Police in Missing UVA Student Case Search Rural Area Where Remains Found

Jesse Matthew charged in disappearance of Hannah Graham.

ByABC News
October 19, 2014, 2:55 PM

— -- Police investigating the disappearance of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham searched a wooded and sparsely populated area a day after human remains were found there.

Forensic teams today searched along a road in southern Albemarle County, Virginia, that runs near the vacant home where the remains were discovered. Investigators also interviewed residents in the area.

A team of searchers on Saturday found a skull, bones and a pair of tight, dark-colored pants in a dried-up creek bed behind the home. The pants are similar to a pair Graham, 18, was wearing the night she disappeared.

According to Lt. Carver of the Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Department, a vertebrate bone found among the remains matched the length of a tall person's body. Graham was 5 feet and 11 inches tall.

PHOTO: Police block the road leading to the scene of a death investigation in connection with the disappearance of University of Virginia student Hanna Graham in Albermarle County, Va., Oct. 18, 2014.
Police block the road leading to the scene of a death investigation in connection with the disappearance of University of Virginia student Hanna Graham in Albermarle County, Va., Oct. 18, 2014.

Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo said that forensic testing would be done and the remains transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond.

The remains have not yet been identified.

Graham disappeared on September 13 and was last seen with Matthew at a bar near the University of Virginia campus, according to police. He was arrested in September and charged with abduction with the intent to defile, or sexually assault, Graham. He is being held without bond.

"It is my understanding that the remains found on the abandoned property in southern Albemarle County have been sent to the medical examiner for positive identification," Jim Camblos, Matthew's attorney, said in a statement Sunday.

Police are asking anyone who may have seen Matthew or any suspicious activity in the area to come forward.

PHOTO: This undated photo provided by the City of Charlottesville, Va., Sept. 26, 2014 shows Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. Matthew, 32, is suspect in the Sept. 13, 2014 disappearance of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham.
This undated photo provided by the City of Charlottesville, Va., Sept. 26, 2014 shows Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. Matthew, 32, is suspect in the Sept. 13, 2014 disappearance of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham.