Authorities have been extremely cautious in releasing information in connection with the evidence gathered against the suspect for the missing student from the University of Virginia. Despite these precautions, however, the suspect remains popular in Virginia due to his connection with other cases involving missing person.

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Jesse Leroy Matthew, Jr., had been arrested and identified as the primary suspect for the disappearance of Hannah Graham, a sophomore student from the University of Virginia. This case, however, is not the first to link the suspect to a crime involving a missing person.

A report from the Charlottesville investigators revealed that Matthew had also been a suspect in cases filed prior to Graham's disappearance. Several defense lawyers claim that disclosing such information could feasibly disparage the character of a possibly innocent person. However, advocates of the move to immediately locate missing persons explain that this judgment call is warranted due to the necessity of finding Graham alive.

Graham had been reported missing by her friends since Sept. 13. A week following the report, Police Chief Timothy Longo described a man investigators claim to be a "person of interest" as he was the last person to have seen Graham. This information then provided them with the authority to search Matthew's apartment and vehicle.

Police records subsequently revealed that Matthew went to the police headquarters to seek the assistance of a lawyer, then reportedly left in a hurry. His act of speeding away from the station allegedly prompted police officers to obtain a warrant against him on the ground of "reckless driving". Information revealing his name and description had then been disclosed by Longo. Matthew was also subsequently firmly connected with the disappearance of Graham.

"I believe Jesse Matthew was the last person she was seen with before she vanished off the face of the Earth because it's been a week and we can't find her," claimed Longo in a statement. He also revealed that investigators deemed it possible that Graham had been in the vehicle when Matthew sped away.

Upon his arrest, Matthew was required to submit DNA for testing as he was charged with abduction with intent to defile.

Virginia State Police then claimed that a "forensic link" had been found connecting the suspect to another notorious case-the murder of Morgan Harrington in 2009. Her body was reportedly discovered in a hayfield three months following her disappearance.

FBI then disclosed that the same evidence had links with another case in 2012. This involved the rape of a woman in Fairfax, Virginia. The victim allegedly survived the attack after a passing pedestrian alarmed her aggressor.

In a statement announced late Wednesday, a spokesperson from the Christopher Newport University claimed that Matthew had been identified in a police statement pertaining to a sexual assault charge on Sept. 7, 2003. The assault reportedly occurred within the university campus, where Matthew had been named as a student from Jan. 2003 through Oct. 2003. 

TagsUniversity of Virginia, missing person, Hannah Graham, Jesse Matthew, Virginia, Timothy Longo, Christopher Newport University