This has bothered me as well. Didn't she have a best friend who cared enough to find out where she was when she was not home by Sat PM.? Did they even try to call her? Who was she supposed to meet up with when she got lost. I assume LE has interviewed the friends and roommates extensively. This case has prompted me to check in with my own daughter who is away at college 1-2x per day. If I don't hear from her I know how to contact her room mates.
Hannah's Journey on 09/13
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This has bothered me as well. Didn't she have a best friend who cared enough to find out where she was when she was not home by Sat PM.? Did they even try to call her? Who was she supposed to meet up with when she got lost. I assume LE has interviewed the friends and roommates extensively. This case has prompted me to check in with my own daughter who is away at college 1-2x per day. If I don't hear from her I know how to contact her room mates.
Having gone to UVA myself and having kids who went there recently, what HG was wearing that night was atypical night-out attire. It's a preppy student body, overall, and the more typical outfits are ones seen in several other photos of HG (the sundress, the dress with pearls, etc.)
That's pretty accurate. But there are several high-end restaurants and bars there, as well as the shops they show.
When the word Mall is used, most people think of an enclosed shopping mall with department store anchors connected by chain brand shops. The Downtown Mall in C'ville is not that at all. It's not enclosed. It's a wide pedestrian walkway down the center with shops lining the street on either side of where people walk, and it continues for several city blocks. No vehicle traffic can drive into the Downtown Mall pedestrian area.
Or JM could have texted it from HG's phone (provided it was not password protected) to divert attention from where he was really taking her.
Good sleuthing! This is a valid possibility, and totally changes the meaning of the text--if, in fact, HG sent it.
klily444
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Is there anywhere, besides the Daily Mail, that claims the "guy with dreads" was already spoken to, and has been cleared? I've only seen this statement in the Daily Mail article and I'm not sure we should give it much credence, unless it was also reported another MSM outlet. And the reason I bring this up is because it is a very important fact in the investigation, IMO. It speaks volumes to LE tactics, and I have a feeling the statement is just...unfounded.
ConcernedinDC
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My assumption is that he told Hannah that he was working at the hospital that night and he could take her to meet her friends. The text maybe was supposed to mean I got lost can you come get me at 14th and wherever. He may have said he had to close out his tab and she either went in with him or stayed outside and they left. In regards to her friends someone may have sent back a text saying they would and then couldn't reach her. They may have assumed she got a ride. We haven't been told if these friends were close or just casual classmates that wouldn't have been worried.
I can definitely see HG getting turned around and walking east (toward the Mall) when she thought she was walking west (toward The Corner/UVA). Remember, school had just started up again, and this was HG's first year living off-Grounds in an apartment that is not run by UVA Housing. All students are required to live on-Grounds in University housing their first year.
It's likely she had very little experience walking around her neighborhood the year prior, and having just begun a new school year, she probably did not know her way around--not even landmarks would be familiar because that's a neighborhood she likely would not have spent time in the year before when she lived on Grounds. Add to that it was very dark outside, and she'd been drinking, she totally could have gotten twisted around.
ConcernedinDC
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I keep meaning to mention about her running. When I was a few years older than her I had been at a festival in another city that I lived in. There were people everywhere walking so I told my friends I would walk home and text when I got there. I did not live far. Well I tuned the corner and all the sudden there were no people. I just kept walking and then freaked myself out and ran until I saw lights and people again. She may have done this and then saw the gas station lights. Just a thought.
Yes, the black man (Dameon Bradley) who Randy Taylor accused was questioned by LE and actually testified at RAT's trial.
October 2014 press release from Nelson Co. Commonwealth's Attorney Anthony Martin about Bradley and Matthew in response to RAT's attorney.
http://www.newsplex.com/home/headli...tthew-Connection-277932552.html?device=tablet
The traditional meaning of "mall" refers to a roadway meant for pedestrian traffic.
