The Teddy Bear Murder Tapes | The Case of Hannah, Morgan & the Secret Survivor | UNSEEN

I'm Harvey Guillen and this is Killer Stories. Every Monday I'm cutting the lights and telling you a bedtime story. Except these stories are all real. We're talking brazen heists, devastating cons, serial murders, and cases that defy tidy categories. So join me for new episodes of Killer Stories with Harvey Guillen every Monday. Pay attention to this footage. It shows what happened before this girl was kidnapped. 18-year-old Hannah Graham has just left a college party. It's after midnight, and she's still relatively new in town. She makes her way home alone. A few blocks away, Hannah is seen picking up her pace. What she doesn't know yet is that she's heading even farther in the wrong direction. Ten minutes later, Hannah reappears in the downtown mall area. By now, she seems to realize she's completely lost. Everyone around her seems drunk, and she's not sure where to turn. She starts to panic, which draws the attention of several drunk men nearby. At 1:20 a.m., Hannah sends a message to her friends asking for help, but then she suddenly stops responding. Minutes later, surveillance footage captures something far more unsettling. Beside her is a man with his arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders. He appears to be forcing her down the street, and no other cameras show what happened next. Hannah Graham is never seen again. But the footage reveals the same man just moments earlier, walking in the opposite direction. Suddenly, he turns around and begins following Hannah. Police identify the man as Jesse Matthew and immediately see him as the prime suspect until he does something they don't expect. He goes to the police station voluntarily. Just a few hours later, Jesse Matthew walks free. Weeks later, 18-year-old Hannah Graham is found dead in a remote field, and police have no way of proving who's responsible for her murder. But one mother believes she knows the answer. Her own daughter was murdered five years before Hannah disappeared, and she's convinced the same man is behind a string of killings across Virginia. She will stop at nothing to prove it and uncover the horrifying truth behind a series of gruesome murders. I have to stop him before he can get to the next girl. October 17, 2009. Jill Harrington helps her 20-year-old daughter Morgan get ready for a night she's been looking forward to for months. Morgan is heading to Charlottesville, Virginia with some friends to see one of her favorite bands, Metallica. Morgan was ready to go and got in her car and said, "241 Mama means I love you too much forever and once beyond forever." That's kind of our family lingo of "I love you." For the first part of the night, she goes exactly as planned. Morgan enjoys a concert with her friends inside the packed arena. But sometime during the show, something goes wrong. Morgan falls and hits her head. Feeling unwell, she steps outside to get some air but leaves her ticket behind. And once she's outside, security won't let her back in. Locked out and separated from her friends, Morgan decides to find her own way home and walks away from the arena alone into the darkness. I went to church in the morning and as the morning progressed, I was waiting for Morgan to come home because we were going to balance her checkbook. And I get this call from the University of Virginia police who say that they have found Morgan's purse in a parking lot. That moment I knew something terrible had happened. I was thinking, "Has she fallen? Is she hurt somewhere?" Still in shock, Jill and her husband rushed to the police station to report Morgan missing. By the time they go to leave, news crews have already gathered outside. Police offer to let them go out through the back to avoid the cameras. But Jill refuses. If speaking publicly can help bring Morgan home, she wants everyone to see her face. So, instead of hiding from the cameras, Jill and her husband walk straight toward them and begin spreading the word about their daughter's disappearance. We miss our little baby. She is our precious daughter. And we hope that this attention can help bring her back to our home. The community responds. Volunteers conduct extensive searches. Flyers spread across Charlottesville. Even the band Metallica gets involved to help find Morgan. Any information, no matter how small you might think it is, could be that crucial piece investigators need to help solve the case. But as the days turn into weeks, there is still no sign of Morgan. Then, investigators get a disturbing new lead. A black metal band t-shirt with Pantera written on it. The same one Morgan was wearing the night she disappeared. Is found near a row of apartments in Charlottesville. For Jill, this discovery is deeply concerning and only raises more questions about what really happened