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Virginia Tech Holds Candlelight Vigil for Hannah Graham and UVa Community; 'We Are All Cavaliers Tonight'

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The Virginia Tech chapter of "Help Save the Next Girl" held a candlelight vigil for Hannah Graham Wednesday night and to show support for the University of Virginia (UVa).

According to USA Today, Wednesday night's event marked the fifth anniversary of the disappearance of Morgan Harrington, a Va. Tech student. Harrington went missing in Oct. 2009 and was found dead three months later.

Jesse Leroy Matthew, the man charged with abducting and planning to sexually assault Graham, was "forensically linked" to Harrington, the Virginia State Police announced shortly after his arrest last month. Help Save the Next Girl (HSTNG) is a national nonprofit founded by Harrington's parents, Dan and Gil. The group is designed to "sensitize young women and girls to predatory danger."

"This was our way to show how much we really care about [UVa]," Erica Grant, a Va. Tech junior and the president of the school's HSTNG chapter, told USA Today.

Hundreds of Va. Tech students showed up Wednesday night to show their support for the UVa community.

"She will live on through Help Save The Next Girl as an example of why should we look out for each other and fight complacency," Grant told the Cavalier Daily. "We are [rivals], but it's a friendly rivalry, and friends look out for friends.

"We are all Cavaliers tonight. It's our turn to be Cavaliers. We're one community."

Police recently discovered human remains not far from where Graham disappeared. Though forensic analysis has not confirmed who they belong to, authorities have reason to believe they are Graham's.

"How do we save the next young person? By being vigilant, by not looking the other way when we see another person entering a vulnerable situation," Va. Tech President Timothy Sands told USA Today. "This is what friends do. This is what strangers do. This is the best way to honor the lives cut short to honor Morgan, Heidi, David, Hannah and all of the others."

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