Hi, I'm Holly. And I'm Hailey. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries, Tales from Appalachia. Welcome back.
It's been a while y'all. It's been a minute. We, uh, I hope you enjoyed our special trivia episode. Yeah, we, uh, we're kind of, you know, full disclaimer, figuring out what we're going to do for that week because, um, I was supposed to travel to Holly last week and there were tornadoes.
Yeah. So hail storms trees now. There was a wild and I was like, you know, I don't think I want to make an out like hour drive in the tornadoes. Safety first.
Yeah. I mean, as much as I wanted to see Randy at the guard check. He actually even mentioned because I told him you were coming and he said, uh, I'll let you know when she comes through. And I said, no need, Randy, no need.
And he said, oh, really? He looked so sad. And I said, no, no, she's not coming tonight, but next week. And he said, oh, well, you didn't seem more excited to see me tonight than he has in a while.
Well, you haven't been here in a long time. I know. We've recorded, uh, yeah. I don't think we've recorded here in a very long time.
Yeah, it's been like several months. Yeah, a while. Yeah. But yeah, so it was, uh, you know, that was a crazy storm and I was at my, um, I'd gotten out of school and work school.
I work at a school. So I got out of the working environment that I was in and went to get my hair done or cut. I just knew the ends of it chopped off. Um, and I was sitting in the chair and we're like halfway through my hair and my her dresser gets a call from her next client that she's been in this like crazy wreck trying to get there.
And so my dresser is like, do you need me to come get you like what? She was looking at me. She's like, we'll just figure it out. If I have to leave and I'm like half my hair is shorter than the other and I'm like, okay.
We'll really figure it out. That's right. I mean, the wreck is already happening. Nothing you can do.
Yeah. You know, and it ended up all working out. Like she was fine. Like she was okay.
And she ended up coming. She's like, she called back and she's like, I'm kind of the best right now, but I just really would like to get my hair done. I think that's a true testament to us women. Well, and she, I think she also just needed like a reset to have like something crazy happened and it was very in shock.
I get my hair cut once a year. Seriously. I'm usually that way. So it's kind of a big deal and I actually just got it done this week.
But when I get it done, it's a big deal. So if I run a wreck, I'll be like, forget this car. I'm gonna, I'm going to crawl. I'll be there.
Don't worry. Yeah. Maybe you should tip me. It's good.
And it's good. And no one, you know, died in the tornadoes around here. So the only comment I had for Haley was, oh, I got up at five a.m. Just story.
I was like, you know what? Maybe you can just make it. You can just power through and then all the calls started coming in about the trees down and all the wrecks. And I'm like, I'm not going to risk it.
It ended up being fine. I know we went there to date. That's good. That's all good.
Well, I have story for you this week. I'm glad. I do. I've prepared.
What we invested in. But this is one that, you know, is a week old now. So I'm just trying to remember it. I'm trying to remember it.
I hear you. So we're going to go to Virginia. It's lovely. It's a 2009.
It's a good year. Good year. I was 11, 12, 12, probably 12, but 12. 25?
So about our ages. So Jamie, that listens that I work with. Yes. She thinks it's hilarious that I constantly bring up.
How old I am? It feels good inside that I could have babysat you. Changed your diaper. It makes me feel great.
It doesn't make me feel old whatsoever. Not at all. Not at all. But you know, one day you'll be like 43 and I'll be 56 and it won't feel as weird.
True. Not that it feels weird. But you know, it's right. There are other moments where it like.
I'm old. Well, we're going to go. Derk. Hold her.
Go ahead. 2009 in Virginia, October 17th, Morgan Harrington takes off with her friends for what should be an amazing night. She and her three friends were going to see a concert at John Paul Jones Arena at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. Was it in Virginia?
It sure was. University of Virginia. In Virginia Charlottesville. Virginia.
Any guesses on what concert she was going to see? 2009. Was it like Trane who was playing meet Virginia? No, it was not.
Virginia. Okay. 2009. Yeah.
You know, University of Virginia. Sort of in the south a little bit. Uncle Cracker. No.
2009. One more guess. Maybe one more. Oh, so it's a country artist.
No. Not a country artist. Justin Bieber. I don't know.
Metallica. 2009? This wasn't 1989? No.
It's 2000. Okay. It's going to see Metallica. I mean, okay.
Cool. Solid. You do. You do.
Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it.
Love it. Love it. Okay. So Morgan was a junior at Virginia Tech and was majoring in education.
She shared an off campus apartment with one roommate. She loved rock and roll and she actually canceled some plans with her family so that she could go to the concert. So she was really like really excited about this because she was super close to her family and did a lot of activities and things with that. So you had a ditch mom and dad to go rock out.
Right. Have to go rock and roll. During the opening act performance, so I think like the headliner, like I don't even think the band had played yet, Morgan left her friends to go and use the restroom. When she didn't come back, her friends started to call her cell phone and this was around 8.48 p.m.
So I think what happened is she somehow got turned around and ended up leaving the arena like had left the, because that's like, that's a big like concert arena. I mean, it's probably was used for games of some sort of a loud, if it was their football stadium or what it was, but big area. So she ended up somehow like leaving the whole arena. Don't know how that happened.
But Morgan answered the phone finally and said that she had actually gotten turned around or something was only outside of the arena and security guards there were telling her that she couldn't come back in because they had a no-reentry rule. Which sucks. Yeah, because she was excited for the show. She paid for it.
She paid for the show, but I also understand the no-reentry rule because you don't want people going out and like drinking in their vehicles or using drugs or whatever and then trying to come back in. And just the constant of having to like screen people, you know, go out and get a weapon or go out and get some like that's the world we live in now. So in 2009 it was too like, world's a scary place. So they had this no-reentry rule.
So Morgan was upset, but she told her friends, you know, hey, don't worry about it. Like you enjoy the concert. You know, this was a goof move. Like I will laugh about it later hopefully when I'm pissed right now.
And she said she would find a ride back to Harrisonburg, which was about an hour away. So she's like, you know what, it's fine. And this is the last time anyone would talk to Morgan. And she was not seen alive again by her friends after this.
So that's a little- Who did she get a ride from? Right. And that's the question that we would be asking for a while. On October 18th, 2009, so this is a day later.
Her parents filed a missing persons report on her when she did not show up to their home. Like I said, Morgan was super involved with her family. And she was supposed to actually come over to their house and study for a math exam with her dad. It's really sweet.
My dad was helping her with math. I would have to get my dad to help me with math too. Because I'm not good at it. But she didn't show up, which was very, very unlike her.
That same day, her purse, which contained her ID and her cell phone, were found in the overflow parking lot of University of Virginia's Lanagan athletic field. Lanagan? Maybe. Lanagan athletic field.
So random parking lot that she wasn't even here. Do you know how far this was from the donut? I mean, I'm sure she probably got walked in. And maybe her friends had parked there.
I'm just curious how far she got before she was abducted or she was abducted right there. And then like if they take, you know. There were multiple witnesses that did come forward saying that they saw a woman matching Morgan's description hitchhiking around 930 that night. So she entered the phone about 848 and then it was seen by random people about 930.
So I don't know if she maybe she started walking and was hoping somebody would pick her up. This was really before the height of things like Uber and those kinds of things. So maybe she thought, well, and like she was gonna hitchhike, clearly was her plan. But 2009 is kind of late to be doing that.
You know, like you think more like 70s, 60s, even like 80s and 90s, you're not here. There's nothing like I'm gonna stay where I am before I hitchhike. Like I will sit outside that arena and wait for my friends to leave that concert before I hitchhike. Yeah, I would stay with security.
Or be on the phone with my friend and be like, hey, when you all come to the entrance right here, throw me your keys and I'll go sit in the car. Yeah. Kind of saying like I'm not about to hitchhike. Hell no.
Not, I mean, she should be able to hitchhike and not get murdered. Not her fault. 100%. 100%.
But I'm not trying to blame her for hitchhiking. But it is odd. So it makes me wonder, like there's also a part of me that wonders like did she know somebody in the area that she was like, oh, I can definitely call this person to come and get me. And maybe that person said, well, okay, but you're gonna have to meet me here.
Right. Like, can you walk, you know, the half a block here and I can get you or leave campus, like I'm with the edge of campus and I can pick you up. So I'm sure trying to get in there was a nightmare. Oh, I'm sure it was because I'm sure it was crowded and, you know, maybe only entry, like if you had a ticket or, you know, so.
Right, like maybe getting into that area. Like, yeah, there's a lot of pieces that we don't know. But just the hitchhiking piece weirds me out a little bit. And you also think didn't more people see her because it would have been so crowded.
Well, everybody was already in the arena. I mean, she's been the only one out there. But it's just weird. Yeah, it's just very odd to me.
So seeing about 930 and then from there, the investigation cast stalled out a little bit. There wasn't really anything else to go off of from there. There's no description of vehicle that was released. Like, they didn't have anything.
No DNA or anything found on the items that they discovered. I think they didn't like they knew they were Morgan's. But I don't think 2009, we're doing a little bit of DNA in 2009. No, we're doing a lot of DNA.
