Let
us not forget Morgan Dana Harrington on her
birthday, July 24 and October 17 every year. Let us not forget her and support
her family members. Please support the Organization, Help Save the Next Girl,
in memory of her.
We will also remember
her on the following observances every year:
1. National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims
(September 25) (See the 2014, 2015 & 2016
event)
2. Tree of Angels (December) (See
the 2014 & 2015 event)
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Morgan Dana Harrington
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Morgan
Harrington
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Born
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Morgan
Dana Harrington
July 24, 1989 Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. |
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Died
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October
17, 2009 (aged 20)
Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. |
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Cause of death
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Homicide
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Body discovered
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January
26, 2010
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Nationality
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American
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Known for
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Missing
person and murder victim
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Morgan Dana Harrington of Roanoke,
Virginia (July 24, 1989 - October 17, 2009), was a 20-year-old American Virginia
Tech student who disappeared from the John Paul Jones Arena on October 17, 2009,
while attending a Metallica concert at the University of Virginia (UVA). Her
disappearance initiated one of the largest searches in Charlottesville, Virginia's history.
Harrington's remains were discovered three months later in rural farmland. A
forensic connection has been made to the principal suspect in the murder of Hannah Graham, a University of Virginia student who is
believed to have been abducted on September 13, 2014. On September 15, 2015,
Jesse Matthew was formally charged with first degree murder and abduction with
intent to defile in the murder of Morgan Harrington. On March 2, 2016 Jesse
Matthew plead guilty to the first-degree murder and abduction with intent to
defile of both Hannah Graham and Morgan Harrington and received four additional
consecutive life sentences with no possibility of parole or release.
Disappearance
On October
17, 2009, Harrington and three friends drove to the John Paul Jones Arena for a concert. During
the opening act's performance, Harrington told friends that she was going to
the restroom. When she did not return, they called her cell phone at 8:48pm and
she told them that she was locked out of the arena because of its "no
re-entry" policy. She added that she would find a way home and they should
not worry. According to witness reports, she was last seen at around 9:30pm
hitch-hiking on a nearby bridge. There are also two witnesses who claim to have
seen her with three men after she had left the arena.
The following
day, her purse with her identification and cell phone (with batteries removed)
was discovered in one of the arena's overflow parking areas, the RV lot at
UVA's Lannigan Athletic Field.
Her remains
were discovered on January 26, 2010, about ten miles (16 km) from the
arena in a remote area of a 742-acre (3.00 km2) farm and at
least one-and-a-half miles from road access. Although investigators have not
released information about her death, her parents confirmed that the death had
been very violent and bones were broken.
In April
2010, law enforcement confirmed that a Pantera T-shirt,
which had been found in November 2009 outside of an apartment building about a
mile-and-a-half from the arena, was indeed the shirt she had been wearing on
that evening according to forensic tests. Police also determined a forensic
link between this murder and an abduction and sexual assault in Fairfax,
Virginia in September 2005. They also believed that the killer might be
familiar with the area where Harrington's body was found.
Harrington's
mother Gil confirmed on May 17, 2010 that her daughter had been raped: "It has been seven months since Morgan was abducted,
raped, and murdered. Still no resolution! We find some comfort in having
recovered her body; knowing it is better than not knowing and trying to 'fill
in the blanks'."
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Morgan Harrington's mother, Gil, with a
self-portrait by her daughter.
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Aftermath
The case
achieved such widespread national attention that the Virginia General Assembly honored the
murdered student with a special resolution.
The killing
provoked fears, expressed by her parents in many meetings with media including
national television broadcasts, that a serial
killer might be living in Virginia. DNA was later tied to a September 2005
attempted abduction in Fairfax City.
Crimestoppers
offered a $100,000 reward, and the band playing on the night of Harrington's
death, Metallica,
added an additional $50,000 reward for information leading to a conviction.
Her parents
continued to appear at numerous special events, including the University of Virginia's annual "Take
Back the Night" rally and urged UVA administrators to work toward a safer
campus.
In September
2014, Harrington's case was linked to the murder of Hannah Graham in Charlottesville, Virginia, through
"forensic evidence" pertaining to Jesse Matthew, the main suspect in
the latter case. On October 20, 2014, Matthew was indicted in a 2005 abduction
in Fairfax, Virginia. Over a decade earlier, Matthew
had twice been accused of sexual assault at two separate Virginia colleges he
attended as a student. He left each school immediately after each allegation.
The reported assaults occurred within an 11-month period of each other, as
Matthew moved from the evangelical Christian Liberty University in Lynchburg to the Christopher Newport University in Newport News. Police investigated each
report, but in neither incident was a criminal case brought against him. On
September 15, 2015, Jesse Matthew was formally charged with first-degree murder
and abduction with intent to defile in the murder of Morgan Harrington. The
trial date was originally set for October 17, 2016 and moved back to October
24, 2016 because October 17 is the anniversary of Harrington's disappearance.
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Those we love…
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