and
01:13:48
she pulled it out and she said, "I guess I should give this back to you now." and
01:13:52
I told her to keep it. >> The RG case was closed, but suddenly justice for another victim was moving
01:14:00
with shocking speed. >> In your heart, did you think he'd be standing here today?
01:14:19
>> Yes. Reporters were stunned. >> He was sitting really close to the Harrington family and looked right at
01:14:28
them as he left the courtroom. They're coming out right now. I got to go. Perhaps no one was more shocked than the
01:14:37
Harringtons themselves at the Commonwealth attorney's blockbuster announcement. >> Misindicted for firstdegree murder and
01:14:46
abduction with the intent to defile Morgan Harrington. >> [music] >> It has been such a long journey.
01:14:56
>> The charges coming finally nearly 6 years after Morgan's death. >> It makes more real the fact that Morgan
01:15:04
is dead and yes was murdered. >> He needs to know that uh justice is coming. To drive the point home, the
01:15:14
Harringtons resolutely locked eyes with Jesse Matthew as he walked past them in court.
01:15:20
>> I wanted him to see this is the face of justice for Jesse Matthews because I've
01:15:27
known and believed for some time that he killed our Morgan. >> Trina Murphy is there for support.
01:15:36
>> God bless you, Trina. So sorry. The trial was set for October 2016 in the Harrington case.
01:15:43
>> The maximum sentence in Harrington's murder is life in prison. If convicted for Hannah Graham's murder, Jesse
01:15:49
Matthew could face the death penalty. >> The Hannah Graham murder trial was scheduled for July of 2016. A capital
01:15:57
case with plenty of time for a plea. >> He can plead at any time up until he's found guilty.
01:16:03
>> What's he got to lose? He's facing the death penalty. >> That's a hard call. I will say he's got
01:16:08
some good lawyers. You know, I think they'll fight it out. >> And with much of the evidence in the
01:16:13
Hannah Graham case sealed, it's unclear how strong a case the state really has. >> We don't know what the evidence is. And
01:16:21
they've actually been very careful in many ways to not put a lot of stuff out there.
01:16:26
>> Based on what you do know, would you be surprised if this ever went to trial?
01:16:30
>> Let's think about some of the the circumstantial evidence issues here. Okay. What we think we know is that they
01:16:38
were seen together, say 1:30 at night, the night that she was last seen. Supposing the defense argues there's no
01:16:46
evidence that he did anything to actually hurt her. That's a problem. >> Hannah's family has grieved in [music]
01:16:56
private, leaving comments about the case to others. Hannah's coach, Craig Maniglia. They're strong and they will
01:17:04
figure out a way to get around this. They won't get over it, but they'll go forward. I can tell you that Grahams
01:17:09
want justice, >> as do friends like Llaya Nasser. >> When you send your kids to college, you
01:17:15
send them there to chase their dreams. Hannah didn't get that chance. >> Her last moments were at the mercy of a
01:17:21
murderer monster. Hannah's dreams were on everyone's mind this past summer when several of her UVA
01:17:33
classmates took to the mountains. Pausing on the majestic French Alps and the peaks of Tanzania to remember her.
01:17:40
>> We had dreamed of going to hike Mont Blanc talked about this >> 3800 me in the air.
01:17:46
>> So we figured in a symbolic measure we would do this bring her memorial there.
01:17:51
>> This was on Kilamanjaro. A simple tribute, says Alan Q, to an unquenchable spirit.
01:17:57
>> She loved hiking. She loved skiing. [music] So I always imagine her skiing through the clouds.
01:18:06
>> Learning from these tragedies is of great importance to Jill Harrington. >> I think we are at a critical time.
01:18:12
There's a critical number of girls who have been killed or are missing from our area.
01:18:18
>> Never let a friend leave an adventure. >> I will check on friends. To increase
01:18:21
awareness, the Harringtons founded an organization, Help Save the Next [music] Girl.
01:18:27
>> We will help save the next girl. >> Jill believes that what happened to Hannah, Morgan, Alexis, and RG hits
01:18:34
close to home for many young women. >> That's was always my intent was to save the next girl. Unfortunately, we
01:18:40
couldn't save Hannah Graham. >> Jill Harrington's crusade to protect young women continues. And as usual,
01:18:47
Trina [music] Murphy is at her side. From the day we found your story while following the Hannah Graham story, we
01:18:53
have not ceased [music] to grieve and pray for you. >> Alexis's body still has not been found.
01:18:58
It's now become bigger than just Alexis. And it's not about any one case or any one girl or guy. We have to unify. She
01:19:08
is out there somewhere. And until we are able to bring her home, we don't have any closure. [snorts] It's been 720
01:19:16
days. 1,51,000 minutes since the last time we got to see her beautiful face. >> In August 2015, the Murphy's gathered
01:19:25
for the second anniversary of Alexis's disappearance. For her mother, it felt like yesterday.
01:19:33
>> Just getting started in life. >> Hi. >> I never got pictures. I always wanted to
01:19:38
see her dressed up to go to promo. >> I'll never see that. All right, guys. It's 7:16. RELEASE.
01:19:52
[cheering] >> Families need to understand that you really have to work at keeping their
01:19:57
story alive. >> You just have to beat the drum and it's the only way that we're going to ever
01:20:03
affect change. >> This poem, it's called Metallic. Morgan Harrington's friend, Lindsay Crisp,
01:20:11
found her own way to keep memories alive. >> See, she was supposed to be at a Metallica concert.
01:20:18
>> In a raw and emotional piece, she wrote and shared at an open mic event. >> Do not let your girlfriends go out alone
01:20:28
here. >> A few days after her video hit social media, Lindsay was reunited with Jill
01:20:33
Harrington. >> Love you so much. I'm sorry it came to this, sweetie. on the Copley Bridge for
01:20:39
the first time since Morgan's death. >> Last place where she was of her own valition. It's become kind of a memorial
01:20:45
spot for us. >> So now the bridge is full of color and pictures and a sign that says justice.
01:20:53
It felt good to be able to do something for her. And on the sidewalk, words of thanks to RG, the anonymous rape victim
01:21:02
whose testimony and courage helped take a predator off the streets. >> She's the one that got away. And I'm
01:21:10
sure she didn't feel like the lucky one, but thank God she did. >> She is the hero. I mean, she came back
01:21:17
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
01:21:23
she had to do for the next woman. and also for herself as a woman. And we're all just so proud of her.
01:21:32
>> But for those left behind without resolution, memories are tinged [music] with heartache and with questions of
01:21:41
what might have been. >> I really sort of thought Morgan would be an artist. >> I mean, she was just chucka block full
01:21:51
of potential. I mean, she could just roll out of bed and be [music] gorgeous. [laughter]
01:22:01
Loved to laugh. She was really, really funny. >> She achieved everything she could at the
01:22:10
highest level she could achieve it. >> She was very smiley and silly, [music] too, which is what I want people to
01:22:18
remember most of all. This warm, sunny, [music] smiley girl full of life. We start tonight with breaking [music]
01:22:32
news in the Jesse Matthew case. A plea agreement reached on March 2nd, 2016, just a few months
01:22:41
before the Hannah Graham murder trial was to begin. Jesse Matthew accepted a deal.
01:22:47
>> Today, Jesse Matthew Jr. plead guilty to the first-degree murder of Hannah Graham.
01:22:53
guilty to the first-degree murder of Morgan Harrington. In exchange for pleading guilty, Matthew
01:23:02
no longer faced the death penalty. He will serve four consecutive life terms with no possibility of ever being
01:23:10
released. Both the Harrington and the Graham families supported the plea agreement.
01:23:15
>> I would say the primary emotion is relief. Um, finding justice for Morgan has been a burden on our family for six
01:23:23
and a half years. >> Today's events do not bring Hannah back to us. Of course, we miss her every day.
01:23:30
At times like this, one has to draw comfort where one can. >> After the announcement, the Harringtons
01:23:38
return to the Copley Bridge. This time to tie green ribbons on the railings as a symbol of new growth and
01:23:47
going forward. Jill said it would be their final visit to the bridge where [music] Morgan was
01:23:54
last seen. >> You don't get over your daughter being murdered, but you can get past it and we
01:24:01
want to do that. >> Hannah's enduring gift to us all is that she enabled this wicked man to be
01:24:08
apprehended and convicted. She did change the world, but at a terrible price. [music]
01:24:15
Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> This is where it all began, right? This
01:25:14
is where it all began. April 23rd, 2018, I received the call that a body was located off of Highway 98.
01:25:27
I come over to this area and approximately here was about where the head of the body was at and stretched out across the
01:25:36
ditch with the feet facing in that direction. >> She had bruises from head to toe
01:25:42
covering her entire body. She had lacerations on her face, stomach, legs. >> So this woman suffered before she died.
01:25:49
>> She suffered. I've never seen anything like it. It was extreme violence. Extreme violence overkill.
01:26:01
>> And who would do something like that? >> At the time, you don't know. And what
01:26:06
you worry about then is are they loose in our community? What type of individual am I dealing
01:26:12
with or individuals? [music] Is there one person? Is there two? You have a million questions that you
01:26:19
can ask, but you have no answers at the time. The next day, they identified the woman
01:26:26
that is Eileen Seiden, a young 31-year-old female in the Miami area. >> I've known Eileen Seiden for 25 years.
01:26:35
She was my best friend. Eileena called me. She had told me it was pretty where she was. The last talk
01:26:43
I had with Eileen was very different. She told me just these horrific things you never think you'll hear from your
01:26:49
best friend. She said, "I need your help." It was like a movie. My sister's involved and I don't know what's
01:26:59
happening. I told her to run. >> You use the word run. Did you say run? >> 100%. I said run. Get the Get out of
01:27:05
there. Go. She's like, "I can't." She was scared to death. This doesn't happen. This doesn't happen
01:27:15
to us. This doesn't happen in real life. We received a call from the Sportsman's
01:27:24
Lodge motel. There was a room that they were in the process of cleaning. There was blood.
01:27:32
>> And what goes through your mind as you walk [music] through all this beauty? >> This right here would be the last place
01:27:37
that you could ever imagine a homicide taking place, especially right here in this piece of paradise.
01:27:45
>> I'll take you to room number 15. Now, when the housekeepers first came through this door, what did they see?
01:27:55
>> Uh, they said the furniture was knocked over onto the floor. As they started cleaning the room, they found more and
01:28:00
more stuff to be wrong. They noticed stuff missing from the beds, the sheets, anything like that. This bed here was
01:28:09
completely covered in uh blood stain. >> So, that tells you there was a violent scene going on.
01:28:14
>> Yes. And what happened in room 15? >> It's [music] unknown. If these walls could talk, right?
01:28:26
>> Oh, if they could talk, I'd like to hear them. >> [music] [music] >> Appalachiccola, Florida is a wonderful
01:29:20
small place >> for Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor Jared Patterson. The sleepy Gulf Coast
01:29:28
town of Appalachiccola [music] and surrounding countryside are among the last remnants of a bygone era. It
01:29:36
certainly still hearkens back to a time before there was condos on every inch of
01:29:40
the beach and before there were highrises. We're referred to here the counties along this area of the coast as
01:29:44
the forgotten coast. But when a couple heading to a nearby fishing pond discovered Eene Siden's battered body on
01:29:52
April 23rd, [music] 2018, Patterson wondered what had brought a killer to Florida's forgotten coast.
01:30:00
>> The horror that it really was, it absolutely shocked people. It looked like someone was in a hurry.
01:30:07
Whoever it was dumped the body and took off. >> Lead investigator Lieutenant Ronnie
01:30:12
Jones, then with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, says documenting Eileen's unsettling dump site was the
01:30:20
first of two ominous events over the next 24 hours. He was soon dispatched to the second crime scene at the
01:30:28
Sportsman's Lodge Motel. and that bloody spectacle inside room 15. >> So, what's it like for you to be back in
01:30:40
here? >> Uh, brings back some pretty bad memories. >> Joan's memories live in stark contrast
01:30:49
to the treehaded grounds of the otherwise peaceful motel. >> As soon as I came in, I noticed the bed.
01:30:56
I It's you couldn't miss it. I mean, this whole area was covered and had blood stains on it.
01:31:04
>> And when you saw that kind of blood loss, what did that tell you? >> I just put two and two together and I
01:31:09
automatically put that back to the um body that was found the day before. >> You did that quickly like that?
01:31:15
>> Had to have. It wasn't just somebody cut yourself and bled a little bit on the
01:31:19
bed. I mean, the amount of blood that was on this bed tells me that whoever was here was probably deceased.
01:31:23
>> Jones recalled there was a smell of vinegar in the room. And what did that tell you? That someone attempted to
01:31:30
clean the crime scene. >> A luminol test for traces of human blood revealed what an apparently hasty
01:31:37
cleanup couldn't hide. >> The whole entire bathroom lit up. >> So that was the scene of perhaps some of
01:31:45
her most vicious attacks was inside that bathroom. >> Yes. >> And Jones says the shower curtain rod
01:31:52
was a possible weapon. On the rod was located a palm print and also uh blood. >> And that's significant evidence, right?
01:32:01
That's right. >> Testing would soon confirm that it was Eileen's blood in the motel room. Now
01:32:08
came the gut-wrenching duty to notify Eileen's sister, Francesca Seiden. >> He said my sister was murdered. I don't
01:32:17
know. Like what do you do? You look for support. That's all I could do. I didn't understand why like it was
01:32:31
given to me again like to handle another loss. >> While growing up in Miami, then
01:32:38
16-year-old Francesca and 9-year-old Eileene faced their first tragedy when their beloved mother passed away from
01:32:47
cancer. >> How did the two of you deal with this? We didn't talk about it because it was
01:32:55
so fast. >> Six years later, their father, Frank, a successful furniture manufacturer who
01:33:04
Francesca says shared a special bond with Eileene, suddenly died from a heart attack. It left Eileen, then 14, an
01:33:13
orphan, and 22-year-old Francesca with a decision to make. I signed the papers and I became her legal guardian.
01:33:21
>> And what did that mean? What were your responsibilities? >> I became a parent. I had to take her to
01:33:28
school. I had to pick her up from school. I had to finish my own school. I was working. I didn't have time to
01:33:33
grieve. And I don't think that she did either. >> 7 years later, Francesca [music] moved
01:33:39
to Los Angeles on her own. That's when she says Eileen, now in her 20s, began [music] grieving their parents. She
01:33:47
started to think a lot. She became more sensitive. >> Something like losing your parents has
01:33:53
long lasting effects throughout your life. It's obvious that it did. >> This is Eileen's best friend. Not
01:34:00
wanting her name associated with this case, she has asked 48 hours to refer to her as Ally. She remembers a strong and
01:34:08
determined Eileene making it on her own in Miami. >> She worked as a property manager. She
01:34:15
lived in a great apartment, you know, she paid her own rent. She made her bills. She was very independent.
01:34:22
>> Francesca saw that independence firsthand when Eileen made an extended visit to LA in 2016.
01:34:31
>> Looking back, do you wish she had stayed with you? >> 100%. Because whatever happened when she went back to
01:34:38
Miami is when she reconnected with Zach. Zach was Zachary Ael, who Eileen had known since they were teenagers.
01:34:50
>> I'm not sure if I had the best reputation in high school. At first, she wasn't really sure about him.
01:34:56
>> But years later, she and Zach Ael started dating. >> I think in the beginning, Eileen found
01:35:02
Zach fun, but I think it changed pretty quickly. >> Investigators in Franklin County would
01:35:09
soon learn all about Zack Ael. They discovered that Zach, Eileene, and this woman, Christina Ajo, had all been seen
01:35:18
in the Appalachiccola area. Detectives also learned the three shared a room at the sportsman's lodge, room number 15.
01:35:29
We needed to know what happened inside that hotel room outside of three people entered and two came out carrying a
01:35:36
body. Off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Captain Mike Pikovet set sail on his 50ft boat.
01:36:05
>> It's kind of weird uh trying to remember any good times. There just were. There
01:36:09
was always some issue. >> Back in 2018, Mike would play a central role in Eileen Seiden's murder
01:36:15
investigation. He knew Eileene and her boyfriend Zack Ael well. >> Zach is just um very entertaining. He's
01:36:25
very extroverted. >> Mike had met Zach by chance at a bar about 7 years earlier.
01:36:31
>> He came up to me at Duffy's and said, "Hey, I like your shirt." And I'm like,
01:36:34
"Okay." >> Then uh Christina came up. >> Christina Ajo, Zach's [music] girlfriend
01:36:39
at the time. The two had been dating for about 4 years. Mike says Christina immediately started boasting about her
01:36:48
powerful father. >> Right out of the gate, she said, "Oh yeah, my dad's a major with the Palm
01:36:53
Beach County Sheriff's Department, and if we ever get into any trouble with the law, he can take care of it." I was
01:36:58
like, "What? Who says that?" >> Despite their odd first meeting, Mike says he began hanging out with the
01:37:06
couple. What followed were years [music] of wild nights, wild parties, and lots of heavy drinking. That was their go-to
01:37:14
thing. Okay, we've got to do shots of this, shots of this. >> But Mike says there was an interesting
01:37:19
power dynamic [music] in the couple's relationship with Christina, who is 8 years older than Zach, calling the
01:37:26
shots. >> She was very controlling and very directing. He would follow her lead with
01:37:32
stuff. [music] >> One day in 2016, Zach stopped by Mike's boat, but not with Christina. Instead,
01:37:42
Zach introduced Mike to Eileen Siden. Mike could tell Zach now had two women in his life.
01:37:52
>> It was the weirdest thing. If your relationship's not working, just end it and move on.
01:37:56
>> However, Mike says that Zach couldn't make a clean break from Christina, who was also his business partner.
01:38:03
>> He tried so many times. He just didn't know how to. And then also all the threats all the time that she couldn't
01:38:09
make him disappear. Every time she got drunk, she would say some weird things. >> Eileen's best friend, Ally, [music]
01:38:15
says Zach and Eileene began to secretly date. >> She seemed to love him so much that she
01:38:21
was still hoping that he would, you know, decide to be with her. He would lead her on to think he was trying to
01:38:28
end it with Christina. >> In 2017, Eileen unexpectedly lost her job as a property manager.
01:38:36
>> She was really starting to lose control of her own life. Ally says that may explain why Eileene eventually started
01:38:42
working at Zach and Christina's used car dealership. >> It wasn't the independent life that she
01:38:48
had always lived. >> Ally says Eileene continued to pressure Zach to break up with Christina for
01:38:54
good. But when Zach finally tried to end things with Christina, she countered with an unconventional proposal.
01:39:03
>> It was not the answer that anyone expected. Christina came back and said, "Well, why don't we try and all be in a
01:39:10
relationship then?" It now became this opportunity for this throppple three-way kind of relationship.
01:39:17
>> A throppple is a romantic relationship among three people. Ally says Eileene was against the idea.
01:39:24
>> Eileen said, "Absolutely not. There's no way. It's never going to work." And there was kind of a crickets for a few
01:39:30
weeks. >> But Ally says Eileene later changed her mind. The trio was now a throppple.
01:39:38
>> I was in shock really, but also a little bit happy for them that maybe this could
01:39:43
work. >> But it didn't work. Before long, there was trouble. >> This whole dynamic started to change
01:39:49
where one of them always seemed to be them odd man out or was jealous. At that point, it just started to spiral out of
01:39:55
control. According to Mike Pikovette, things escalated, leading to irrational behavior and fights fueled by alcohol.
01:40:05
He says Eileen and Christina traded [music] punches often, usually resulting in black eyes on one or both of the
01:40:13
women that they'd sometimes hide behind big sunglasses. >> It was an [music] everyday thing, pretty
01:40:20
every second day thing, I could say. >> Ally remembers things differently. She says Zach was the main aggressor in the
01:40:28
relationship. >> Eileen would call me and say, "You have to come over here. Like, he hurt me
01:40:33
again." And I'd rush over there and photograph her and beg her to go to the police.
