Hannah Graham: Body Recovered, 18 Oct, 2014 **Awaiting Forensic Confirmation** #5

[Ghost Horses]

I took a drive down OLR in route towards the crime scene on Sunday. Noticed LE walking slowly down each side of OLR looking down for evidence. This was a good 2-3 miles before the crime scene. They are also seen on news clips released Sunday night. I assumed they were looking for missing clothes not present where the body was found, cigarette butt, HG's phone, etc. Anything related to that night that either wasn't found at the crime scene or just general evidence that JM threw out of the window. Maybe even ruts where JM pulled over for whatever reason going or coming. If they can find additional evidence to strengthen the case even more and prove that JM was in that area going to or from the crime scene then the better they will be in court. My first hunch was that they were looking for missing clothes not found at the scene idk why. Struck me as odd though and I wonder if they were looking for something specific or just going through protocol. I know with the foliage coming down that it is making finding evidence even harder. It would be very easy for the gentlemen that I saw to walk right over something hidden under the leaves and not even know it. I know at the scene of the crime they are being more methodical however. On a side note, it really impresses me how detailed and tight lipped LE is with on going investigations/cases in VA.

BTW, I don't mean to state the obvious or come across the wrong way Heroine. Really just quoted you to have an opportunity for me to throw in what I observed and get feedback on thoughts of what they were up to.

 

[Heroine]

BTW, I don't mean to state the obvious or come across the wrong way Heroine. Really just quoted you to have an opportunity for me to throw in what I observed and get feedback on thoughts of what they were up to.

No I understand! I didn't take it the wrong way at all! Thanks for your input!
:wagon::greetings:

 

[Tugela]

If I had to hazard a guess?

Police in Texas took his DNA when he was arrested and when they ran it they got a hit on MH or the Fairfax rape case.

IIRC correctly it was only a day or so after JLM was brought back to Va that the announcement was made about the forensic link.

I doubt it. I don't think the charge he was arrested for in Texas was serious enough to warrant collection of a DNA sample, and they wouldn't be able to do it for an out of state charge. Virginia would have had to wait for him to arrive back there before they would be able to run it.

They probably had done DNA tests on evidence collected from his car or home, and if there was a DNA connection to the earlier crimes, then that probably is what showed up. That would explain why they phrased it as a major break or lead in the investigation of the earlier crimes, at that point they would not have had time to confirm that it actually was him.

 

[Tugela]

Am I the only one starting to think this might not be Hannah after all?

Well, I am not an expert on body decomposition, but it seems to me that the period from when she went missing is too short for a body to be completely skeletonized as reports have led us to believe.

It sounds more like the body had been there much longer, I would have thought.

 

[Tugela]

Put a name to the DNA

I am not sure why they would need to recheck the evidence for DNA, since the results for everything they tested before should still be in the investigation file even if it is not in database. I doubt it would take more than 30 minutes to pull the files up and compare the profiles with JM once they got the data back from the evidence locker.

 

[Elley Mae]

Morgan Harrington's mother calls it "pivotal" because authorities said it connected her daughter's death-- which in turn was forensically linked to the recent disappearance of Hannah Graham-- back to a 2005 rape in the city of Fairfax.

http://wvtf.org/post/t-shirt-harrington-case-link-clue-or-taunt

After the shirt's forensic links were announced in the spring of 2010, a police sketch of the alleged perpetrator that hadn't gone far beyond Fairfax suddenly found a worldwide audience. But still no known suspect.

....................................

Police have said since arresting Matthew that forensic evidence links him to the murder of another one of the women, 20-year-old Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, whose body was found after she went missing in 2009.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...nnah-graham-case-has-history-bad-acts-n230451

..............................

A hospital worker has been charged in the September abduction of a University of Virginia student and a 2005 rape that state police say has a forensic link to the five-year-old slaying of a Virginia Tech student.

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2014/1...ow-be-charged-in-harrington-case--108300.html

.................................

bbm Forensic link would be DNA, if they are not saying DNA then what is the forensic link? It would seem if it was DNA he would have been charged with Morgan's death, no?

 

[strawb93]

Just looking at the google maps of the woods behind the houses makes me feel really claustrophobic. I can see houses set way back in those woods and I just could not live there.

It feels like, he was startled in the 2005 case so he decided that he then had to make sure he wouldn't be interrupted. And also, thick tree cover like that is so disorientating, so if a victim should try to make a run for it, he would have the advantage. On a straight road I would say that most people would be able to out run him, but in that area the tables would be turned back to him having the upper hand again.

God it really doesn't bear thinking about. The terror that the person mentioned in the post up thread must have felt when he was continuing to look for her. I really hope that he did drug Hannah and Morgan so at least they would have been less aware of what was happening.

I am in the UK, and I am having nightmares, I cannot begin to imagine what the families and friends are going through. And even the locals. I mean, I am sure they are used to living there but after all this, I am sure they will be looking at the woods at the back of their properties in a completely different way.

 

[jbowman55]

fwiw, I live in the area near the spot where Courtney Marie Servais was found murdered, beaten to death by Dennis Lee Daniel, and I think about her every time I pass those woods on the way to a nearby town.

