This undated photo provided by the Charlottesville, Va., Police Department shows Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr.CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Officials investigating the disappearance of a University of Virginia student focused Monday on the man they believe was the last person seen with her, searching his apartment for a second time and trying to locate the campus employee to arrest him on reckless driving charges.
Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr., 32 and a patient technician in the operating room at the university’s medical center, hasn’t been charged in the disappearance, but authorities say they want to talk to him about Hannah Graham, 18. She has been missing since Sept. 13. Police have not offered any details about how the two may be connected.
“I believe Jesse Matthew was the last person she was seen with before she vanished off the face of the Earth because it’s been a week and we can’t find her,” Charlottesville police Chief Timothy Longo said. “I’ve made no mistake about it. We want to talk to Jesse Matthew. We want to talk to him. We want to talk to him about his interaction with this sweet, young girl we can’t find.”
But, Longo also noted that “I don’t want to get tunnel vision just because we have a name, just because we saw her with a particular person.”
After initial searches of Matthew’s car and apartment Friday morning, police returned with a new search warrant to his Charlottesville apartment Monday, city spokeswoman Miriam Dickler said.