Students

Missing Virginia Student Update: Jesse Leroy Matthew Now Wanted for the Abduction of Hannah Graham

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Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr., 32, was most recently a person of interest in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, but now police have obtained a warrant for his arrest on the charge of abduction.

According to the Washington Post, Matthew was the last person seen with Graham, on surveillance footage and in an area bar. Matthew, who also goes by "LJ," is a Charlottesville, Va. resident and a patient technician at the University of Virginia (UVa), the school where Graham, 18, is a student.

Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy J. Longo gave an emotional news conference Sunday, one day after Matthew visited the station for questioning. He arrived with several family members and wound up requesting a lawyer, but left after an hour and left the police with little information.

The police then tailed him openly, which prompted Matthew to hastily speed away and the police to issue an arrest warrant for reckless driving. Matthew is now wanted for abduction with intent to defile, CNN reported.

"We absolutely are continuing our search for Hannah, and we will continue to search for Hannah," Longo said at a news conference Tuesday to announce the new warrant for Matthew's arrest.

The 32-year-old African-American suspect is described as being six-foot-two and 270 pounds. Police also said he knows people in Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Graham disappeared Sept. 13 and police say Matthew was with her at a bar after being seen together in surveillance footage around 1 a.m. The two also apparently left the bar together.

According to the Associated Press, Graham had met with some friends at a restaurant on the night of Sept. 12 and then went to two parties at an off-campus residence building. She texted a friend to say she was lost after leaving the second party alone. She was seen on surveillance tapes walking and sometimes running as she passed a pub and a service station, at which point she reached Downtown Mall and entered the bar with Matthew.

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