Hannah Graham update: Remains found in Walnut Creek Park in Albemarle County
Human remains that could be those of Hannah Graham, who has been missing since September 13, have been found by Virginia police.
Forensic tests are under way to determine whether the remains are those of 18-year-old British-born student Hannah Graham.
Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr., 32, was charged last month with abduction of Hannah Graham.
He was taken into custody by police in Galveston, Texas, 1,300 miles from where she was last seen.
Thousands of volunteers have searched local areas in the weeks since the disappearance of Hannah Graham, who was born in Reading, southern England.
Sources say Hannah Graham’s body was found in Walnut Creek Park area close to where Jesse Matthew’s grew up in his mother’s old home.
Hannah Graham has been missing since September 13
Police Chief Tim Longo said that Jesse Leroy Matthew’s arrest had also provided a “forensic link” to a separate case from 2009.
Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, 20, went missing from Charlottesville and was found dead months after she went missing.
Jesse Leroy Matthew, a nursing assistant, was identified as a suspect soon after Hannah Graham’s disappearance on Saturday September 13.
Witnesses reported seeing a man matching his physical description drinking with Hannah Graham on the night she went missing, and he appeared twice in CCTV footage walking alongside her, police said.
At 01:20, Hannah Graham sent a text message to a friend saying she was lost after an evening of drinking and socializing in the town. She was neither seen nor heard from again.
Police had offered $100,000 for information on her whereabouts, a sum which included contributions from the local community.
The following day police searched Jesse Leroy Matthew’s apartment and vehicle. He then visited a Charlottesville police station accompanied by relatives, spoke briefly with officers, then asked for a lawyer.
Jesse Leroy Matthew was allowed to leave, then drove away from the police station at high speed, prompting police to charge him with reckless driving and obtain a warrant for his arrest.
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