01:40:38
>> But Ally says Eileene refused, fearing Christina's law enforcement connections
01:40:44
would work against her. Eileen's sister, Francesca, was furious when she learned
01:40:49
of the abuse. >> I wanted my sister out of this situation. I wanted her out. >> It's hard to leave. It's hard to leave.
01:40:55
And I had this feeling that Christina was more violent of the two. It was really difficult to
01:41:03
see her going through a time like this. It was just so hard and she was scared to death.
01:41:07
>> Once Ally says the abuse got so bad, she took Eileen to the emergency room. >> They took her to the hospital because
01:41:14
they have to report things, but she wouldn't say where the bruises came from. Eileen's best friend [music] had to
01:41:22
deliver a hard truth. >> Eileen, you have to break up with this guy. Someone's going to end up dead.
01:41:42
When Eileen was in real trouble, it was hard to get anyone to come rescue her. The path that led to Eileen Seiden's
01:41:50
murder may have begun weeks earlier. In 2018, Ally was surprised that despite the physical violence in their
01:41:58
relationship, Eileen had decided to move in with Sack Ael and Christina Ajo. The
01:42:04
thruple was now working together, sleeping [snorts] together, and living together. Eileen was trapped in the
01:42:11
relationship because she was trapped financially, but she felt that that was one last chance to make it work. It was
01:42:18
like a one month or two month trial. >> But within a few weeks, Ally says Eileene had had enough.
01:42:26
>> Eileen was just going to move out. She was really done with the relationship.
01:42:31
But Eileen's plans to leave were halted on April 7th, 2018 after Zach and Christina had gotten into a violent
01:42:39
fight. Ally says she got a call from Eileen on Zach's phone. >> She was going to leave and get Zach out
01:42:46
of the house, but like to go to a coffee shop. The next call I got was from Christina. She was angry and furious.
01:42:54
Ally says Christina threatened to report the car Eileen and Zach were driving in
01:42:59
as stolen in an apparent attempt to keep them from leaving her behind. Ally immediately warned Eileene and Zach.
01:43:10
Instead of coming around and coming back like I thought they would, they hit the
01:43:13
gas and went to Georgia. I said, "What are you doing, Eileen? You don't have your phone. You don't have a wallet.
01:43:18
This is crazy." She said, "We're going on a road trip. This is a good thing. But the road trip wasn't a good thing to
01:43:26
Christina Ajo. She began harassing Zach and Eileene, sending a storm of angry texts. You two deserve each other.
01:43:35
Christina sent more than 150 texts in roughly 24 hours. All went unanswered, including this one. My dad will be
01:43:45
calling you. Later, Christina issued this threat. You effed me over and now I'm effing you over.
01:43:53
>> I was just trying to tell her Christina, you why don't you worry about your own
01:43:56
life. >> About 48 hours into the road [music] trip, Zach and Eileen were heading to
01:44:02
Texas and Christina seemed to have a change of heart, texting, "If you want to come back home, come back. You never
01:44:11
have to question my love." for reasons that are unknown. Instead of coming home, Zach invited Christina to join
01:44:20
them and she flew to Dallas. But with a thrpple united, the old problems returned.
01:44:28
>> Eileen started to call me from Zach's phone at night saying, you know, this is
01:44:33
getting bad and I I don't know what to do. It wasn't until Christina arrived that that started to happen. I was
01:44:38
really worried someone would get hurt. >> By day 10 of the road trip, Eileen's older sister, Francesca, was also
01:44:48
worried. She hadn't heard from Eileene in a while. When the trio stopped in New Orleans, Eileen finally called Francesca
01:44:57
and shared an alarming suspicion. >> She's like, "I think they're going to kill me." No joke. So I was like,
01:45:04
Eileen, run to the nearest gas station. Go tell the person. >> Call 911. >> Yeah. Run to like I said, run. Get the
01:45:12
get out of there. Go. She's like, I can't. >> Francesca, desperate to help, tried to
01:45:17
get more details from Eileen. >> If I had where the address was, I would have called the police then and there,
01:45:24
but she had to go. She had to get off. And she hung up. I was extremely frustrated, but I and and I was scared.
01:45:32
>> With no way to help her sister, Francesca hoped Eileen would stay safe. The road trip continued into its second
01:45:39
week. The trio then headed to Panama City, Florida. But a [music] missed exit led them to the forgotten coast.
01:45:50
>> The road trip is difficult to understand. partying one day and murdering the next.
01:45:57
>> David Adlerstein is a reporter for the Appalachiccola Times, one of the oldest
01:46:02
newspapers in Florida. >> I've been covering the Eileen Siden case since the week it happened.
