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Forensic evidence at center in missing U.Va. student case, possible link to earlier killing

Associated Press
Published | Updated

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Virginia State Police, missing Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, 20, of Roanoke County, Va., is shown. Police say the investigation into the case of missing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham has turned up a lead in Harrington's 2009 disappearance and death. (AP Photo/Virginia State Police, File) (The Associated Press)

This image provided by the FBI shows sketch composites of a suspect wanted in the death of 20-year-old Morgan Harrington, who vanished while attending a rock concert at University of Virginia in 2009. They both were walking alone, separated from their friends late at night, on or near the University of Virginia campus. One was found dead nearly five years ago. The other is still missing. Now police say there's a link between the 2009 slaying of Morgan Harrington and the Sept. 13 disappearance of Hannah Graham: Forensic evidence found as a result of the arrest of Jesse L. Matthew Jr., who fled the state after being questioned by police in the Graham case. Matthew, 32, was arrested on a beach near Galveston, Texas, last week and brought back to Virginia on a charge of abduction with intent to defile _ or sexually molest _ the 18-year-old sophomore from northern Virginia. If convicted, he could face up to life in prison. His bond hearing is set for Thursday. (AP Photo/FBI) (The Associated Press)

Morgan Harrington's parents were so convinced that a serial offender was responsible for her 2009 killing, they started a nonprofit foundation aimed at protecting other young women.

Five years later, the Harringtons are reacting with both sadness and relief to the news that police have found a "forensic link" to their 20-year-old daughter's unsolved homicide with the arrest of a man in the recent disappearance of a University of Virginia student.

But Morgan Harrington's father, Dan Harrington, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the priority for authorities should be to find missing 18-year-old U.Va. student Hannah Graham, who disappeared on Sept. 13.

The suspect in Graham's disappearance, 32-year-old Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr., is scheduled for a bond hearing Thursday in Virginia.