Police are calling for the public to “educate them” on the area where the remains of Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington were found.
In a briefing Thursday afternoon with reporters outside of the Virginia State Police Area Office in Charlottesville, Virginia State Police Lt. Joe Rader outlined details of a potential relationship between an assailant and the Anchorage Farm site where Harrington was found.
“You know what goes on there,” Rader said, referring to the local residents. “You know the history. You know who goes in and out of the vicinity.”
Rader also announced the creation of a new hotline dedicated to specific information about the Anchorage Farm location.
According to Rader, those responsible for the crime may have had a formal connection to the farm property. He said their past experiences led them to return to the area to leave Harrington’s body.
“The person responsible for this felt it was the most important place to be in this high time of stress, and the reality is that’s where Morgan’s body was found,” Rader said.
Rader added that the decision to leave a body at the location would pose a significant risk to those without prior knowledge of the area, pointing out the property’s difficult terrain that featured fences and streams.
“You could not have just walked in there, without being able to negotiate things you’d be unfamiliar with,” Rader said.
Rader pointed out the challenges of moving a body to its final resting place, which sits a “considerable distance” from any major roadway including Route 29, a highway that borders the property.
“You’d have to be familiar with the layout,” Rader said.
He was confident that residents around the Anchorage Farm area could supply leads for the investigation.
Rader said no arrests had been made in the case, and that no determination had been made on the cause or time of Harrington’s death. Virginia State Police confirmed Wednesday that Harrington’s death was a homicide.
Harrington, a 20-year-old junior education major, went missing Oct. 17, 2009 while attending a Metallica concert at the University of Virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena, about 10 miles away from the southern Albemarle County property. She was last seen hitchhiking on the Copeley Road Bridge, less than a half a mile from the arena.
A mass service for Harrington will take place today at St. Andrews Catholic Church in Roanoke, Va., at 3:30 p.m. A reception at the Hotel Roanoke is scheduled after the service. The service is open to the general public.
Those with information about the Anchorage Farm location are asked to call the new Virginia State Police tip line at 434-709-1685. Individuals with information on the Morgan Harrington case are asked to call 434-352-3467.
A version of this article appeared in the Feb 5 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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If no determination has yet been made on the cause or time of death they why did they rule it an "official" homicide? I know it's extremely likely it was a homicide but doesn't the cause of death have to be known before it is deemed "official"?
For all we know she could have fled from someone or something and got lost out there and died by exposure. Very very unlikely but it can't be ruled out unless the cause of death is known. Just saying, unless they know her cause of death and are withholding that info. They have been very shut about this case the entire time.
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I happened upon these articles about M Harrington. I lived in C'ville during graduate school and feared being alone on the highways and outskirts when I drove alone routinely to visit my boyfriend who lived in Northern VA. One time, in Madison Co, I felt a man was following me during a rain storm and I was so scared. He got out of this car and offered me a ride. I SAID NO. At the time, a woman had gone missing and her killer was unknown (mid 90s). Sadly, as a college student at another university I drank too much and was lucky to survive some serious incidents of disorientation where I too could have been easily murdered. We need to do more to prevent young women from being taken and killed at vulnerable times like spring break, big concerts, school celebrations, etc. Friends HAVE to stick together and people who observed her alone and hurt SHOULD HAVE helped her. Shame of the passive observers and to hell with her killer.
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The friends were incapable of helping her, either because they were deafened by the racket of the music at the concert or because they are members of the first generation to be entirely conditioned by the internet and text messaging as to how to react emotionally. By that, I mean, they lack empathy - everything is a 15 second "feeling" followed by a transition to something/someone completely different.
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