Cassandra Morton, a 23-year old woman who was found dead in Lynchburg, Virginia in 2009, left behind a lot of questions surrounding how she ended up on Candlers Mountain. Now, there’s a possibility that Jesse Matthew, the man suspected of kidnapping University of Virginia student Hannah Graham earlier this month, was in the area when she was killed.
Investigators say they are looking into Matthew’s whereabouts during that time frame and have found that he attended nearby Liberty University.
“We had a conversation about that early on when we found out that he [Matthew] went to Liberty [University] and was familiar with the area,” said Campbell County Sheriff Steve Hutcherson.
Hannah Graham disappeared on September 13 after being seen at a bar talking to a man. Investigators tracked down that man–Matthew–and arrested him after he fled to Texas. He is being charged with abduction with intent to defile; Graham still has not been found.
Earlier this week, news broke that Matthew has reportedly been forensically linked to another woman, 20-year old Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, who disappeared in 2009 after a Metallica concert and whose remains were later found on a farm. Just what forensic evidence police have is unclear at this time, but the case has been open for five years, and has been linked to the kidnapping and sexual assault of a woman in 2005 who survived her attack and provided police with a sketch of her assailant. Authorities have not named Matthew as a suspect in that crime, however.
There is currently a $100,000 reward for information leading to the safe return of Graham.
