He admitted he abducted both Morgan Harrington and Hannah Graham with the intent to defile them, and then murdered the young women; Harrington was 20 and Graham was 18 when their lives ended. Matthew, according to sources close to the deal, actually admitted to the murder of the two Virginia college students back in , hoping to get a plea deal of 25 years in prison. The chilling details released after his March 2, court appearance indicate how he brutally handled both victims; he snapped their bones and then discarded their bodies.
Earlier in the night that Graham was murdered, several women told police they were the objects of Matthew's intense, sexual advances. For parents of his victims, the admission of guilt was a mile marker on the long road of grieving; part of the healing process to begin moving forward. For the town of Charlottesville, his admission of guilt helped chip away at the unsolved cases of women who had disappeared around the same time of year β the fall - that both Graham and Harrington were murdered.
Many have long speculated there was a serial killer in the area, responsible for multiple deaths and disappearances of women. Matthew was sexually abused as a child, an ex-girlfriend previously said, and his records showed a pattern of sexual violence and predatory behavior toward women. Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr.
October 17, : Jesse Matthew named a suspect in an alleged rape at Liberty University in Lynchburg. Matthew was at Liberty from He left the college, where he played football, immediately afterward.
She was 24 years old when she disappeared. Her disappearance remains unsolved. August Matthew joins the CNU football team but leaves the team just one month later, in September , amid another sexual assault investigation. The victim has not been identified.
