97: Hannah Graham – Part 2

So when we left you last, we discussed 2 murders that took place 5 years apart, and a brutal rape and attempted murder even before those murders occurred, beginning in 2005. Now we are back to 2014. The attack on RG thankfully (if you can say that) produced a DNA sample that police were able to enter into the database. We know it matched the DNA found in the Morgan Harrington case, but we still did not have a suspect to match it against. 

Well, now we do. That DNA was a match to the DNA police collected in their search of Jesse Matthew’s apartment. Suddenly, we have 3 cases that are now attributed to the same person.    In October 2014, Matthew was indicted for the assault of the Fairfax woman. This is the charge that the prosecution had the strongest case for, and they felt they would be able to secure a conviction while continuing to solidify the case against Matthew for the 2 murders. 

In February 2015, he’s indicted for the murder of Hannah Graham.  October 2015, Matthew is given 3 life sentences for the assault in Fairfax.  He entered an Alford Plea in this case, but he plead guilty to 2 counts of 1st degree murder and 2 counts of abduction with intent to defile for Hannah and Morgan.

We haven’t talked a lot about Alford Pleas on the show, so if you don’t know, an Alford Plea is a guilty plea in criminal court, with the stipulation that the defendant does not admit to the criminal act and can still maintain innocence. The Alford plea shows the court that the defendant admits that the evidence presented by the prosecution is enough (or more than enough) to secure a guilty verdict beyond a reasonable doubt, but they don’t want to say the words “I did this.” 

I think in the case of Jesse Matthew, they of course had more than enough to tie him to the case and he was in fact the perpetrator of the attack on RG. But I think he wanted to avoid saying in front of his grandmother that he had committed such a brutal act.  On March 2, 2016 Matthew pleaded guilty to 2 counts of 1st degree murder and abduction with intent to defile was sentenced to 4 consecutive life sentences for Hannah and Morgan with no chance for early release, parole, or geriatric release.  This took his total sentence up to 7 life sentences.  He is currently serving his sentence in…..Red Onion State Prison. 

It is thought that since the breaks in between the woman in Fairfax, Morgan, and Hannah were very long that it is likely that Matthew is actually responsible for many more assaults, disappearances, and possibly murders.  It is rare that someone like Matthew with his level of violence would be able to take breaks for years.  

When we say “this level of violence,” we mean it. Jesse was a college football player and if you’ve seen his photos you can see how large and intimidating he is. During the autopsy, they found numerous brutal injuries to Morgan and Hannah. Morgan suffered a spiral fracture on her upper left arm, fractured ribs, a skull fracture, and was missing teeth. Hannah suffered two nasal fractures. 

Remember the man we talked about who looked like he was following Hannah, but said he was trying to make sure she was safe? He later told police that when he saw Jesse Matthew catch up to Hannah and put his arm around her, he said “You don’t even know her,” to which Matthew replied “hush.” 

And he did. So let’s talk about Jesse’s history and how he came to be in the Charlottesville area wreaking havoc on young women. 

One of the reasons that Matthew may have been able to get access to so many women was the fact that he was a cab driver. According to CBS 6 News, Matthew was questioned by police after Morgan’s disappearance as she was seen getting into a cab by witnesses before she disappeared. One of his coworkers said that they even joked with Matthew that he resembled the sketch of the man suspected in her disappearance. He would laugh it off at times and other times would get visibly upset and disappear for hours. 

There are numerous other missing women from near where Matthew was living at different points in his life.

In the YouTube video by That Chapter, they go over the cases of missing women that have been thought to be connected to Jesse Matthew, Jr.  The video presents the following information:

• Jesse Matthew had previously been accused of sexual assaults 2 times at 2 separate universities he attended. First, at the Christian college Liberty University where he attended from 2000-2002.  He was removed from the school immediately and no charges were filed.   At the time, Matthew was playing football and while he was kicked out of the school, Liberty elected not to include the allegations/investigations on his transcript, and he was able to transfer to Christopher Newport University (CNU) in 2003 without issue where he was again accused and investigated for sexual assault. Again, no charges were filed and he was asked to leave the school quietly. 
• August 29, 2002, 20-year-old Laticia LaMone Brooks disappeared on foot from Farmville, Virginia.  About 45 minutes from where Matthew was living in Lynchburg, Virginia at the time. Her remains have never been found. 
• 6 months later, 19-year-old Julie Frasier disappeared from a bar in Norfolk, Virginia only about 30 minutes away from Matthew while he was attending Christopher Newport University.
• July 24, 2003, Autumn Wind Day disappeared 2 miles from where Matthew was living. She was seen that afternoon leaving the Executive Inn Hotel with a black male and later was seen at a grocery store just 2 miles from the CNU campus. Her remains have never been found. 
• 2 months later, 31-year-old Sophie Rivera disappeared from her home just 7 miles from Christopher Newport University. Matthew left the football team a week later and dropped out of college a month later.
• August 14, 2005, 18-year-old Shelly Carson’s body was found in Virginia Beach and was so badly beaten that her parents had to identify her from the shoes she was wearing. Her family strongly believe that Jesse Matthew could be responsible after hearing about Hannah Graham and Morgan Harrington. 
• October 10, 2009 (around the time of Morgan’s murder), Cassandra Morton disappeared and was found almost 2 months later by a hiker buried in a shallow grave under a pile of rocks.  Her head was found several feet from her body and dental records were needed to identify her. The area that she was found in was owned by Liberty University. Cassandra was a mother of two and was supposed to have checked into a rehab facility 2 days after she went missing.   

One case that has gotten some attention for being possibly connected to Matthew is the murder of Alexis Murphy. She disappeared in 2013 and has never been found. However, a man named Randy Taylor has been convicted of her murder. According to CBS 6 News, the evidence found linking Taylor to Alexis’ disappearance and murder are: 

• bloody t-shirt found in his camper with Murphy’s DNA
• eyelashes and ripped out extensions
• her smashed cell phone found on his property 
• And video of the two speaking at Liberty gas station the night she disappeared. 

Taylor’s attorney has asked for the unknown DNA found in Murphy’s care to be tested against Matthew, but no test or outcome can change the fact that Randy Taylor was deeply involved if not the sole perpetrator.  In the spring of 2019, Matthew told a reporter that he’d been diagnosed with cancer (later determined to be stage 4 colon cancer).  When the reporter asked if he was sorry for what he’d done, he said he didn’t know if he could answer that right now, maybe in another interview. 

Hannah’s friends and family knew she would change the world, and while she might not have accomplished that, she was integral in putting away a serial rapist and murderer for life changing the world of the woman in Fairfax and the family of Morgan Harrington.  Because of Hannah Graham, the family of Morgan Harrington got justice for their daughter and the woman in Fairfax can live her life knowing that the monster that attacked her won’t be able to hurt anyone else.

Gil Harrington, Morgan’s mother, co-wrote a book called “Morgan Harrington Murdered and Dead for Good: A Mother’s Quest to Find a Serial Killer and Healing.”

According to the book’s description, “This is the story of a devastated mother crawling out of blind grief to become America’s most skilled huntress. With love, eloquence, and social media as her only weapons, Gil Harrington pursued her daughter’s murderer for five years until he was unmasked as the marauding serial murderer, the Back to School Killer who had hidden in plain sight as a genial, lumbering Charlottesville, Virginia cabbie.”

She also founded a non-profit organization called “Help Save the Next Girl.” There are lots of chapters all over the country and they have safety tips on their website as well. The organization is devoted to helping young women stay safe out in the world and avoid being preyed upon as so many women in this story were by Jesse Matthew and other vicious predators. You can find the info at helpsavethenextgirl.com.