The latest progress in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, a University of Virginia student, is the arrest of a man named Jesse Matthew in Galveston, Tex., on Sept. 24. Police said Monday that the arrest resulted in a "breakthrough" in the unsolved murder of another young woman in the area in 2009.
The "new forensic link" was pointed out by the Virginia State Police, saying that there is a connection between the disappearance of Hannah Graham and the abduction of Morgan Harrington, a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student, who became separated from friends.
Harrington went missing after going to a Metallica concert in Charlottesville in Oct. 17, 2009, reports CNN.
According to Fox News, her remains were found three months later by a farmer in a hayfield 10 miles outside Charlottesville.
No arrests were made in Harrington's case, and the cause of death is still under investigation. Police released minute details about the student's death.
In 2010, her family said they believe she had been kidnapped, raped and murdered. During the same year, the last major progress in Harrington's case happened after her murder had been connected to the kidnapping and sexual assault of a woman in Fairfax Virg. in 2005.
Police said the farm they also searched the farm where Harrington had been found to solve the disappearance of Hannah Graham.
"Last week, the arrest of Jesse L. Matthew Jr., 32, of Charlottesville, Va., provided a significant break in [the Harrington] case with a new forensic link for state police investigators to pursue, in the death of 20-year-old Morgan Harrington, who, like Miss Graham, vanished from the Charlottesville campus," Virginia State Police said in a statement about their investigations into the disappearance of Hannah Graham.
"There is still a great deal of work to be done in regards to this investigation and we appreciate the public's patience as we move forward," the statement concluded.
Meanwhile, the station did not specify what the forensic link was in the disappearance of Hannah Graham.
Police Spokeswoman Natalie Hinesley said on Monday that they cannot comment on any possible connections to maintain the integrity of their investigation, reports the Associated Press.
However, police said the evidence they have gathered during the Harrington investigation shows that the student had some sort of contact with Matthew prior to her death.
In 2012, the FBI released a sketch of the man they believe had contact with Harrington. A man matching Matthew's description was reportedly spotted with Graham at an outdoor mall in Charlottesville during the early hours of Sept. 13, linking him to the disappearance of Hannah Graham.
Graham sent her friends several frantic text messages after she left an off-campus party. One included her saying she was lost. Police said they linked Matthew to the disappearance of Hannah Graham as witnesses last saw the student with Matthew at a bar.
After talking to witnesses and inspected surveillance video, police searched his car and apartment five days later after the college student went missing.
The police was able to arrest Matthew on Sept. 24 after being alerted to a suspicious man camping on the beach on the Bolivar Peninsula, approximately 1,300 miles from Charlottesville. Police are searching the area for Graham too.
According to the AP, Matthew is a hospital worker who also had a taxi license during the disappearance of Hannah Graham.
As of the current moment, he is held in jail without bond. He is also set to appear for a bond hearing on Thursday via video link.
If convicted, Matthew could be facing life in prison.
"We're going to do whatever we can to assist Virginia to locate that young lady," said Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset last week.
Authorities are currently offering a $100,000 reward for information of the 18-year-old.
The disappearance of Hannah Graham has affected her family deeply, with her father making an emotional plea for her safe return last week. Graham, born in Reading, Berkshire in the U.K., moved to the U.S. with her parents at age five. She still has her British passport.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