Yeah, I mean, not as much as we are now. I mean, but there were still things like touch DNA that were coming out around that time. But I don't know if they tested it or then they very well may have. Maybe they're just wasn't anything to find.
Right. In April of 2010, there was forensic testing on, they felt we were able to find a t-shirt outside of an apartment building in November of 2009, about a mile away from the area. And they did discover that was the shirt Morgan had been wearing that night. But it took like six months.
But if they found it in November, that's a month later. Yeah, they found a DNA test. They found it in November and they didn't test it until April of 2010. And again, it didn't show anything but just said that it was hers.
Interesting. So there was nothing. It almost would make it seem like she willingly took off. Yeah, or the person who took it off or gloves on or something like that.
Or maybe they'd gotten wet at some point. It's true. We destroyed to be right. And being out in the elements.
Yeah, easy, easy. Yep. On January 26 of 2010, human remains were found by a farmer driving this tractor through a hay field in Albemarle, Albemarle, maybe County. That one really took me for a world.
And that was about 10 miles away from the John Paul Jones arena. So we've got some skeletal remains. They're found about a mile and a half away from the road, which is a way away from the road. It's a lot of hiking.
And the remains were later identified to be that of Morgan Harrington. So this field and the farmer who was driving this field was like, this was not a field we really used. Like this was just a random field. So he was just like doing checks or something.
Do we have a COD? I'll death. We they did roll it on the side. Okay.
But all that was really released that I could find was that her body had multiple fractures, including an in-size fracture on her skull. So they didn't come straight out and say that she died from like head trauma. But it's probably yeah. Probably what it was.
But weird to me that it's that far into a field. So either that person walked it with a body or walked her or walked her out there or had a vehicle that was able to drive in a field. Which is amazing. You've got to think the motivation.
I mean, if they were walking her out there, that's a long way to walk someone. Like why not just kill them? Like why walk them out that far? Yeah.
And they're like to drag a body out that far. Right, dragging a body out that far. Unless it had been placed somewhere else and the person got scared and then moved them further out. Maybe.
So we found her body in 2010. And then we don't hear anything again until 2012. Okay. So 2012, the FBI releases a sketch of a man who was believed to have had contact with Morgan that night.
And this was after her disappearance was linked to a 2005 assault in Fairfax, which we will talk about in a minute. So there was an earlier incident and somehow they have linked this guy with Morgan. So there's no DNA to prove it's this guy. It's just based on the photo alone.
I don't really know how we got there. Okay. So I think once we talk about this next case, it'll make a little bit more sense. The 2005 case.
So on September of 2014, September 29, 2014, investigators did find some forensic evidence that showed Morgan had some sort of contact with a man who was then identified as Matthew. Let me see if I can find his last name. I just wrote Matthew. Matthew Matthew is his last name.
Jesse Lee Roy Matthew Jr. That's why I wrote Matthew because that's a lot of names. That's a lot of names. So Jesse Lee Roy Matthew Jr.
was later identified. This is the guy that they think was last seen with her and we've got some forensic evidence. And we know that he was tied to this raise in 2005. Right.
So there we go. That helps. We are connected now. So she had some sort of contact with him on the night of her disappearance.
On September 15 of 2015, so almost a year later, he is charged with first degree murder and abduction with intent to defile in the death of Morgan Harrington by an Alomar County grand jury. We'll talk about how we got there when we talk about this other case. But so he is the one that killed her. And of course, he's gonna serve life in prison for that.
All right. Jumping to March of 2016, he pleads guilty to first degree murder and abduction with intent to defile in both Morgan Harrington and Hannah Graham, who we're about to talk about. He received four consecutive life sentences for those two cases. So let's talk about Hannah.
Okay. So Hannah Graham was born on February 25 of 1996. She was from Reading of Berkshire England. Oh, she read reading reading.
Ready. Sure. Reading Berkshire England. She came to the US and was attending the University of Virginia when she disappeared on September 13th of 2014 when she was just 18 years old.
So she's disappeared after Morgan. So Morgan goes missing, then Hannah goes missing. There is that earlier assault. We'll talk about it.
This is not that one. There's not a whole lot on that one. Okay. Hannah was last heard from at about 120 in the morning.
She had texted some of her friends. She had told her friends that she was on her way to a party but it got lost. So there was some sort of like off campus party. She was gonna go gets lost on the way.
