Unknown
Offender Linked by DNA in Two Separate Cases
On a Saturday night in October 2009,
college student Morgan Harrington left a Metallica concert at the University of
Virginia in Charlottesville and disappeared. It would be several months before
her body was discovered in a field about 10 miles away.
We
need your help to find Harrington’s killer. The
individual we are seeking has also been linked by DNA to a sexual assault in
Fairfax City, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Today, the Virginia State
Police, Fairfax City Police, and the FBI released two enhanced sketches of the
suspect and are reminding the public there is a reward of up to $150,000 for
information leading to an arrest and conviction in the Harrington case.
The multimedia campaign being launched
today to draw attention to the investigation will include information on social
media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, a public service announcement by
Metallica, and electronic billboards in Virginia and along the East Coast.
“Bringing renewed attention to the case
will get people thinking about it again,” said Virginia State Police Special
Agent Dino Cappuzzo. “Our hope is that someone will come forward and provide a
crucial piece of information that will help us solve the murder.”
Harrington was a 20-year-old student at
Virginia Tech when she went to the concert that Saturday, October 17, at the
John Paul Jones Arena on the University of Virginia campus. At about 8:30 p.m.,
she left the building and was unable to get back inside. She was last seen
hitchhiking nearby.
Her remains were discovered the
following January in a remote field on a farm in Albemarle County, Virginia. A
camera she had that night and a distinctive Swarovski crystal necklace she was
wearing have not been recovered.
FBI agents in our Charlottesville
Resident Agency have been assisting state investigators, and profilers from our
Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) have also provided consultation.
“A lot of BAU’s work focused on the
location of the body and what that told us about the offender,” Cappuzzo said.
“We believe he was intimately familiar with the farm and the surrounding area
where the body was recovered. He may have been comfortable there and felt he
was not at risk of getting caught.”
DNA recovered in the Harrington case was
linked to an unknown offender in a September 2005 sexual assault in Fairfax
City. A 26-year-old woman was attacked at night while walking home from a
grocery store. The offender was scared away by a passerby—but the victim got a
good look at him, enabling a Fairfax City Police artist to produce a sketch of
the attacker.
“It was a remarkable break to get the
DNA match,” said FBI Special Agent Jane Collins. The forensic evidence linked
the two cases, so now we have a face to put with the suspect in the Harrington
case. The suspect is described as an African-American male with black hair and
facial hair (at the time of the 2005 attack). He is approximately 6 feet tall and
was believed to be between the ages of 25 and 35 years old at the time of the
Fairfax City assault.
Help us catch Morgan Harrington’s
killer. If you have any information about the Harrington case or the Fairfax
City assault, contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or the Virginia State Police
Tip line at 434-352-3467, or submit a tip online.
A
Familiar Face?
We are asking the public to review the
sketches and other information in the Morgan Harrington and Fairfax City cases
and consider whether they know someone who fits this description or who lived
or had ties to the areas around the times of the assaults.
People who know the suspect may not
believe he is capable of committing such crimes. He may not have a violent
criminal history. Because investigators have DNA evidence that can positively
link the suspect to his crimes—or exclude innocent parties—the public should
not hesitate to provide information.
The Jefferson Area Crime Stoppers is
offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction
of the person responsible for Morgan’s murder. The band Metallica has added an
additional $50,000 to that amount.
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