to her daughter on that night. And still, no one knows where Morgan is. January 26, 2010. Morgan has now been missing for 101 days. Outside Charlottesville, a farmer is checking a remote section of his property when, in the middle of an isolated field, he makes a disturbing discovery. Soon after, Jill receives a call and her worst fear is confirmed. The body of her daughter has been found. The helicopters from Richmond, from the state police headquarters, came and picked us up and took us to the site. We did not land, but we were able to see sort of where Morgan's body was, which was very isolated. Nothing could have prepared Jill for this moment. She learns Morgan is dead. After months of waiting and hoping, the heartbreak is over. The heartbreak is unfathomable. All Jill can do is take solace in the fact that at least her daughter has been found and Morgan can finally be at peace. It was miraculous that she had been found. It was such a big place and she was such a small girl. I really believe that Morgan wanted to be found. As they begin Morgan's autopsy, her injuries reveal what happened in her last moments. Several bones are fractured and her teeth have been knocked out. But as they review all the evidence, including the Pantera T-shirt, detectives discover that the killer left something behind. Morgan fought so hard that she hurt him too. Badly enough that there was enough blood to create a DNA profile of the killer. There's just one problem. Without an identified sample to compare the DNA profile to, they still have no idea who the attacker is. It doesn't match anyone already in their system. However, it does match a sample from an unsolved case from four years earlier. The killer was found 100 miles away in Fairfax, Virginia, where a young woman was abducted and assaulted. He almost killed her. He was interrupted in the assault by a passerby. And that probably is the only reason that she survived. Now, police know they aren't looking at one isolated attack, but the unidentified killer is still roaming free. They have the man's DNA and a sketch of his likeness created by the surviving woman. But without any more leads to go off of, there's not much more progress to be made. Jill won't let anyone forget about Morgan and won't stop fighting, keeping a close eye on other disappearances and unsolved cases. Instead of letting grief consume her, Jill lets her pain fuel a new mission. I just wanted to stop him. That was a huge motivator because there was inevitably going to be another victim if he wasn't stopped. Five years later, Jill has turned Morgan's tragic death into something that she hopes will prevent other young women from suffering the same fate. She starts a movement called Help Save the Next Girl, working with high schools and colleges across Virginia, teaching young women how to recognize predatory danger and how to keep themselves safe. She also dedicates much of her time to helping families with missing loved ones. But Jill still carries an intense fear for everyone she helps to protect, because all these years later, Morgan's killer still hasn't been caught, and it's only a matter of time before he chooses a new target. Then one day, Jill is watching the news when she sees the story of 18-year-old Hannah Graham, who also disappeared after a night out in downtown Charlottesville. The story is all too familiar. She can't help but think that the same person who murdered her daughter and attacked another woman five years earlier has struck again. The FBI now joining the search for missing Hannah Graham. The search for Hannah Graham quickly grows into one of the largest operations Virginia has seen since Morgan's disappearance. And if they don't move quickly, they fear history will repeat itself. This press conference and every press conference hereafter is about one thing and one thing only, and that is finding Hannah. While detectives retrace Hannah's final hours through surveillance cameras across the city, her family pleads with the public to help find their daughter. For Jill, watching Hannah's parents go through the same awful experience she went through with Morgan is painful. Somebody listening to me today either knows where Hannah is or knows someone who has that information. We appeal to you to come forward and tell us where Hannah can be found. Five years earlier, she was in their place, speaking out publicly during one of the most vulnerable moments of her life in hopes that it might help bring her daughter home safely. This time though, things are different. Unlike Morgan's case, cops are able to trace Hannah's movements through Charlottesville the night she was kidnapped, camera by camera. It is then that they notice, a man lurking nearby. At first, he walks straight past Hannah, heading in the opposite direction. But suddenly, he turns around and begins following her. Then, another camera captures him, this time directly beside Hannah. He's closed the gap between them in seconds, his arms now wrapped around her neck. tightly around her as they exit the frame together. Hannah is never seen again. If the man in the footage is the same one who took Morgan, they need to move quickly. Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo leads the investigation. Very early on, as I recall, there was a member of our department who knew of him from high school and recognized him. So we knew pretty early on that the person in the image was Jesse Leeward Matthew. The man police identify hardly fits the image of someone the community would fear. Jesse Matthew is 32 years old, a former college football player who now works helping patients as an orderly at the local university hospital. Francis Lee Vandell was Matthew's landlady. We don't know a thing yet. We don't know a thing. Everything seemed to be going well for Jesse. He'd had a promotion at the hospital. People who've known him had called him Jesse Leeward. He was a great man. He was a great man. He was a great man. He called him a gentle giant. This is a guy who was working in Charlottesville with kids. He was a volunteer football coach. Around Charlottesville, people know him as a fun-loving and sociable guy. His friends and co-workers describe him as cheerful, trustworthy, and generally well-liked. He is someone who has spent years living a seemingly ordinary life and dedicated much of it to helping others. For Chief Longo, Jesse is the next piece of the puzzle. I began a very public conversation with Chief Longo. I told him that I wanted to speak to Jesse Matthew. I made that absolutely clear. We want to talk to Jesse Matthew. We want to talk to him. We want to talk about his interaction with a sweet young girl that we can't find. And as Chief Longo and his team prepare to bring Jesse in for questioning, he does something no one expects. He walks into the police station voluntarily. He seems willing to cooperate. Perhaps Jesse was just trying to help Hannah get home, doing what he was known for, helping others in need. But before he could do that, police have the opportunity to speak with him properly. He asks for a lawyer. And when his attorney arrives, Jesse is advised not to say anything. From that point on, he stays quiet. Police are left exactly where they started, with no further information about Hannah or Morgan. Shortly after Jesse walks into the police station, he is allowed to walk back out. There isn't enough to arrest him without further information. Chief Longo is stunned. This guy is a big teddy bear. He's fun. He's gregarious. He's social. He's lovable. He's not this guy. Then, the story hits the news. For the first time, Jill gets a clear look at the man police say was the last person seen with Hannah, Jesse Matthew. The man on TV bears a striking resemblance to the composite sketch made by the woman who survived the first attack years earlier, the same man whose DNA connects him to Morgan's murder. Jill and her husband, Jesse Matthew, are both in the police station. They are both in the police station. They tell them that the man who just walked out of the police station looks almost exactly like the one they have been searching for all these years. Chief Longo strongly agrees with Jill, yet he still doesn't have enough evidence to arrest Jesse. He orders his team to keep Jesse under surveillance. Officers immediately get on Jesse's tail, but it quickly becomes difficult. It becomes clear that Jesse knows he's being followed, and his driving becomes erratic and dangerous. Officers track his movements, through Charlottesville and into neighboring Albemarle County, but they can't keep him in sight. He even switches vehicles to try and throw the cops off his trail. Officers try to maintain surveillance, but it quickly becomes too dangerous to continue, with Jesse's erratic and reckless driving endangering other civilians. As cops search for his car, they're forced to finally admit the truth. Jesse is gone, and they have no idea where he's headed. But his erratic behavior confirms without a doubt that Jesse is hiding something. Jill and the cops were right when they first found out about Jesse's car. They're now looking for his car, and they're looking for Jesse. Within days, Jesse Matthews' face is everywhere. Police today put out a wanted poster for a man they're describing as the last person seen with missing University of Virginia sophomore Hannah Graham. I hope and pray that we might have an opportunity to talk Jesse Matthew again, because I think he can help us find Hannah Graham. Hank joined BJ's Wholesale Club the day he became a father of 30. I coach football. Now, Coach Hank saves up to 25% off grocery store prices, 30 pounds of pasta, three cases of protein bars, and a whole lot more. He's a man of his