Hannah was caught on surveillance footage that night at a restaurant called Tempo and she was last seen on camera with a man who was later identified as Jesse Lee Roe Matthew Jr. He was also referred to by some people as LJ which like calls them confusion in the investigation because they were like, is this a different person? Like what's going on? He would become a person of interest in her case because last person does he hear life?
Absolutely. Makes sense. A witness who was also at the restaurant that night did come forward and say that Hannah appeared to be drunk and that Matthew was seen with his arm around her. And the witness said that Matthew didn't look friendly.
So it got kind of a weird vibe from him. Another witness came forward and said they heard Hannah say, I'm not getting in that car with you. And that's kind of the point where you're like, why did somebody not step in? Right.
And like, you see she's a neighbor. He gives you a bad vibe. You overhear someone saying this like, you know, right. But people are scared to get in and I see why.
Right. Yeah, absolutely. So they did get a good description of the car that he was in. The car was in 1998.
Crystal Sebring. Sebring. Sebring. Chrysler.
Sure. Chrysler. Sebring. It's a convertible.
That's funny because I wrote Crystal. It's a Chrysler. It's a Chrysler. A Crystal Sebring.
Hailey knows her car. A Chrysler. That's a Crystal Sebring. A Chrysler.
It was orange in color. That helps. I mean, yeah. Okay.
That's a that's something that you would notice because there could have been that many orange Sebring. Right. I don't. Yeah.
I don't know what that looks like. Um, cool. It was orange. It was orange.
Okay. I'll pick it up for you. Thank you. And this was the last time anyone would see Hannah was her getting into this car on September 20th, which was I think the very next day.
No. She went to spirit. She went missing on the 13th. So a few days later, the 20th over a thousand volunteers searched for Hannah in the Charlotte, Silver, Virginia area.
And on September 25th, the Chicago Police Chief Timothy Longo said that they thought that Hannah was in the Charlottesville area or somewhere in one of the surrounding counties, which doesn't really help a lot. No, it means so. Okay. Yeah.
So this is in 20, what did we say? 2016? 2014. 2014.
September. So we're now going to October. On October 18th, 2014, Hannah's remains are found at a property in Albermore County. And they were positively identified as being Hannah on October 24th.
On November 18th, the Albermore County Police Department said Hannah's cause of death was homicide. And they didn't specify. They just said it was undetermined. Okay.
Yeah. So the police were able to determine, you know, where Hannah was last seen, they looked at the video footage, they identified the suspect, they did all the things. They had identified him like the next day, like they knew who he was. They tried to contact him to interview him, but he didn't answer or respond.
The police went to search his apartment on September 22nd, where they took items of clothing. The police also offered a $100,000 reward for any information about Hannah's disappearance and then subsequently murder. On September 21st, you know, before they found her body, they did that thing where they issue a warrant for him that's not murder. It's like you didn't pay the parking ticket.
So it was like reckless driving or something like that. Yeah. So I guess you're in a warrant for his arrest for reckless driving. So Sonam, go need you to come with us.
Yeah. So they get in for reckless driving and get him in there and he like confesses to all of it. He was probably just waiting on them to come get him. Yeah.
And on September 23rd, they started the process of, you know, announcing that he was charged for abduction and all that. And then he would later be charged, where we talked about earlier with the murder and all of that. So this other case that happened in like 2005, it was also at the University of Virginia. It was a young of a college student who had been attacked, I believe raped by Matthew.
But she survived. She survived. And she reported the incident and nothing was done. So there was a case out there like she had filed like a civil suit like she had sued pretty much saying like if they had taken my case seriously, these are two women still be alive.
Geez. Because like he was a like habitual, like this was not the first time he like he didn't start with Morgan. And it would also seem likely that he probably sexually assaulted these girls and that was the motivation. And I'm sure that's probably why there wasn't a lot released about, you know, how the bodies were found or you know, cause of death.
Right. There just wasn't a whole lot really. So which like isn't the important part. That also though makes you question between 2005 and 2009.
It wasn't like he just went home and said, I'm kind of repent. And that was it. He had to, there has to be more victims, either sexual assault victims or could be people he killed. Yeah.
Yeah. It's um, yeah, it was a lot. Um, I agree. So both of their families have gone on to do some pretty cool things in, in their names and Hannah Morgan's name.
I believe there's a scholarship at the University of Virginia in Hannah's name that you can like apply for. That's great. But just, you know, wanting to keep her memory alive. Like a C alive.
Um, because she came, like she came to America. She was an international student. She was here to like experience new things and I think as a baby, as a parent, sending your child across the, you know, like across the world, basically, you know, how terrifying that is. But you're so excited for them.
