Jesse Matthew, a 32-year-old man wanted in connection with the Sept. 13 disappearance of second-year UVA student Hannah Graham, has been arrested in connection with the case.
Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo said Wednesday night that Matthew was arrested in Galveston, Texas. It is not known right now why Matthew was in Texas, or what ties he may have had to that region, Longo said.
According to Google Maps, Galveston is a 19-hour, 43-minute, 1,308-mile drive from Charlottesville.
Matthew was seen on surveillance video with Graham, 18, on the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville in the early-morning hours of Sept. 13. Graham had attended parties in the area of the UVA Corner that night, and was supposed to meet up with friends in the overnight hours when she apparently got lost en route, and ended up a mile and a half away in the downtown district.
Graham was reported missing on Sept. 14, prompting an ongoing search that to date has yielded little information as to what happened.
Matthew’s apartment and vehicle have been the subject of police searches, and the nursing assistant at the UVA Medical Center was treated at first as a person of interest, then over the weekend was singled out by Longo as the last known person to see Graham alive.
Matthew briefly visited the police department on Saturday, but left without speaking to investigators, and on his way out of Charlottesville is alleged to have driven recklessly while under police surveillance and was named in warrants on two counts of reckless driving.
On Tuesday, Matthew was charged with a count directly related to the Graham disappearance, one count of abduction with intent to defile. Police did not release details related to what led to the charge.
In the wake of that charge being lodged against Matthew, he was suspended without pay from his job at UVA, and also was relieved of his duties as a volunteer assistant football coach at the Covenant School, a private school in Charlottesville.
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