The house in which the assault began, where her blood apparently was splattered all over the walls and floors, is in my neighborhood, and I pass it every day when I go to work. It took several years after Daniel was convicted and sent to prison before that house was rehabilitated and sold to new owners. Every day I wonder if those people know what happened in the house they're living in.

Acts of such violence bring a lessening of the spirit of a place, imo, and that just becomes a lingering tragedy. If the land around 31x3 is found to have been a dumping ground, or something similar, the people in that area will never forget it. It damages everyone who has to know about it.

All imo.

ETA: Actually, I guess that land already IS a dumping ground. It doesn't have to be more than one left there. So sad.

 

[Foxfire]

I doubt it. I don't think the charge he was arrested for in Texas was serious enough to warrant collection of a DNA sample, and they wouldn't be able to do it for an out of state charge. Virginia would have had to wait for him to arrive back there before they would be able to run it.

They probably had done DNA tests on evidence collected from his car or home, and if there was a DNA connection to the earlier crimes, then that probably is what showed up. That would explain why they phrased it as a major break or lead in the investigation of the earlier crimes, at that point they would not have had time to confirm that it actually was him.

Tugela, the Texas Senate had passed a bill in 2013 for taking dna including certain misdemeanor arrests. Not sure if the TX house has passed the bill and whether it has been signed into law as of 2014. There was a Supreme Court ruling in January 2014 affirming Marylands liberal dna laws on misdemeanor arrests.. JM gave a false name when questioned on the Galveston Beach. This may have opened the door for investigators to acquire his dna.. jmo
Many serial cold cases have been and would be solved with relaxed dna laws including familial dna laws, imo..
How many innocent victims lives could have been saved in JM's case if Virginia had relaxed/liberal dna laws, including misdemeanors and familial dna? JMO



Forget Fingerprints: Law Enforcement DNA Databases Poised To Expand
By Valerie Ross on Thu, 02 Jan 2014
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/body/dna-databases/
In June, the Supreme Court ruled that it is constitutional to take DNA samples from people who have been arrested for serious crimes—without a warrant, much less a conviction. Like bits of DNA taken from people found guilty, those samples can be entered into a database and used not only for the case at hand, but compared to other crime scene samples, connecting the arrestee to past crimes.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

It is very nice being able to catch up with everything while America is still asleep, but my gosh it's slow.... hoping today's the day they ID Hannah and give us some proper news.

 

[possumheart]

I am 9451 miles away from Charlottesville. I feel closer.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

I am 9451 miles away from Charlottesville. I feel closer.

I am 3657!

While I'm here, *whispers*, they are called leggings...

 

[possumheart]

http://www.wdbj7.com/news/local/hannah-graham-candlelight-vigil-is-thursday-at-virginia-tech/29274440

 

[Emaa]

I doubt it. I don't think the charge he was arrested for in Texas was serious enough to warrant collection of a DNA sample, and they wouldn't be able to do it for an out of state charge. Virginia would have had to wait for him to arrive back there before they would be able to run it.

He was arrested on Federal charges too, and DNA swab can be obtained without warrant on that alone.

 

[bestill]

Saw two APD officers at Starbucks today, with knee-high rain boots on. Please tell your brother-in-law thank you. Their efforts are greatly appreciated. I hope he's holding up ok, too. This can't be easy, even for them.

Did you buy them a cup of java from the WS'ers

 

[Sachi]

Yeah no kidding, I'll know more this weekend when I see my friend at mutual sports activities but I believe it was before MH, don't quote me on that. Yet. cville is a small town and what kind of bugs me but I'm also thankful for is that people are letting info out that probs shouldn't be bc they wanna be "in the know" while My impatient deeply concerned/obsessed side wants more, I want this monster brought to justice, no hiccups. It's a fine line.

Your story is unbelievable , I woke to thinking about this terrified woman hiding in the woods while a freaking taxi driver stalked her for 2 hrs! Fear is an adrenaline clearing sensation, survival instinct buried in each of us lay dormant until a moment like hers. Brave beyond words, she is. Her amazing flight reaction after realizing that she never gave him an address, she managed to stay cool until he stopped the car and bolted into the woods to hide, just incredible! She didn't second guess her instincts. So so grateful that she is here.

 

[Elley Mae]

Efforts to compare DNA samples from the body to Graham’s likely will be accelerated, said Art Eisenberg, director of the Center for Human Identification at the University of North Texas.

“This is a high-profile case,” Eisenberg said, “and they’ll want to get a result fairly quickly.”

He estimated that the work would take seven to 10 days. If the remains are Graham’s, he said, the identification should not present too many challenges.

“She has not been gone that long, relative to other cases we’ve seen,” Eisenberg said.

http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/l...cle_65314f72-5a62-11e4-967d-001a4bcf6878.html

 

[Kie green]

Just as an aside on the wait...Richmond alone has had 10 murders since 9/15. Could just be a back log at the ME's office. It appears their office has a wide ranging swath of area to cover in VA from NOVA down to NC border.

(Edited my misspelling of "border".)

 

[MaggieMoo]

I was thinking the same thing!

 

[Bryan9]

Deleted - the DNA testing time frame I quoted applied to determining whether DNA found in Alexis Murphy's car matches JLM. Shoulda had another cup of coffee before posting, sorry.