18-year-old University of Virginia coed Hannah Graham has been missing since the early morning of Saturday, September 13. Video surveillance places her with 32-year-old Jesse Matthew in the moments before she disappeared. Last Thursday (9/18/14) Matthew was identified and law enforcement received a warrant to search his car. VA Police Chief Timothy Longo then said that officers developed probable cause during the seizure of Matthew’s vehicle to justify and obtain another search warrant for his apartment. Last Saturday (9/20/14) Jesse Mathew walked into the Charlotsville PD and asked for a lawyer. He was allowed to leave without being questioned, and managed to evade law enforcement’s attempt to follow him. Now, he is missing too.
If I were Hannah’s family I would be livid that the last known individual who saw Hannah walked into and then out of the Police Station without being questioned, or successfully followed. The police literally allowed the only suspect in the case slip between their fingers and now he’s missing as well.
Law enforcement will subpoena his electronic activity on the day of and days following Hannah’s disappearance. They will try to match cell phone activity between his and her cell phones. In other words, did the phones ping off of the same towers, were they traveling in the same direction, etc. This information will also provide law enforcement with new potential search locations. They will also attempt to locate him through credit card transactions, known acquaintances, etc.
This case will remain prominent in the media for the foreseeable future. The potential of tying it to the Morgan Harrington case, the other missing and unsolved cases, and the intense manhunt and search for Hannah demands public scrutiny. It is, once again, the perfect storm for a missing person case. Let us just hope that Hannah can be found…dead or alive!
