Report: Warrant Details DNA Findings that Allegedly Lead to Matthew

A police search warrant gives details about the DNA found in three separate instances that allegedly all link back to suspect Jesse L. Matthew Jr., a Charlottesville resident being held on abduction charges connected to the disappearance of Hannah Graham, according to a report by Richmond TV station CBS-6.

Graham was the 18-year-old West Potomac High School graduate who disappeared from this fall from Charlottesville, where she was a student; her remains were found a little over a month later in Albemarle County.

The DNA is not connected to the Graham case; it was found and matched, according to the CBS-6 report:

• on a cigar butt taken from Matthew’s wallet that police sent to the Virginia Crime Lab
• stains found on the T-shirt of Morgan Harrington, 20, of Roanoke, who went missing Oct. 17, 2009 in Charlottesville and whose remains were found months later
• scrapings found under the fingernails of a 26-year old woman who was attacked by a man in Fairfax City Sept. 24, 2005

Matthew is charged with attempted capital murder, rape and sexual assault in connection with the 2005 attack of a 26-year-old Fairfax City woman. He pleaded not guilty in court Nov. 14 during a less than 10 minute-long pretrial hearing to determine a trial date, which is set for March 9.

Harrington disappeared from a concert in Charlottesville in 2009 and was last seen wearing the T-shirt, which was found later on some bushes. No one has been charged in that crime.

Matthew, 32, has been charged in the disappearance of Graham, who was a UVA sophomore; he was seen on surveillance footage with her in the early morning hours of Saturday, Sept. 13. Graham’s remains were found Oct. 18 in Albemarle County. The area is about five to six miles from where Harrington’s remains were found.

PHOTO of Jesse Matthew from Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office