Oct 01, 2014 04:21 PM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

The man suspected of abducting Hannah Graham with the intent to defile was once known as a funny, sociable person in high school.

According to the Washington Post, Jesse Leroy "LJ" Matthew Jr., 32, went to High Schools Albemarle and Monticello in his hometown of Charlottesville, Va. in the early 2000s before going to Liberty University. He played football in college, a defensive lineman, and then went on to become a patient technician at the University of Virginia (UVa) hospital.

"The LJ that I knew was a very joyful person," a high school classmate told the Post. "He made you happy just to be around him."

Said another, "He was always good for a laugh. He got along with everybody."

Matthew withdrew from Liberty and then from Newport University for undisclosed reasons and took up driving a cab in Charlottesville. Matthew was also the last person seen with Graham, an 18-year-old UVa student who went missing early on the morning of Sept. 13.

Police arrested Matthew in Texas on a warrant for abduction before he agreed to be extradited back to Va. His capture also led Virginia State Police to a "significant break" forensically to the 2009 murder case of Morgan Harrington, a Virginia Tech student who went missing in Charlottesville.

According to CBS' local affiliate, Matthew's attorney said he will not ask for the order of no bond to be lifted for his client, though the preliminary hearing has now been delayed to Dec. 4. The police are still looking for Graham and will even use drones to aid the search.

Former college football and high school wrestling teammates agreed that Matthew was not necessarily book smart and even had trouble reading. However, he was a terrific athlete, gentle and "goofy."

"This is a hard-working, blue-collar family from a rural area," Jim Camblos, Matthew's attorney, told the Post.

His departure from Newport University did raise some questions though, especially since he enrolled in Jan. 2003 only to drop out in Sept., one month into the semester. A school spokeswoman told the newspaper his withdrawal was oddly timed, but could not discuss any details. The school's police chief said he had information related to the case which he obviously could not share.

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