ALBERMARLE, Va. (WRIC) — On September 11, an Albemarle County Grand Jury returned two indictments against Jesse Matthew, Jr. in connection with the October 17, 2009 disappearance and death of Morgan Dana Harrington.
Matthew was charged with First Degree Murder of Morgan Harrington and Abduction with the Intent to Defile. The maximum penalty for each offense is life in prison.
These Indictments were received by the Court on September 15.
Harrington disappeared while attending a concert at the John Paul Jones Arena in October 2009. Her body was found months later on an Albemarle County farm.
Matthew is also scheduled to stand trial for the disappearance and death of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham next summer.
After police named Matthew a person of interest in Graham’s September 2014 disappearance, he fled and was later apprehended on a beach in Texas. He was charged with abduction with intent to defile, a felony that empowered police to swab his cheek for a DNA sample. That sample connected Matthew to a 2005 sexual assault in Fairfax County, according to authorities.
In June, Matthew was convicted of sexually assaulting and attempting to kill the woman in the Fairfax County case. He is scheduled to be sentenced for those offenses Oct. 2.
The former hospital worker and cab driver also was accused of sexually assaulting students at Liberty University and Christopher Newport University when he was a defensive lineman on their football teams more than a decade ago. Those cases were dropped when the women declined to prosecute, officials have said.
Matthew was served with the Indictments on Tuesday. His first appearance before the Albemarle County Circuit Court will take place at 12:45 p.m. on September 16.
The indictments result from the dedicated investigative efforts over the past six years by the Virginia State Police, Albemarle County Police, Charlottesville Police, University of Virginia Police, and the FBI.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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