It's not hard at all to get there on a map, but there are a couple things to consider:
1. Traffic is nightmarish in all of Northern Virginia. I don't know where you live, but NoVa is nothing like Charlottesville or Richmond. No one drives around those suburbs for fun. It's work. (Although, yes, weekend nights are better.)
2. Jermantown Road is not a major thoroughfare. Once it crosses I-66 (north to south), it drops to two lanes. Jermantown Road might help get you to/from Tysons Corner by way of Vienna, but that primarily applies to business traffic during workdays. (I used it for exactly that, but make note that that's a route known to locals.)
Also -- and I don't know how relevant this is -- but those townhouses and apartments are not exactly upscale. (My ex wasn't entirely comfortable with the local clientele when she lived there; she and her sister were in the minority as English speakers.) I don't want anyone to take this the wrong way, but Jesse Matthew does not appear to be among the social elite, and the possibility of his having contacts among that particular community makes perfect sense; he would not have been out of place.
Anyway, I surmise that it's unlikely that an out-of-towner would be on that particularly road or would even know of that particular road. Why would he? It's not the same as being on Routes 28 or 29 or 50. But ... if you had (or once had) friends in those townhouses or apartments, then suddenly the perspective changes completely. From that standpoint, Jermantown would be slightly off the beaten path (Route 50) and would be familiar territory.
Oh, as for accessibility to George Mason, again, it's much harder than it looks on a map. Chain Bridge Road through downtown Fairfax City is slow going; doable, but inconvenient. I'd buy into that idea more if the rape had occurred somewhere along Braddock Road, south of Fairfax City.
That's just my read of the lay of the land. I think most NoVa residents would agree with me on most of this.
Yes. We lived off of Burke Station Rd. between Braddock and Little River Tpke. (Main St.). I considered that to be near George Mason. I really never considered Jermantown near GMU.