And then something like this happens and you just, how do you go on? You know, yeah, I know my parents, like I've traveled internationally a couple of times and I know it freaks my mom out every time. She's like nervous every time. So happy and so happy.
Yeah. Like once you know it was cool experience. Yeah, even now the adult, I think if I took off somewhere, she would be nervous. I mean, when you come here, I'm sure she's terrified.
She actually faced time with us earlier. She did. Not to make sure you were okay. But just talking to my kids.
Yeah, she just took care of me. She's talking to my kid. Yeah. I just do not care about you want to see the child.
Just the baby. He's not a baby. But just the child. The child.
Um, but yeah, that's my story. Wow. It's a real bummer. Thanks for that.
I wish college students murdered. I wish there was a little bit more information on, you know, things that sort of happened and then how they came to some of these conclusions and and all of these things that would flesh it out more. I think they ended up charging in Hannah's case first and it linked back through DNA or something linked to Morgan. So I guess he didn't confess to her until they came to him and said, look, we have DNA.
Right. And I'm not sure he ever fully like confessed to Morgan's. Which means there has to be more bodies out there. Yeah, right.
And it's going to take a, you know, pretty soon he's going to confess it to somebody in his cell or, you know, somebody else in a format to comes back. I don't know. I just think you don't just say, you know what, it's 2005. I think I'm going to commit a crime and, you know, I'm going to stop for four years.
There's just, it doesn't happen. That's just weird. Yeah. But yeah, he is in jail for life, but possibly parole.
So there's that. Yeah, it's all there isn't unsolved mysteries on, I believe Morgan, maybe one of the two, there's not a mystery is on before they found the body. Gotcha. Because it was kind of crazy.
Weird side note. I love and sold mystery. Same. Even back in the 80s when Robert Stack was hosting, I was terrified.
I remember watching and then saw mysteries and was traumatized as a child. It was, and I'm not sure it was on solve mysteries. It was in a, no, it may have been like a weird daytime talk shows where they do like weird investigations. I don't really remember what it was, but I'll remember it was, it was a ghost one.
Like it was about wanting. And I remember the interview of the woman was saying she was in the bathroom and she just saw the doorknob turn. And I don't know why that like ingrained in my brain as a child and freaked me out so bad. Like I wouldn't, and I must have watched it at my grandparents' house because for the longest time I would not use the bathroom.
I use your grandmother's bathroom literally all the time. And I'm not freaked out. Actually, the only person who does use the doorknob to come in while I'm in there is my kids. What are you doing, mama?
Yeah, the rest of the story on the other door. It's got that weird like, it does. It's not a barn door. Well, it's where the actual toilet is separate from the rest of the washroom.
So like, you know, you do have privacy if you're actually on a toilet. P and in front of everybody. That was very prison-like. Yeah, fine.
I know there's a contraband. It's all about those. You want to use the rest of your brain. Metal toilets.
Yeah, exactly. Process. Yeah. But now I know that, you know, when you go to the restroom, I'll really freak you out if I start playing with the door.
Yeah, I will, I will panic. But I will be on the toilet if I pee. It's, you know. It won't be in your pants.
Yeah, I won't be in my pants. Yeah. I'm caught in the mite gourd. That's terrible.
Listen, y'all. If you want to give us your feedback, which you certainly should, please make it positive because we need it. You can. Or just, it's so sad.
Just reach out to us. You can do so by shooting us an email at mountain mysteries dot apple atchen at gmail dot com. You can find us on Instagram at mountain mysteries dot apple atcha. You can support our patreon at patreon dot com slash mountain mysteries and find us on Facebook at mountain mysteries tales from Appalachia.
Haley, do you have a shout out? I will momentarily. Yeah, she's just scared to use the bathroom now. Yeah, well, I'm trying to.
And by the way, here's a picture of a sea bring that is not a convertible that's orange. Oh, and here's one that is a convertible that's orange. So, okay, so that's not really a field car. Like you're not driving into a field in that thing.
Not really, you know. So I do wonder, like, some more context, like, I think he moved the body is what I'm thinking. Right. And he may have, because he was scared getting caught maybe.
We may just not ever know. Okay, I'm trying to figure my life out here. Okay, okay. Let's find a place, shall we?
Yes, let's do it. That's what we're waiting on. How about... I'm trying to find ones I feel like we've said so many of them and I always get confused.
How about Ellisville, Mississippi? Oh, I love it. Me too. Thanks for listening now.
Ellisville. I was gonna say Elvisville. Ellisville. Ellisville.
Ellisville. Well, if you want some more excitement, like we give. Just check us out next week. Bye.
Bye. Bye. Bye.