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Jesse Matthew convicted in slayings of college students Jesse Matthew pleads guilty in slayings of college students
(about 5 hours later)
A Charlottesville-area man was convicted in the high-profile killings of two Va. college students Wednesday as part of a plea deal with prosecutors that spared him the possibility of facing the death penalty. CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Jesse L. Matthew Jr. hopped from bar to bar making ever more aggressive advances on women and getting rebuffed, before he spotted Hannah Graham weaving drunkenly down a Charlottesville pedestrian mall in the early hours of Sept. 13, 2014.
Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr., 33, entered guilty pleas in Albemarle County court for the 2014 slaying of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham and the 2009 killing of Virginia Tech junior Morgan Harrington. He was sentenced to four life terms. A witness watched as Matthew, a burly former football player, caught up to Graham and slung his arm around her neck. The witness protested to Matthew: “You don’t even know her.”
Matthew, who was charged with the disappearances and deaths of the two young women, faced the possibility of being sentenced to death if he was found guilty at trial in the slaying of Graham, 18, of Fairfax County. Matthew replied simply: “Hush.”
After Judge Cheryl Higgins accepted the guilty pleas from Matthew, Sue Graham, Hannah Graham’s mother, read a statement to the court. The moment was the beginning of Matthew’s abduction and murder of the 18-year-old University of Virginia sophomore, whose disappearance would touch off a massive search and make headlines across the country.
The fresh details in the high-profile case emerged Wednesday as Matthew, 33, pleaded guilty to killing Graham, of Fairfax County, and Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington in a similar abduction in 2009.
The guilty pleas in an Albemarle County court were part of an agreement with prosecutors that spared Matthew the possibility of facing the death penalty if convicted at trial in Graham’s murder.
Judge Cheryl V. Higgins sentenced Matthew to four life terms, adding to the three life terms he is already serving for a brutal sexual assault in Fairfax County in 2005. He was convicted in that case last year. As part of the deal, Matthew may not appeal or seek geriatric release, ensuring he will die in custody.
The emotional hearing brought a close to a long, slow journey for the Grahams and the family of Harrington, which waited more than six years for the killer to be brought to justice.
Susan Graham, Hannah Graham’s mother, read a statement to the court.
“Her friends said that she would change the world, and she did, but at a terrible price,” Graham said, noting that her daughter helped police arrest “a serial rapist and murderer hiding in plain sight. She is a heroine.”“Her friends said that she would change the world, and she did, but at a terrible price,” Graham said, noting that her daughter helped police arrest “a serial rapist and murderer hiding in plain sight. She is a heroine.”
In addition to the first-degree murder charges, Matthew pleaded guilty to abduction and intent to defile charges in both cases. The capital murder charge he was facing in Graham’s case was dropped by prosecutors as part of the deal. Wearing a black-and-white-striped jumpsuit, Matthew only spoke to answer the judge’s questions. Douglas Ramseur, his attorney, read a statement on his behalf.
Matthew did not speak in court at length, but his attorney, Douglas Ramseur, read a statement from his client.
“He’s very sorry for what happened,” Ramseur said. “He loves his family very much.”“He’s very sorry for what happened,” Ramseur said. “He loves his family very much.”
Ramseur said Matthew agreed to the plea deal in order “to not have the sentence of death hanging over his head.” Harrington, 20, disappeared after leaving a Metallica concert in Charlottesville in October 2009. Her body was found months later in an Albemarle County pasture, but it would take years and Graham’s disappearance to catch a break in the case.
Matthew was arrested in Graham’s case in September 2014 weeks after she went missing following a night out with friends in downtown Charlottesville. Her disappearance sparked a massive search and her body was later found on an abandoned property outside the college town. Graham set out with friends on the evening of Sept. 12, 2014, to go to a restaurant and attended two parties. Witnesses told authorities Graham had been drinking all night and had become increasingly intoxicated.
After Matthew’s arrest, he was linked through a DNA test to a cold case that bore striking similarities to the Graham disappearance — the slaying of Harrington, 20. Harrington had vanished in Oct. 2009 after a Metallica concert in Charlottesville and her body was found months later in an Albemarle County pasture. Matthew was indicted in Harrington’s death about a year after he was charged with Graham’s slaying. Around midnight, Graham said she was not feeling well and left the second party for home. Soon, she was lost.
[Here’s how police traced Jesse Matthew to the slaying of Hannah Graham] Meanwhile, Matthew had made his way to several bars, where women would later tell investigators he made them feel uncomfortable by touching them and making unwanted advances. At one bar, prosecutors said Matthew took off a woman’s sock and grabbed her foot.
After the plea hearing Wednesday, the parties involved in the case held a press conference. Gil Harrington, mother of Morgan Harrington, said the resolution of the case roughly six-and-a-half years after her daughter’s disappearance was a relief. “A woman that takes care of her feet takes care of everything else,” he is said to have told her.
“The finality and accountability that has been achieved today with this plea deal will allow our family to redirect our energy into healing,” Harrington said. “It has been a very long journey to this point.” After 1 a.m., after leaving the bars, a surveillance camera captured the moment Matthew and Graham met — the same scene described by a witness. Susan Graham talked in court about the horror of watching Matthew notice her daughter and then make his way toward the young woman.
Ramseur, Matthew’s attorney, said he had been preparing a defense for his client, but Matthew ultimately decided on a plea deal because he wanted to “bring closure to all involved.” “We saw what evil looks like,” Graham said. “He hunted her.”
Louie Carr, a representative for Matthew’s family, expressed their sorrow. Matthew and Graham went to a bar called Tempo, where he ordered her a drink. As the pair were leaving, prosecutors said a witness who observed Matthew and Graham told someone ominously: “He’s gonna [expletive] her up.”
“We want to express to the Harringtons and the Grahams our sorrow for what our family member chose to do to your duaghters,” Carr said. “It is difficult for us to understand how a gentle soul transformed into this individual.” Matthew and Graham were then seen walking to his car. When they arrived, another witness heard Graham shout: “I’m not getting in that car with you! What is it, stolen?” The witness told investigators Graham seemed frightened. The witness said he kept walking and listened, but heard nothing else.
[The three cases police say are linked to Jesse Matthew] It was the last time anyone saw Graham alive.
Matthew is currently serving three life sentences after he was convicted in June on sex assault charges in an attack that occurred in Fairfax County in 2005. He entered an Alford plea, which allowed him to submit that the prosecutors in Fairfax had enough evidence to convict him in the case without admitting that he was guilty. In that case, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh presented evidence showing that DNA recovered from the victim’s fingernail was highly likely to belong to Matthew. Friends quickly reported Graham missing, and searches for her began in the days that followed. Police soon found the surveillance footage of Matthew and Graham together, and he fled the area after being questioned. He was arrested in Texas after a nationwide manhunt.
Gil Harrington said in an interview Monday that her family had been working for years to seek justice on behalf of their daughter. When she finally learned about the agreement from the Albemarle prosecutor, she said that her family felt relief along with enduring sadness. About a month after her slaying, Graham’s body was found in a ravine behind an abandoned home in a remote part of Albemarle County. Susan Graham remarked on the indignity of her daughter’s treatment in court.
“It is not a fist-pumping time of celebrations,” Harrington said. “Our daughter is still as dead as she was six and a half years ago — nothing can change that.” “He dumped our daughter’s body like a bag of trash,” Graham said, noting that the remains sat for weeks in the wooded area, “to be picked over by buzzards and vultures.”
After Matthew’s arrest, he was linked through a DNA test to a cold case that bore striking similarities to the Graham disappearance — the slaying of Harrington. Harrington had stepped out of the concert alone and was unable to get back inside the arena. Matthew was driving a taxi in the area at the time, and a witness saw Harrington just feet from his cab that night.
[Man charged with killing U-Va. student said he was ‘really drunk’ that night]
A bloody T-shirt that Harrington wore was discovered in Charlottesville the next month, and her remains were found on a farm in southern Albemarle County three months later.
A DNA analysis of blood on the shirt matched with a profile of a suspect in a 2005 sexual assault in Fairfax County. In addition, investigators found a dog hair on the shirt, prosecutors said. A lab that specializes in animal DNA would later determine it shared genetic similarities with hair taken from Matthew’s dog, Popcorn.
[The three cases police say are linked to Jesse L. Matthew Jr.]
It was just one instance that showcased the lengths investigators went to in gathering evidence in the cases. In Graham’s case, detectives called on a botanist who determined plant material removed from the chassis of Matthew’s car matched plants at the location where Graham’s body was dumped. Forensic anthropologists examined the skeletons in both cases.
Last year, Matthew was convicted in the Fairfax County case. Evidence showed that DNA recovered from the victim’s fingernail was highly likely to belong to Matthew.
After he took the witness stand steps away from his daughter’s killer, Dan Harrington described the void left in his family by her death and asked aloud the questions that he had thought about for 6  1/2 years.
“How could he? Why would he?” Harrington said.
Matthew said nothing.