2 Women Vanished From Town UVa Suspect Lived In

The man accused of kidnapping UVa student Hannah Graham was accused of raping a woman at Liberty University in the fall of 2002, but she didn't proceed with the case. Jesse Matthew was a student there at the time—and left that school for Christopher Newport University, where he was again questioned in a sexual assault case. That one took place on Sept. 7, 2003, and similarly ended without charges, reports the Daily Progress. School officials provided Matthew's timeline, which they classified as unusual, at the school: He came to CNU in January 2003; left the football team on Sept. 12, roughly a month after joining it; and exited the university in mid-October, reports CBS6.

That university is located in Newport News, which has opened two cold cases from 2003 involving vanished women in light of Matthew's recent arrest. Autumn Wind Day, 24, was last sighted at a Food Lion 2 miles from CNU on July 24, 2003; her car was left in the parking lot. Sophie May Rivera, 31, disappeared on Sept. 27, 2003, from her home, located 7 miles from CNU. "While there are no indications that Jesse Matthew is connected to these two cases, both will be reviewed," an NNPD rep tells WAVY. Another cold case that's getting a fresh review: The 2009 murder of Cassandra Morton. She went missing in Lynchburg on Oct. 10 of that year, one week before Morgan Harrington, whom Matthew has been forensically tied to, also went missing, reports WDBJ7. Morton's body was found weeks later in a shallow grave on Candlers Mountain. (More Jesse Matthew stories.)