In a second search of the home of Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr., the man believed to be the last person seen with missing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, officials said they took pieces of clothing.
However, the authorities would not elaborate on the importance of the items.
The clothing was found on September 22 at Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr.’s apartment, Charlottesville Police Capt. Gary Pleasants told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Authorities first searched the 32-year-old’s car and apartment on September 19, and Gary Pleasants said information that came up during the investigation led to a second search of the apartment. He would not give details about the clothing or elaborate on the search.
Police have said they hope to receive lab results on September 23 from items recovered during the initial searches, and authorities are still trying to locate the campus employee to arrest him on reckless driving charges.
Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr., a patient technician in the operating room at the university’s medical center, hasn’t been charged in the disappearance, but authorities say they want to talk to him about 18-year-old Hannah Graham, the sophomore from northern Virginia who has been missing since September 13. Police have not offered any details about how the two may be connected.
Gary Pleasants said authorities have not had contact with Jesse Leroy Matthew since September 20, when he stopped by the Charlottesville police station with several family members for about an hour and asked for a lawyer. He was provided with one but left in a vehicle at a high rate of speed that endangered other drivers and led to the reckless driving charges, Charlottesville police Chief Timothy Longo has said.
Virginia State Police officers were conducting surveillance of the vehicle at the time but did not pursue Jesse Leroy Matthew, a spokeswoman said.
Gary Pleasants said investigators have questioned Jesse Leroy Matthew’s mother and uncle, who accompanied him to the police station. He added that search crews on September 22 covered areas in the southern part of the city that had not previously been searched.
Authorities on September 22 also released a wanted poster on Jesse Leroy Matthew. It says the 6-foot-2, 270-pound man was last reported on September 21 as driving his sister’s 1997 light blue Nissan Sentra, and notes that he is said to have contacts in Virginia, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
Police said they have focused on Hannah Graham’s movements the night of September 12 and into the early morning hours of September 13.
Hannah Graham, a sophomore from northern Virginia, met friends at a restaurant for dinner, stopped by two parties at off-campus housing units and left the second party alone, police have said.
Surveillance videos showed Jesse Leroy Matthew walking, and at some points running, past a pub and a service station and then onto the Downtown Mall, a seven-block pedestrian strip lined with shops and restaurants.
According to family members and police, Hannah Graham is an alpine skier and plays the alto saxophone. Organizers of a candlelight vigil last week at the university handed out her favorite candy, Starburst. Longo said he learned from visiting with Graham’s parents that the graduate of West Potomac High School earned straight A’s six years in a row.
Hannah Graham’s disappearance has sent a ripple of fear through the quiet college town of Charlottesville. Students have said they’ve begun walking in pairs at night and are paying closer attention to their surroundings. More than 1,000 volunteers also participated in a weekend search for Hannah Graham, according to authorities.
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