That is unlikely, because they apparently made no secret about the fact they were following him after he left the police station.
mts202
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I was referring to earlier in the week when they had info that hadn't been shared, not by the time he came to the police station.
It's not unusual for college kids, other young adults to disappear for a day or even more. Hannah shared an apartment but had her own room. It would not have been unusual for her to have slept in on Saturday morning--clearly she was out to party Friday night, and no one would have been doing room checks or monitoring who came home or even did She could have hooked up with someone she met and willingly gone with that person, spent the night. Happens all of the time to the point that it's the norm. So everyone would be busy enough running around on Saturday, that I doubt Hannah or any college student would be missed. And then she could have gone out again Saturday night and done the same as Friday. This is not at all unusual.
In fact, that the roommates even got uneasy as early as Sunday, is a testimony to Hannah's regularity in being back at the apartment and getting ready for Monday classes. When she was not there Sunday afternoon, that's when her roomates started where she might be. Really, that's a day earlier than a lot of students would have been missed and maybe sooner than that. If she did not come back Monday night and IF roommates noticed she did not go to class, books and things untouched, no one saw her, that is usually the earliest that someone might get worried. Hannah was a straight A student, and put a lot of importance on her studies, so when she wasn't back that Sunday night her roommates got worried.
A few calls to some classmates that they knew she hung around with probably netted that "lost" text that was sent, and when they realized she was never seen after leaivng a party drunk and alone, that was probably what got them really alarmed. Parents were notified and LE and campus security were also brought into the picture. But there have been people missing for longer than that before the alarm was sounded and Police alerted. Some people are notoriously bad about disappearing, not telling anyone of whereabouts and do this a lot. Hannah was not that way, and she had roommates that were aware of her habits.
So, I think she was reported on the early side of things for a college student in an apartment off campus with her own bedrrom on a weekend.
Where I shake my head, is that she was out partying late at night, was clearly intoxicated, greatly so, from what those there told LE, and yet those classmates who did serve alcohold to her underage as well as likely a lot of other underaged students, just let her, a slight female, go off on her own that late at night. No friend with her, no one accompanying her. A guy did say he offered to go with her, but she said she was fine, and that was that. But I guess that is commonly accepted in the Corner. Drunk underage kids served alcohol with impunity and allowed to go off by themselves in that condition even in the dark at night. That is what happened here with Hannah. Not unusual in most off campus and campus scenarios either.
The way I've read the whole Daily Mail thing about a supposed second AA man (bald, no dreds) --- and the thing in the Mail about LE having already interviewed the man with dreds and dismissed him as not suspicious --- was that law enforcement was throwing up a smokescreen because they didn't want to tip off the fact that they were focusing on JM. That they didn't want him to bolt. LE knew who he was from the video footage; they knew he'd followed HG; and anyone who frequented the Mall would have been able to supply his name. Under those circumstances, why would they go shouting, "Hey, yoohoo, world! Hey, Daily Mail! We are focusing on JM but haven't searched his car or house yet!" . . . ?
