Hannah Graham Missing Person Suspect Was Accused of Sexual Assault Twice at 2 Different Schools
ByMore details are surfacing about the primary suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, as Jesse "LJ" Matthew has been accused of sexual assault twice before.
According to the Washington Post, officials at Liberty University and Newport University, both schools Matthew attended, confirmed he was accused of sexual assault shortly before leaving. The two accusations also arose within just less than a year of one another from 2002 to 2003.
Police were involved in both, but neither resulted in a criminal case against Matthew. Graham, an 18-year-old student at the University of Virginia (UVa), went missing on Sept. 13 and Matthew was the last person anyone saw her with.
"The events occurred in 2002 and 2003," John Camblos, Matthew's attorney, told the Post. "I am not aware of the particular details of either event, therefore I cannot comment on them."
Police issued an arrest warrant for the 32-year-old on the charge of abduction with the intent to defile last week and captured him in Texas shortly after. It has been about a week since he agreed to be extradited back to his hometown of Charlottesville, Va., where he was a patient technician at the UVa Hospital.
His arrest has also given Virginia State Police "a significant break" in another case, the 2009 murder of Morgan Harrington, a student at Virginia Tech who disappeared when visiting UVa for a concert.
Earlier this week, media outlets had began to gather information on Matthew's past, but in high school and college, all accounts were that he was sociable and gentle, though not studious in the classroom. However, officials were not quite ready to discuss the reasons why such a well-liked student-athlete would leave two schools in such a short timeframe.
Matthew is currently being held without bond and awaits his preliminary hearing in Dec. on the abduction charge, which was delayed without much of an explanation.