The similarities in the murder of Morgan Harrington and the abduction of Hannah Graham are undeniable, but the family of the former may finally be able to close a tragic chapter in their lives at long last.
Speaking with the Washington Post, Gil Harrington, Morgan's mother, said she hopes this is the last time police have identified a suspect in her daughter's murder. After Jesse Leroy Matthew was taken into custody in Texas and extradited to Charlottesville, Va., the town where both girls went missing five years apart, Virginia State Police said they experienced a "significant break" in Harrington's case.
Not disclosing the details, they indicated the break was a forensic link connecting Matthew to Harrington's capture and murder.
Matthew, 32, is a Charlottesville resident and hospital worker at the University of Virginia, where Graham was going to school. A student at Virginia Tech, Harrington was in town five years ago for a Metallica concert when she found herself stranded without a ride home.
It was the last time anyone saw or heard from Harrington.
"My daughter's bedroom is still as empty as it ever was," Gil Harrington told the Post. "And I know there is another missing girl out there that has brought this suspect to light... We have ridden this roller coaster and thought so many times, 'Could this be the person who killed Morgan?'"
Speaking with ABC News, she said the similarities in her daughter's and Graham's cases were striking, but would probably be too speculative to say they are linked. Though the police are keeping details of their investigation under wraps, some of the Graham case's known characteristics are a little too familiar for the Harrington family.
"College town, same town, same kind of look of a girl, same time of year," Gil Harrington said. "Is this a pattern?
"Hannah was seen for some of the time fairly close to where Morgan's shirt was found maybe three weeks after her abduction."
Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said in a statement Monday that "there is a still a great deal of work to be done in regards to this investigation."