Similarly: Why did LE search JM's car? This seems not at all mysterious to me. They have video showing him walking the opposite direction from HG; they can see he has circled back to follow her and then approach and put his arm/s around her; and they have witnesses saying he left Tempo and got into the car with HG. People on the mall and at Tempo would have told them, "oh, sure, that's JM." There was never any mystery about JM's identity. So of course LE would get a warrant to search his car. (Then, in the car, they find LM's DNA, of course. And his DNA matches DNA from the MH case: the "new forensic link." Which gives them sufficient cause to arrest LM . . . )
Similarly: Why did LE search JM's car? This seems not at all mysterious to me. They have video showing him walking the opposite direction from HG; they can see he has circled back to follow her and then approach and put his arm/s around her; and they have witnesses saying he left Tempo and got into the car with HG. People on the mall and at Tempo would have told them, "oh, sure, that's JM." There was never any mystery about JM's identity. So of course LE would get a warrant to search his car. (Then, in the car, they find LM's DNA, of course. And his DNA matches DNA from the MH case: the "new forensic link." Which gives them sufficient cause to arrest LM . . . )
From what I've read about JM's demeanor, especially when turning on the charm, is that one gets the idea that he is a big bumbling buffoon and not dangerous. I could see him just lightly putting his arm around an agitated, drunk disoriented Hannah, and saying something comfortoing and offering a ride. He was a taxi driver, and was used to offering rides. In a few short sentences/words, he could have easily conveyed an aura of safety. Worked at UVAMC, might even have had a work ID tag to flash at her. He had gone to college, coached at a private school, worked at a major med center, hung out in some upscale places, so he knows how to act around someone so that he comes across as safe and helpful. Absolutely. Cab drivers often pick up lost and drunk disoriented fares. My guess is that she told him she wanted to go that that address that was texted to friends, as she may not have been interested in giving more info, was intoxicated, tired and figured she'd be there in a few minutes. She also wasn't 100% in cognitive thinking either, and that could have added to things. But frankly, if I were lost like she was, without any drink addling my mind, someone like JM kindly offering a ride, with UVMA tag, saying he used to drive a cab, let's head to Tempo and clear my tab first and my car is right near there, would have put me to ease. Tempo is not a dive or dump, but an upscale place, and as we know, the mall is public, lot of people seeing the whole thing, everything on record. These days you assume you are on camera too, a lot of the time.
Not much has said about the contact with classmates during those hours, other than there was some. Most of the friends, classmates, fellow partiers were probably inebriated, busy partying and not exactly concerned about lost Hannah who really wasn't that far away and at a safe locale. The mall is not a dangerous place in a bad neighborhood, a very public place, We are talkng about a mile and a half away. I'm sure a lot of those students feel terrible now, after what happened.
We also don't know what info might have been in texts from HG's friends to HG. Addresses, party meeting points . . . which could have been used by JM if he were to send a bogus reply from her phone.
Just my opinion, I find it very hard to believe HG went on such a long, long, hour-long walkabout unless she was either, A) not simply drunk, but on something else, as kids will do, no judgment; or, B) Looking for someone. Looking for someone she was crushing on, for example. I've read that she was "turned away from the door" at the pub. How many college girls try to entter pubs alone unless looking for someone, expecting to meet a friend or date? She was dressed to impress guys, I think, and even leaving a party alone and heading out in the first place, to me, says she was likely on a mission.
Just my opinion, I find it very hard to believe HG went on such a long, long, hour-long walkabout unless she was either, A) not simply drunk, but on something else, as kids will do, no judgment; or, B) Looking for someone. Looking for someone she was crushing on, for example. I've read that she was "turned away from the door" at the pub. How many college girls try to entter pubs alone unless looking for someone, expecting to meet a friend or date? She was dressed to impress guys, I think, and even leaving a party alone and heading out in the first place, to me, says she was likely on a mission.
I am a current part time student at UVA and I also worked on campus several years ago. I am severely directionally challenged, so much so that it is common knowledge/running joke among all of my family and friends. For the last two semesters, I have class in the same building and while I drive to class, I've made the wrong turn on several occasions. I've gotten lost in my own hometown. I have absolutely no sense of direction, so it really isn't that difficult for me to think that Hannah wasn't sure of where she was and compound that with the fact that she may have been intoxicated.
Just because people may have said that they saw Hannah and Jesse together or saw the video of him following her - that doesn't provide the necessary "probable cause" that the cops would need for a warrant. They got a warrant for the car before ever even talking to Matthew which is unusual. I think they have video of Hannah getting into Matthew's car, either willingly or not, and that's what led them to the car. How would they even know to search his car? Without video evidence, for all the cops knew, Matthew rode to the mall with someone or he got a cab. If the cops don't have video, it's going to be really hard for them to prove that they had sufficient probable cause to search his car and his attorney could argue that it was an illegal search and have the evidence from the car (and subsequently from the apartment) thrown out.