missing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham,who's body has since been found. |
Just as feared,the remains found buried in a shallow grave in a creek bed behind an abandoned property last weekend belong to missing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, it has been confirmed.
Hannah, 18, vanished on September 13 in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia, after a party.
She was last seen late at night with Jesse Matthew Jr, who has been charged with her disappearance.
On Saturday search parties which had been scouring the countryside around Charlottesville found human remains, which were buried in a shallow grave in a densely wooded area.
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Scene of tragedy: This is the property in Albermare county behind which the body of Hannah Graham was found. Officials have confirmed that the body is hers
All other search efforts were called off as soon as the remains were found.
The sophomore was last seen on a surveillance video walking with kidnapping suspect Jesse Matthew in downtown mall in Charlottesville, Virginia on September 13.
Charlottesville police chief Timothy Longo told reporters after the find: 'Sometime before noon [Saturday] a search team from the Chesterfield County Sheriff's department discovered what appears to be human remains.
'Forensic tests need to be conducted to determine the identity of these remains. But we wanted to be quick in informing the Graham family.
Uncovered: Human remains were found five miles from where Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington was found dead, according to the local police
'This investigation is complicated, it's a complex criminal investigation, it is unlikely that we will have any more information in the near future.'
Describing the 'unprecedented' search effort, he said: 'It was 35 days ago since University of Virginia student Hannah Graham disappeared from our downtown pedestrian mall.
He added: 'Thousand of hours have been spent by hundreds of law enforcement and civilian volunteers in an effort to find Hannah.'
It came days after Sue and John Graham, Hannah's parents, issued a last, passionate plea for Virginians to look out for signs of her.
culled from DailyMail online
culled from DailyMail online