01:46:11
>> On the evening of April 21st, the trio seen here in this screenshot from surveillance footage stumbled into the
01:46:19
quiet peace of Franklin County. They went to a popular restaurant, the Red Pirate, played miniature golf,
01:46:29
partied. >> At the recommendation of a local, the thrpple headed to the nearby Sportsman's
01:46:35
Lodge Motel. They reserved the last vacancy of the night, room [music] 15. The next morning, on April 22nd, 2018,
01:46:46
the Thrpple made a plan. They decided they'd [music] spend another day there, not get back on the road and make it a a
01:46:55
party. So, they got up in the morning and went to the liquor store. >> Here they are in these screenshots from
01:47:02
the store's surveillance footage. While there, the trio purchased large bottles of vodka and fireball whiskey. When I
01:47:10
went to investigate their path that day and went to the liquor store, the clerk,
01:47:16
she pointed out that the fireball that they bought was the largest bottle you could buy. And this is just the three of
01:47:23
them. >> The throppple then returned to the sportsman's Lodge motel. >> I don't think Eileen was having fun. I
01:47:30
think she was just trying to maybe get by and stay alive. >> Ally says she spoke to Eileene that day.
01:47:37
>> Eileen said, "I need to leave him. I'm telling you, I'm like a sex slave. He has this really scary look in his eye.
01:47:43
It's very scary. It's different. And she said, "I need your help." >> Ally says the two friends had crafted an
01:47:50
escape plan. Eileen would get on a bus from Tampa, the trio's next destination. >> I bought her a Greyhound ticket because
01:47:58
she didn't have a wallet. >> The bus would drop Eileen off near Miami, and Ally would take her home.
01:48:05
Eileen just needed to get on that bus and she'd be safe. >> And then, you know, I never heard back.
01:48:12
I never heard anything after that. >> The next night, hundreds of miles away in Fort Lauderdale, Mike Pigette was
01:48:23
home and alone. There was a knock at the door. It was Christina Ajo and Zack Ael.
01:48:30
>> I was like, "Okay, where's Eileen?" And right away Christina says, "Oh, she ran
01:48:35
away." And I said, "Bull." I said, "Where is she?" And Zach right away it started to choke up and he said, "She's
01:48:42
dead." >> The news was shocking enough, but Mike says once Christina was out of earshot,
01:48:50
Zach told him what happened. >> He said Christina killed her. He woke up, she was dead next to him, and uh he
01:48:57
tried to give her CPR. Then uh wanted to call 911. Christina said no. when and told me you can't call 911. For some
01:49:04
reason, he kept on saying he had to protect Christina. I'm like, "What do you got to protect her for?"
01:49:08
>> Mike says he wanted to protect both of his friends. He feared a violent outcome
01:49:14
if he called 911. >> I didn't want them to get killed. Just wanted to make sure that they were
01:49:19
brought in a safe way. And the only thing that I could think about is to go talk to her father.
01:49:26
>> Christina's father, Colonel Tony Ajo. The one Mike says Christina had always bragged could make her problems go away.
01:49:37
When Zach and Christina fell asleep, Mike took this photo and says he went online to search for Christina's father,
01:49:45
a man he had never met. >> So, I was panicking trying to find his phone number. >> When Mike finally got a hold of Colonel
01:49:52
Ajo, he didn't immediately reveal the deadly news. >> I said, "I got to talk to you. It's
01:49:58
about Christina. It's very important. >> Mike says Christina's father directed Mike to meet him at an odd place, a gas
01:50:06
station. >> So I went up there. I said, "Christina killed somebody." And he says, "You know
01:50:12
I'm a cop, right?" I'm like, "Yes, sir, I do." He right away [music] said, "Wait right there."
01:50:17
>> Mike says Christina's father then brought him to the sheriff's office to make a formal statement.
01:50:24
>> He did what was the right thing to do. I got two other people to ask me all the
01:50:29
questions. >> Later that day, Mike was shown a photo and he was the one to identify the
01:50:37
battered body of Eileen Siden. With that confirmation, police descended on Mike's
01:50:42
home as Zach and Christina were about to leave. [music] They were arrested and brought back to
01:50:51
Franklin County. [music] The pair were later charged with firstdegree murder. It would take almost [music] 6 years
01:50:59
before Zach Ael and Christina Ao would face a jury, and by then only one of them would stand trial.
01:51:25
You're healing. You're doing the things that you need to heal. And then >> you're stopped.
01:51:31
>> For almost 6 years, Francesca Seiden lived in agonizing limbo as her sister Eileen's case, complicated by having two
01:51:41
defendants face delay after delay after frustrating delay. >> And now you're going to get ready for
01:51:48
this big moment. Then it stops again. Finally, in January of 2024, at the Franklin County Courthouse in
01:51:57
Appalachiccola, Florida, Zack Ael was about to face trial. He had pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and would
01:52:05
stand before the jury alone. 8 months earlier, Christina Ao took a plea deal for a lesser charge of secondderee
01:52:15
murder. So, she admitted taking part in this. >> Yes. She implicated herself in the
01:52:20
actual beating of Eileene. [music] >> After studying the mountain of evidence, prosecutor Jared Patterson believes Zach
01:52:31
Ael was more responsible in Eileen's murder. [music] And the state is relying on the jury believing Christina Ajo's
01:52:39
version of what happened inside room 15. The only one who has told us anything about what happened in that room is
01:52:48
Christina Arau. >> Once Christina made her plea deal, she would become the prosecution star
01:52:57
witness. >> Print reporter David Adlerstein, camera in hand, was there as Christina AO
01:53:04
transported the courtroom back to the evening of April 22nd, 2018. A Rajo testified that she, Zack, Ael,
01:53:13
and Eileen were relaxing in the room at the sportsman's lodge after a day of heavy drinking.