word. 75 sports drinks. And that's just pregame. He knows teamwork, and BJ's knows savings. This is your home, Coach. Home of the Save. Join for just $20 at bjs.com slash mesquite and save 10 cents per gallon for six months. Open soon. Limited time offer, new members only. BJ's Home of the Save. Police issue a warrant, and the FBI joins the search. Jesse could be anywhere, and if they can't catch him soon, he might even manage to flee the country. While police escalate their search into a no-brainer, they're able to find Jesse. Jesse is a man of his word. He's a nationwide manhunt. Hannah's parents are trapped in a much crueler kind of waiting. Their daughter is still missing, and as long as Hannah hasn't been found, they can still imagine her walking through the door. Jill knows exactly what that hope feels like. She lived inside it for 101 days with Morgan. Now she watches another family wake up every morning, hoping today will be the day their daughter comes home. Then, more than 1,300 miles away from Charlottesville, there's an emergency. A woman on a beach near Galveston, Texas, notices a man nearby and recognizes his face from the news. When her family sends her the wanted poster, she is stunned. This is the man they're looking for. She needs to remain calm. If he senses anything is off, her life could be in danger. They lock eyes, and for a moment, she's terrified, frozen on the spot. She calls the authorities right away. At first, when the woman tells them that she's just steps away from a Virginia, they don't believe her. But she argues back, insisting that she knows this is the man they're looking for. As the woman attempts to convince them to take her seriously, the man moves further down the beach, out of sight. Fortunately, an officer arrives in the nick of time. The witness was right, and Jesse Matthew is finally apprehended on Gilchrist Beach. In his car, they find evidence he was planning to flee to Mexico. There's now renewed hope that with Matthew in custody, they may be able to find Hannah before it's too late. But catching Jesse and proving what he's done are two very different things. After Jesse is brought back to Virginia, they begin by taking a DNA sample to see if it's a match to the DNA found on Morgan and the linked attack years earlier. As they await the results of the test, Chief Longo's investigators continue to build their case, and the more they dig into his past, the clearer it gets that Jesse is not who he says he is. He has carefully built his image as a fun-loving and generous man, but all of that has begun to change. Jesse is now a man who has begun to crack in the face of the mounting evidence investigators are piecing together. Years earlier, while attending college, Jesse had been accused of sexual assault at two different schools. Neither allegation led to a thorough investigation or any charges, and each time, Jesse was able to move on with his life. For years, he went to work, made friends, and played the part of a kind and trustworthy friend and colleague. No one around him seemed to realize there might be another, more sinister Jesse Matthew hiding underneath it all. Jill and her husband's suspicions are becoming more and more plausible. For the first time, investigators can compare him to the unidentified genetic profile that has been sitting in evidence for years. But before police can find out more, Chief Longo suddenly gets a phone call. "We received a call at the command post from some sheriff's deputies that they thought they had discovered human remains." Soon afterward, Hannah's parents received the news. The remains they found belonged to Hannah. "Detective Sergeant James Mooney of the Charlottesville Police Department made a very difficult phone call and reached out to John and Susan Graham to share with them this discovery." "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." Until that moment, Hannah's parents could still envision the woman their daughter would become, hopeful she would return. Now, they are left with 18 years of memories, and an entire lifetime Hannah will never get to live. They came to Charlottesville to bring their daughter home, and in the end, they still will, just not in the way any parent should ever have to. After everything Longo and his team have done to find Hannah alive, the truth is devastating. They were too late. Longo is crushed. For Jill, the news cuts just as deeply. She has stood beside Hannah's family, helped search for her, and spent years trying to prevent other families from ever having to go through this kind of tragedy. But now, the Harringtons and the Grahams are no longer fighting separate battles. Both families believe the same man is responsible for taking their daughters, and they are determined to make sure he never gets the chance to hurt anyone again. "I want to see what happens when evil intersects