As the search for Hannah Graham continues, Jesse Matthew has been identified as a suspect in the disappearance of the University of Virginia student. A judge ordered Matthew be held without bond pending his extradition to Virginia on Thursday.
Matthew, who had been sought on suspicion of abduction with the intent to defile, was arrested in Galveston County a week after police first searched his apartment and let him go.
He was found on the beach Wednesday afternoon in Gilchrist on the Bolivar Peninsula, according to the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office.
Police believes Jesse was the last person with Graham. The 18-year-old second-year student at the University of Virginia; who last seen on September 13 in an area of Charlottesville known as the Downtown Mall. Investigators have been looking for her since, and over an increasingly large area.
Matthew, who is also known as “LJ,” is 6 foot 2 inches tall, 270 lbs. with dreadlocks. He grew up in Charlottesville living with his mother and younger sister Nicky. He was often looked after by his grandmother Christine Carr, while his mother Debra worked.
He attended the Red Hill Elementary School just outside the city in Albemarle County. Later he studied at Monticello High School and graduated in his senior year when he was 18.
New details about Jesse are being revealed and is not looking good.
According to Dailymail; the now 32-year-old attended Lynchburg, Virginia Liberty University and played on the football team as a defensive end, and at the time he was accused of rape. The reports says Matthew was expelled from the Christian university in 2002, following the alleged sex attack on a female student but was not charged with any crime, former teammates said.
He was on his way to the top after being named Charlottesville’s ‘Athlete of the Year’ in 1999 and won a sports scholarship to Liberty University. Following the allegation that he raped a female student he was forced to leave before graduation.
He then took on different jobs including working for the Yellow Cab taxi company based in Charlottesville. It also emerged that in 2009 Matthew was charged with a felony for attempted grand larceny, misdemeanor assault and trespassing, after he was accused of assaulting someone while trying to steal a cell phone. The charges were eventually dropped. He also has a long list of minor driving offenses to his name.
However Matthew has continued to be involved in sport. He currently is an assistant coach for the Covenant School varsity football team, a private Christian school in Charlottesville. Matthew is understood have directed a game from the side line on Friday September 12, the night Hannah Graham went missing.
Matthew was seen leaving the Tempo bar close to Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall with Hannah Graham at about 1.20am last Saturday morning.
He has been identified as the dreadlocked man seen following The 18-year-old on video footage released by investigators.
Giving his history, do you think Matthew is responsible for Hannah’s disappearance? You can find him on Facebook here, where he actually is getting support from friends saying “stay strong.”
More Stories for you