Murder of Morgan Dana Harrington

Morgan Dana Harrington, a 20-year-old student at Virginia Tech, disappeared on October 17, 2009, after leaving a Metallica concert at the John Paul Jones Arena at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. She had told friends she was going to look for a restroom; the venue enforced a "no re-entry" policy. When she did not return, friends called her cell phone and she said she had been locked out and would find her own way home, telling them not to worry. Witnesses reported seeing her hitchhiking on a nearby bridge around 9:30 p.m., and two witnesses claimed to have seen her in the company of three men after she left the arena.

Harrington's purse, containing her identification and a cell phone with the batteries removed, was later found in an RV lot at UVA's Lannigan Athletic Field. Her remains were discovered by a farmer on January 26, 2010, on the 742-acre Anchorage Farm, about ten miles from the arena and more than a mile and a half from road access. Her parents later stated that her death had been violent, that bones were broken, and that she had been raped. In April 2010, forensic testing confirmed that a Pantera T-shirt found in November 2009 near an apartment building about a mile and a half from the arena was the shirt she had been wearing the night she disappeared. Investigators also identified a forensic link between the case and an abduction and sexual assault that occurred in Fairfax, Virginia, in September 2005.

The case drew significant national attention, prompting a special resolution from the Virginia General Assembly. Harrington's parents publicly raised concerns about a possible serial offender in Virginia and participated in university safety events, including UVA's "Take Back the Night" rally. Crimestoppers offered a $100,000 reward, and Metallica, the band performing the night Harrington disappeared, added a further $50,000 reward for information leading to a conviction.

In September 2014, investigators linked Harrington's case to the murder of Hannah Graham, a UVA student, through forensic evidence associated with Jesse L. Matthew, Jr., who was also driving a taxicab in Charlottesville the night Harrington disappeared. Matthew had previously been accused of sexual assault at two Virginia colleges he attended, though no criminal charges resulted from either report at the time. On September 15, 2015, he was formally charged with first-degree murder and abduction with intent to defile in Harrington's case. On March 2, 2016, Matthew pleaded guilty to the abduction and murder of both Harrington and Graham, and a judge sentenced him to four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole; under the plea agreement, he waived his right to appeal. In May 2019, local news outlets reported that Matthew had been diagnosed with stage four colon cancer and was transferred from Red Onion State Prison to Sussex I State Prison for treatment, with both the Harrington and Graham families notified.