01:53:20
>> When Zach drinks, does he act differently? >> He becomes very aggressive, very mean.
01:53:30
>> Zach Ael became violently enraged, says Ajo, when Eileen posed a seemingly innocent question. But she said,
01:53:39
"Christina, guess what?" >> And she looks over at Christina and says, "Hey, Christina, guess what? How
01:53:45
would that sentence be finished?" >> I have no idea cuz she never got to finish it.
01:53:49
>> Zachary got up immediately and went over to her and was in her face, hitting her. He's
01:53:59
just yelling at her, telling her, "You always start problems." A Rajo admits to also hitting Eileene as she demanded to
01:54:06
know what she was about to say. She never got an answer. >> And I got so frustrated. I just swear to
01:54:13
God I left the room. [laughter] >> After stepping outside room 15 for a few minutes, Ajo claims she returned to find
01:54:23
Abel and Eileen in the bathroom. When I opened the door, he had something white in his hand, like if he was poking
01:54:31
about her. >> The medical examiner was able to identify small circular bruising to the
01:54:38
body of Eileen that could be consistent with a shower curtain rod. >> Like the shower curtain rod
01:54:48
investigators recovered that had palm print impressions in Eileen's blood. >> Whose palm was it? The palm print
01:54:55
belonged to Zachary Ael. >> The assault continued near the bed, says Ajo, where she says Abel reached for his
01:55:04
wooden walking stick. >> He hit Sarah several times with it. When he hit her in the back, though, the
01:55:11
stick broke. >> We had actually found pieces of that wooden staff in the hotel room. We
01:55:18
didn't realize the significance of it until we found the other piece in the vehicle that contained our victim's DNA.
01:55:27
>> AO says she watched in terror as Abel began using that stick to sexually assault Eileen.
01:55:35
>> Christina's description of the crime was horrifying to listen to. Eileen clearly
01:55:40
suffered terrible death. Adlerstein recalls the medical examiner saying Eileen's injuries reminded him of those
01:55:49
he had seen in motor vehicle crashes. As a reporter, I try very hard to not be emotional.
01:55:59
I distinctly remember fighting back tears. >> AO claims she eventually put herself
01:56:08
between Abel and Eileene and the attack finally stopped. Eileen was badly beaten, but still alive, she says, and
01:56:16
the exhausted trio just fell asleep. >> I didn't think she was going to die for me.
01:56:23
>> Ajo claims it wasn't until she woke up the next morning that she realized Eileen was dead. She says she only
01:56:31
participated in the cover up out of fear of what Abel might do to her. >> She seemed to me genuinely remorseful.
01:56:40
Others had different opinions. Who is Christina Ao in your book? >> Manipulative,
01:56:49
cunning, chameleon. I think that there's evil in her. >> Alex Morris is Zach Abel's attorney.
01:56:58
>> He says Christina Ajo acted alone. >> I believe that she is the murderer. Let's talk about her story.
01:57:07
Morris says it was Christina Ajo who beat Eileene. And that photo taken by Mike Pikovette at his home after the
01:57:15
murder shows she had injuries to her hands and feet. >> Which tells you Christina must have been
01:57:22
the attacker. >> That's right. >> Christina Ao was the one with homicidal intent, says Morris. Triggered when Abel
01:57:31
and Eileene took off with her in the rear view mirror. And he says those threatening texts that [music] she sent
01:57:38
to Abel's phone before joining them on the road trip read like a confession. There are threats of bodily harm to both
01:57:48
Eileen and Zach and the messages. You come near me, ho, I will kill you. >> I think it speaks for itself. And that's
01:57:57
exactly what happened. After Eileen's murder, Morris says Ajo wiped down the motel room using the
01:58:06
vinegar that Ronnie Jones would later smell. He says Abel's palm prints on the curtain rod got there when he moved it
01:58:15
during the cleanup. >> He was instructed to pick the curtain rod up over there and put it over there
01:58:21
by Christina. This toll booth surveillance photo from after the murder shows that Christina Ajo and not Zach
01:58:30
Ael was the one driving the car and therefore Morris says she was the one in control.
01:58:38
>> The evidence indicates Christina to be the one giving the directions and had everything
01:58:45
to be able to manipulate the situation. manipulating Zach Ael says Morris because of those threats she had been
01:58:52
making for years about her father's influence in solving her problems. >> Bottom line is Zach was fearful of
01:58:59
Christina's father. >> Abel chose not to testify. When Morris made his final arguments to the jury, he
01:59:08
concluded the evidence showed there was only one person who wanted Eileen Siden dead. They haven't proven any motive as
01:59:16
to why Mr. Abel would be interested in murdering Miss Siden. But I'll tell you where motive lies and it's clear as day
01:59:25
and that's with Mr. Rajo. >> The motive being I want rid of the person who's taken my man. So jealousy.
01:59:32
>> Yes. >> In his closing, Patterson said Christina Ao already accepted her role in this
01:59:40
crime. He asked the jury to hold Zack Ael accountable for his part by finding him guilty of murder.