with justice." It's now June 8th, 2015. Jill and Dan Harrington enter the Albemarle County Courthouse. Only a few rows away, Hannah's parents take their seats. After years of fighting two separate cases, both families have finally arrived in the same courtroom to face the same man. Jesse Matthews sits quietly beside his lawyers. Until this morning, he has admitted to nothing about any of his victims, and his defense has plenty to work with. There are no witnesses to either Morgan's or Hannah's murder, but there is one person who holds the key to taking down one of the most dangerous men in Virginia. This is Jesse Matthews. Jesse Matthews is one of the most dangerous men in Virginia. He is one of the most dangerous men in Virginia. From the gallery, the victim's families watch as the courtroom doors open and a woman no one has seen before walks inside. She takes the stand, and it soon becomes clear who she is. The anonymous woman is revealed to be Jessie's very first victim, the one who survived the brutal attack in 2005. After the assault, she moved home to India, but has now traveled back halfway across the world to face the man who nearly killed her, surprising Jessie Matthew and his defense team, sitting only feet away from her. Up until now, they were counting on her being too scared to face him. As her trial proceeds, the courtroom finally hears her voice. She describes the entire horrific attack in excruciating detail. Then, a forensic expert reveals that the DNA retrieved from underneath her fingernail matches Jessie Matthew. The same unidentified profile is now connected to Morgan and Hannah's murder. Court adjourns for the day, and as Jessie walks out, he makes direct eye contact with Jill, and she, unintimidated, meets his gaze. As he came by, Dan and I could have been incinerated with his eye contact. Journalists meet them at the door to get an update. Jill tells them what she can, and also makes sure to thank the anonymous survivor for her bravery. I applaud her courage and determination in finding her justice in this court building today. She is the hero. I mean, she came back from far, far away. She didn't have to do it, but at the end of the day, this was something she had to do, for the next woman, and also for herself as a woman. And we're all just so proud of her. Faced with overwhelming evidence against him, Jessie Matthew returns within days to the courtroom and takes a plea deal. October 2nd, 2015, the day of the sentencing has come, and as the nation watches, they reveal the decision. Guilty to the first-degree murder of Hannah Graham. Guilty to the first-degree murder of Morgan Harrington. He will now spend the rest of his life behind bars. Morgan and Hannah's families can finally breathe. After years of fighting, they have finally gotten justice and taken a dangerous man off the streets. Today's events do not bring Hannah back to us, of course. We miss her every day, and know that many others do too. At times like this, one has to draw comfort where one can. They say it takes a village to raise a child. I know it takes one to bury a child. I ask all of you to continue. Continue to participate actively in your community. Together, we can help save the next girl. Jill realizes something else, that his crimes didn't shatter only the families of his victims. They forever changed his own family too. His family came up to me and his mom said, will you always pray for me? And I said, yes, I will, if you will always pray for me, Deborah. And we just hugged each other. To this day, Jill continues her work through, helping save the next girl. Carrying her daughter's story and the stories of other victims to Virginia lawmakers. Pushing for changes that could identify dangerous offenders before another family loses a loved one. We have changed, successfully lobbied for nine laws. Many of them involve protocols for DNA collection. She knows Morgan never got the chance to build the future she had planned. But now, her name is helping other young people build theirs. The most personal part of her life is helping other young people build theirs. The most personal part of Morgan's legacy begins thousands of miles away with a journey Jill and her daughter were supposed to make together. Morgan had dreamed of traveling to Zambia and working with children. So, a school is built in her name and now makes a difference in the lives of hundreds of children. With ashes, you can make cinder blocks, and with cinder blocks, you build. Morgan never made it to Zambia, but more students are being educated in the Morgan Harrington Educational Wing. And that is how we choose to neutralize evil. In spite of tragedy, two families gave their grief meaning, together proving that even when the odds feel impossible, perseverance and courage will always outlast fear, and justice can still find its way through the dark.