Jesse Matthew, Suspect in Missing UVA Student, Charged with Abduction
Published at | Updated at
Charlottesville Police Department(CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.) — The man who was the last person seen with missing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham was charged Tuesday with abduction with intent to defile.
Jesse Matthew, already sought on an unrelated dangerous driving warrant, has not been seen since he sped away from a Charlottesville police station on Saturday.
Graham, an 18-year-old sophomore, was last seen more than two weeks ago.
“We’ve reached that point that the commonwealth thought we had sufficient probable cause for an arrest warrant….We obtained an arrest warrant for Jesse Matthew Jr. charging him with the class 2 felony of abduction with intent to defile,” Charlottesville Police chief Timothy Longo said.
Longo said they were still searching for Graham.
Earlier on Tuesday, police revealed that they had taken bags of clothing from Matthew’s apartment during a second search on Monday, although police would not elaborate on who the clothing belonged to or how they are connected to the case.
A wanted poster was issued for him Monday and police stated that they believe he may be in possession of his sister’s car, and has known associates along the East Coast, from his home state of Virginia all the way up to New York.
Matthew, 32, came under scrutiny in the Graham disappearance because he was seen at a restaurant with the 18-year-old student shortly before she disappeared in the early hours of Sept. 13.
Police chief Timothy Longo has repeated calls asking Matthew to come forward to discuss any information he may have about Graham and what happened to her. Longo has said that police believe Matthew is the last person to have seen Graham since she disappeared.
More ABC news videos | Latest world news
Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio