48 Hours - 48 Hours: The Hannah Graham Story Episode 2: Person of Interest

Episode Date: September 15, 2015

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,
Starting point is 00:00:35 and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert
Starting point is 00:01:00 to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. I'm Neil Orgenstein for WTOP Radio. Over the coming week, I'll be doing a series of podcasts leading to 48 Hours' season premiere on the disappearance of Hannah Graham. It's the story of how one missing, then murdered college student in Charlottesville, Virginia, leads to other cases of unsolved attacks against young women.
Starting point is 00:01:58 Join us each day as we examine new details of these crimes in a series of podcasts, and also on the two-hour season premiere of 48 Hours on Saturday, September 26th at 9 p.m. Eastern on the CBS television network. I believe Jessie 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. because it's been a week and we can't find her. Previously on the CBS News 48 Hours podcast, the Hannah Graham story. So that's who we're looking for. We're looking for Hannah Graham. An additional video shows that same black male with dreadlocks with his hands around Hannah Graham's waist.
Starting point is 00:02:42 Pick up the phone and tell us something, regardless of how insignificant you think it might be. Sunday, September 21st, 2014. Charlottesville police believe Jesse Matthew, a 32-year-old man who's lived most of his life here, knows what happened to University of Virginia sophomore Hannah Graham. Police have searched Matthew's apartment, and they've seized his car, a 1998 burnt orange Chrysler Coupe. Matthew walked through the front door of the Charlottesville Police Department a day earlier on Saturday, talked to a lawyer, and left without telling police anything about Hannah Graham. Even though police didn't have enough evidence to charge him or even detain him, after more
Starting point is 00:03:31 than a week they finally knew who the last person seen with Hannah Graham was before she disappeared. But as two FBI agents and two state police troopers tailed jesse matthew and his sister's blue nissan sentra he sped away driving recklessly and he was gone i asked charlottesville police captain gary pleasance you guys were monitoring him you knew where he was you were following him he took off wouldn't it have been possible to cordon off a large enough area so that you could have kept him inside a contained area i don't know if you have any idea how hard how difficult that would be with the number of law enforcement agencies officers it would take to try to see off an
Starting point is 00:04:17 area like that that is not possible and even then it was a reckless driving charge we don't put manpower like that for a reckless driving charge, which at that time and still is all we have. He'd gotten away, and all police had in their hands right then was a new wanted poster. It had a picture of Jesse Matthew. It described his sister's car and said Matthew knew people in Virginia, Maryland, D.C., Pennsylvania, and New York. It also offered a reward of $50,000 for information leading to the safe return of Hannah Graham.
Starting point is 00:04:52 So who is Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr.? 32 years old, his friends have called him LJ since he was a kid. Karen went to elementary school with Matthew and was in a class with him to help kids with learning disabilities. I'm a diagnosed dyslexic. So every day throughout elementary school, we spend at least an hour together. And he was one of the most tender, kind-hearted people I've ever known. He was the guy in the third grade field trip who would stop walking and help me dig my flip-flop out of the mud when everyone else was leaving me behind. The last several days, I've had so many memories of him just coming up to me in a hallway in
Starting point is 00:05:37 high school and elementary school and, you know, putting his arm around me and saying, hey, how you doing? And just checking in, you know, he was always one of those people who just, he cared deeply, cares deeply about his friends. As Matthew got older and bigger, he started playing football. I'm going to be 32 in October, and I've known LJ since I was about 15. Sarah also went to school with LJ. A really good example of his character comes to mind. At Albemarle High School, there was a riot in the mid-90s. And my friend, she was stuck in the surging crowd.
Starting point is 00:06:10 LJ put her on his shoulders and took her into safety. Sarah said Matthew's mild manner didn't change when he became an adult. This summer, a couple of my friends were out and we were drinking. And LJ was around and he honestly couldn't even keep up with us. We're not heavy drinkers. He got a ride home with us and walked one of my friends back to her front door and she didn't have any issues with him. Like none of us have ever had any problems with LJ.
Starting point is 00:06:35 He's a big sweetheart. A woman named Stacey told WTOP's Dick Uliano the LJ she knows couldn't have anything to do with Hannah Graham's disappearance. I used to go downtown a lot and I used to do a lot of partying the LJ she knows, couldn't have anything to do with Hannah Graham's disappearance. I used to go downtown a lot, and I used to do a lot of partying, and LJ would hang out, you know, some of the local places, and he'd be there, and he was always my bodyguard, my protector. He's a big guy. Big dude, yeah, definitely someone you want on your side. Are you surprised?
