After months of tireless searching for missing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, investigators have found something major.
Recently, human remains were found in a dried up creek behind an abandoned home in Albemarle County County, about twelve miles from the University of Virginia. It has recently been released to the public that the remains are Hannah Graham’s.
The man currently being held responsible is Jesse Matthew. Investigators are still trying to figure out if they plan to charge him with anything else related to the case. They have reported that they have searched Jesse’s car with no sign that Hannah was there. The only things found in the car were cigarette butts in an overflowing ashtray and a yellow envelope that was related to his faith. His court date relating to Hannah Graham’s disappearance has been scheduled for December 4th.
Matthew is also facing charges not related to the case in other cities in Virginia. He is now linked to the murder of Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington and a violent rape four years ago. The name of the rape victim was not released to the public.
Megan Harrington’s case was similar to Hannah Graham’s and investigators believe that they are related. She was last seen at a concert on the University of Virginia campus and her remains were found about five miles from where Hannah’s were found.
Prior to the discovery of the remains, there were three thousand, seven hundred and eighty tips called in to help find Hannah Graham. One tip lead searchers to a forested area where professionals took pictures with a specialized camera from an aircraft that searchers will look at images from. Police had searched ninety five percent of the searching radius with no sign of Hannah.
When her family and friends were asked to tell a little bit about Hannah, they said that the simple way to put it was that “Hannah lit up our lives.” Before she disappeared, Hannah was starting her second year at the University of Virginia and was excelling academically. She loved the campus and the city of Charlottesville as a whole and was happy to be going back after summer vacation ended. She was pursuing a career in global public health and wanted to help others.
In a statement released by her parents, her mother asked the public to “please, please, please end this nightmare for all us.” Through this process, her parents have been appreciative of everything everyone was doing to help find Hannah. They hope that even though the waiting to find their daughter had ended, they hoped that everyone would help those who still do not have their love ones safe at home.
Cases like these make us second guess going anywhere by ourselves, not only for ourselves but for our friends and family also.