01:59:49
>> They lived together. They worked together. They own a business together. They went to the sportsman's lodge
01:59:53
together. They emptied out the room together. They ran away together. They got arrested together. The only thing
02:00:00
they didn't do together was kill Eileen Sid. No way. >> [music] >> But who would the jury believe?
02:00:15
[music] She wasn't born here and she didn't live here, but she was left here and she'll
02:00:36
always be remembered by Franklin County. >> Residents of Florida's forgotten coast
02:00:43
will now long remember Eileen Seiden, says Ronnie Jones. Almost 6 years after her death, the community waited for
02:00:51
justice for the stranger they now had come to embrace as one of their own. >> What was going through your mind as the
02:00:58
jury begins its deliberation? make it quick. >> I was told by the jury foreman that when
02:01:05
they first went in, there was 10 in favor of firstdegree premeditated murder with two holdouts.
02:01:13
>> All right, everyone, please be seated. >> After about 5 hours of deliberations,
02:01:18
the jury reached a consensus. >> In the case of the state of Florida versus Zachary Ray Ael, the defendant is
02:01:26
guilty of the lesser included offense of seconddegree murder. seconddegree murder. Just like Christina
02:01:33
Ajo, Adlerstein says the jury foreman told him they just couldn't [music] decide if Zack Abel had actually
02:01:40
intended to kill Eileene. >> They knew that Christina had plead guilty to second. And I think they
02:01:48
eventually said, "We're going to give him the same." >> It doesn't tell me that they're equally
02:01:54
responsible. Mike Picovet says even with the verdict, he is convinced his friend
02:02:01
played no part in Eileen's death. >> To me, there's an innocent man sitting in jail.
02:02:06
>> I think they're both just as guilty as the other. >> Now retired from law enforcement, Ronnie
02:02:11
Jones spends his days tending his bar in Appalachiccola. He says he's still left wondering what
02:02:19
really happened inside room 15. Is this case a mystery to you? It's not a mystery on exactly what happened, but
02:02:27
exactly why it happened. That is what still bothers me to this day. Why, >> like what Eileen might have been about
02:02:35
to say that sparked the attack. >> It was my understanding and the rumors that she was fixing to disclose the fact
02:02:42
that she was pregnant. >> Pregnant? And was she pregnant? Did you learn that at autopsy?
02:02:47
>> I was at the autopsy and she was not pregnant. I don't know if she thought she was or not.
02:02:54
When it was time for sentencing, Zack Ael finally spoke and told the courtroom another twist in this tortured story.
02:03:04
>> I had stopped and I grabbed a ring pop and I proposed to her with a ring pop and asked her to marry me and she said
02:03:11
yes. And me and Eileen were going to go our way and leave Christina out of it. [snorts] Zach spoke at his sentencing
02:03:21
and said that he'd actually proposed to Eileen during this trip. >> I think that is just BS. It's a great
02:03:29
story, but no. >> I have been in the justice system in one form or another for 40 years. Rarely
02:03:39
have I seen the sort of injuries that I saw on Eileen Seiden. The judge told Abel he wished he could impose a harsher
02:03:49
punishment before sentencing [music] him to the maximum, life in prison. In >> the state of Florida, life means life.
02:03:57
We don't have parole. >> At her sentencing, Christina Ajo's father, Colonel Tony Ajo, set the record
02:04:05
straight. He said he never used his influence to benefit his daughter, and he recalled the conversation he had with
02:04:12
her after the murder. You will own up to the truth. You will accept responsibility.
02:04:18
You will be the voice of the victim and you will testify under oath in a court of law. And then whatever is sentenced
02:04:26
to you, that's fine. >> There was no agreement with her as to the length of sentence. She gave her
02:04:32
statement with the knowledge that she could still receive life in prison. >> I think about that day every day of my
02:04:39
life. >> [snorts] >> The details haunt me and the memories keep me up. >> The judge acknowledged her cooperation
02:04:49
and sentence Christina Ao to 25 years. >> Justice has been served. They won't beat
02:04:56
up any more females. Neither will she. >> I think that every woman kind of thinks
02:05:04
I would leave if I was in that situation. I would just get up and leave. I would never tolerate that.
02:05:08
Eileen's best friend, Ally, hopes there will be more compassion for those trapped [music] in abusive
02:05:15
relationships. >> It's always the I'm sorry, it's never going to happen again. And you believe
02:05:19
it cuz you're in love and things are good 95% of the time, but the 5% that are bad are so bad.
02:05:28
>> With your sister gone, how do you want her to be remembered? I want her to be
02:05:33
remembered as a sweet, loving human being who unfortunately had lost her parents at
02:05:42
such a young age. But she was still so sweet. Like she was such a sweetheart. Her soul was so kind.
02:06:06
>> [music] >> I can only describe it as evil. Something horrible >> from 48 hours. This is trained to kill
02:06:19
the dog trainer, the ays, and the bodyguard. [music] >> He couldn't control his obsession.
02:06:24
>> Who was the hunter and who was the hunted? Follow and listen on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your
02:06:32
podcasts.