Starting point is 00:07:02 Very much so. Very, very much so. Like I said, you never would have thought. Like, this is somebody who you could go walking downtown with, you know what I'm saying? And I would be completely trashed and obliviated, and he would take me back to his spot and let me crash there, or he'd take me home. I mean, this is somebody that was a really good friend. I would welcome him into my home at any point in time, day or night. Jesse Matthews' grandmother was quoted saying LJ did meet a woman on the mall that night and bought her drinks at Tempo.
Starting point is 00:07:37 But she says he went his way and she went hers. And Hannah never got into her grandson's car. In the grandmother's words, LJ would never hurt anybody. I know he's a good boy. He would do anything to help anybody. Could police be looking at the wrong guy? Or was there a different side to Jesse Matthew that his family and friends had never seen? While many of Jesse Matthew's friends were
Starting point is 00:08:05 saying he wouldn't hurt anyone, police were back here at his apartment on Hessian Hills Way on the northern outskirts of Charlottesville. WTOP reporter Mike Murillo watched as investigators removed more evidence from Matthew's apartment. They were taking boxes of stuff out. You mostly saw cardboard boxes sealed so you couldn't see anything inside. They also had a couple bags of things that they removed from the home. They were all sealed before they even walked out of that door. There was a waiting SUV with the backup. Those bags, those boxes were placed in the SUV without talking to the media. Officers jumped in those vehicles and just drove off. Matthew's roommates didn't want to speak with reporters. Then we met his landlord.
Starting point is 00:08:49 She remembered him being agitated and very quick to get upset and was behind on some rent payments. She called him an aloof character in a way. She said he was there with his dog and his roommates and didn't talk much but wasn't friendly either. The landlord said something out of the ordinary happened recently. In fact she did say on one of the final days she saw Jesse Matthew to collect the rent he had the rent for and he was very nice which she said was out of character for Jesse and something she is not used to seeing when he normally is agitated and not wanting to hear from her as she tried to collect the rent. He didn't report it at the time, but Mike Murillo spoke with someone that day
Starting point is 00:09:31 who suggested Jesse Matthew might be involved in other cases, including a nine-year-old cold case 100 miles away in Fairfax, Virginia. A 26-year-old woman was brutally attacked just steps from her front door, and police had never questioned Jesse Matthew in connection with that case. I talked to a man who said he knew well the sister of Jesse Matthew. The thing that rings with me is that he told me, if you look at the sketch from the Fairfax assault back in 2005, he's been watching the news. He saw the picture of that suspect come out back in the day. He said that Jesse Matthew was staying with a friend in Fairfax.
Starting point is 00:10:14 He didn't know who the friend was, but he did know during that time he was staying in Fairfax. He said he looks like LJ or Jesse Matthew as we know him. He looked like LJ back during that time. He had shorter hair. He didn't have the long dreadlocks. Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. My name is John Graham. I'm Hannah's father.
Starting point is 00:10:35 My right here is Sue, Hannah's mother and my wife. John Graham said the family was overwhelmed by the generosity of the thousands who were searching for their daughter. I think that the reason that Hannah has such marvelous support is that this is every parent's worst nightmare. I'm certain that everybody in this room and those watching knows that what happened to Hannah could happen to their child. knows that what happened to Hannah could happen to their child.
Starting point is 00:11:07 We need to find out what happened to Hannah and make sure that it doesn't happen to anybody else. Even as police were gathering more information on Jesse Matthew, they had no idea how to get in touch with a man they believe saw John Graham's daughter last. Somebody knows what happened to Hannah. We don't know who that is, but somebody knows what happened to Hannah. We don't know who that is, but somebody knows what happened to Hannah. What do we know? We know Hannah was downtown early Saturday morning. We know Hannah was distinctively dressed. Did you see Hannah? Did anybody see Hannah?
Starting point is 00:11:38 Did you see Hannah? Did you see Hannah? Who saw Hannah? Somebody did. Please, please, please, if you have anything, however insignificant you think it may be, call the police tip line with anything that just might help us to bring Hannah home. Tuesday, September 23rd, 10 days after Hannah Graham disappeared, police were following up on hundreds of tips they were getting, organizing new searches for the missing teen, waiting for lab results, and interviewing anyone who knew Jessie Matthew. At least publicly, police were still holding out hope that she was still alive,
Starting point is 00:12:20 and social media were filled with hashtag Bring Hannah Home. and social media were filled with hashtag Bring Hannah Home. But the case was about to take a series of abrupt turns. Tomorrow on the CBS News 48 Hours podcast, The Hannah Graham Story. And join us on Saturday, September 26th at 9 p.m. Eastern on the CBS television network for the special two-hour season premiere of 48 Hours on the Hannah Graham case. A look into her disappearance and the apparent connection with other unsolved attacks on young women. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey.
Starting point is 00:13:15 As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, wherever you get your podcasts. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals.
Starting point is 00:13:55 However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop.

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