Jesse Matthew charged with murder of Morgan Harrington

A grand jury indicted the man charged in University of Virginia student Hannah Graham’s death in the disappearance and death of Morgan Dana Harrington in 2009.

A grand jury in Albemarle County on Friday returned two indictments, the murder charge and a charge of abduction with intent to defile, against Matthew in the October 17, 2009 case that has haunted Charlottesville for years.

Morgan Harrington, a Virginia Tech student from Roanoke, disappeared in October 2009 after attending a concert in Charlottesville. Her body was discovered on a rural Albemarle County farm in January 2010.

Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr.is escorted into a courtroom for an appearance before 405th District Court Judge Michelle Slaughter regarding his extradition back to Virginia Thursday, September 25, 2014, in Galveston, Texas.

In June, Matthew was convicted of sexually assaulting and attempting to kill the woman in the Fairfax County case.

Authorities have previously said forensic evidence linked Matthew to Harrington, but they have not said what that evidence is. Her remains were recovered about a month after she disappeared.

Matthew, who remains in custody awaiting his capital murder trial, has been formally served with the new charges.

“This is the verification that my daughter was actually murdered”, said her mother Gil Harrington.

Graham disappeared September 13, 2013. Harrington frequently noted the similarities between her daughter’s case and Graham’s.

He additionally faces the death penalty in Graham’s death after charges were upgraded against him in May. The indictments result from the investigative efforts over the past six years by the Virginia State Police, Albemarle County Police, Charlottesville Police, University of Virginia Police and the FBI. The state “will not comment on the evidence” either, according to the release. That trial is set to begin in July 2016.