A few years back a Virginia Tech student disappeared in C-Ville and was found dead in a field. Wonder how this one will end. Apparently this is the 4th mysterious disappearance in as many years. My wife grew up there, I lived there for a short period, and my mother in law lives there now. Weird how such a town like this reacts to such events. Must be a real shock to the system. Always wondered if there was something more to harrington (VT Student). Never did find her, but police don’t like going the serial route until the body count is high and the links undeniable.
More than 4. It is a bit unnerving.
Note, that would include neighboring counties. Double the number at least. You are not even counting the middle aged woman that disappeared at Carter’s mountain this year, but it didn’t make national press. Too old I guess.
Oh and there were two sex assaults on women the same night, probably unrelated.
I read a news article that “students were now walking in pairs at night” around campus. That seems to indicate that they were not walking in pairs at night before this girl disappeared.
Stupid kids.
I read a news article that “students were now walking in pairs at night” around campus. That seems to indicate that they were not walking in pairs at night before this girl disappeared.
Stupid kids.
^This. I have a young daughter, but one of my first lessons to her when she hits “that age” is to always travel with a friend you trust and can rely on. Teenagers and college students drink, we know that. It’s where you drink and who you drink with that makes a difference. If I was her father, my first question would be “where were her friends and how did she end up alone in this situation at that time of night?”
Crazy…
This is a town people didn’t lock their doors, so events like this shake them up.
Black folks usually do not show complexity characteristic of serial killers.
Who is to say he is the killer. So far he is only the last guy to have been with her. A serial killer doesn’t buy drinks for his victim in a highly public place. At this point, he is just another black guy who probably didn’t like where the conversation with police, he voluntarily entered in was going. My wife went to high school with him. He grew up among white people with white friends. Many black serial killers have in fact fit this same mold.
In my opinion, if these are the work of a serial, he is not the killer.
**Who is to say he is the killer. So far he is only the last guy to have been with her. A serial killer doesn’t buy drinks for his victim in a highly public place. At this point, he is just another black guy who probably didn’t like where the conversation with police, he voluntarily entered in was going. ** My wife went to high school with him. He grew up among white people with white friends. Many black serial killers have in fact fit this same mold.
In my opinion, if these are the work of a serial, he is not the killer.
This is entirely possible. You probably missed the case last year where there was a missing girl from over in the Valley. Guy was convicted based on trace evidence (he admitted he had met her and purportedly smoked some weed back at his place with her and a friend). First degree murder, body never found. So there is some precedent to being up on murder charges without any evidence of a murder. I could easily see this guy being scared s#$%tless. Also given the state of race relations here, and some numerous assault cases coming from a mostly black population in public housing, things aren’t as pretty in C’ville as many like to pretend it is.
There is probably a LOT of pressure coming from the university, as this would be the second case of a female student gone missing after drinking. Interesting when last year (maybe two), a black transgender teen disappeared from fairly near the same area, there was barely a peep from the police, and only marginal community support. But heaven help if UVa reputation takes a hit.
I lived at the corner and would often venture to the downtown mall or wild wings café in a drunken stuper. Usually exponentially worse on the walk back. But I’m a big guy who grew up in a rough area with some pretty rough people.
That route is along train tracks which the side of can be quite seedy. The parking lot mentioned where she might have gotten into a car is just yards from one of the worst parts of town (relatively speaking). Lets also not forget, the liberal policy on homeless and other degenerates, have them inhabiting underneath the overpass by the said wild wings café. All sorts of recipes for a bad thing to happen to a drunk, naïve coed.
I just find it odd so many young women disappearing in such a boring area. The route 29 corridor is Lynchburg, C-Ville and culpepper/gainesville. All points in between are usually one stoplight towns where everybody knows everybody. Not places that people just disappear without a trace, but places somebody could easily enter and leave uneventfully. Those are trucking routes.
Now charged with abduction with intent to defile. Presumably they have enough forensics from his car and apartment to move on this.
See this is where things get hairy and where his fleeing might be seen as reasonable. One report showed she voluntarily got in a car. Unless there is blood or semen in the car, how do you get beyond the fact she was simply in the car. Intent to defile? How do you prove that without video evidence or testimony by the victim.
I hope if this is the guy they have good evidence. But it is my experience that the powers that be in Charlottesville would rather sweep violence that occurs under the rug and close cases quickly to keep all the country clubbers and would be preppy’s feeling safe, only having to worry about the occasional date rape and not the crime that festers in some parts of town.
Who am I bullshitting, I’m still hoping we have a serial killer, everybody like a good serial killer story. And a serial killer killing college coeds and high school girls is a lot more interesting than the average loser killing runaways and prostitutes.
Who am I bullshitting, I’m still hoping we have a serial killer, everybody like a good serial killer story. And a serial killer killing college coeds and high school girls is a lot more interesting than the average loser killing runaways and prostitutes.
Not for those of us who still live there.
It is a terrible situation, but I can’t figure out what confluence of factors makes any given case turn into a national story because this sort of things happens somewhere nearly every week in America or other industrialized nations. I don’t see any reason to think the local police are handling the situation badly.
I went missing for a week in Charlottesville once or twice. Never did charge the guy. Goes by the name Jose Cuervo.
The reason it makes national news is because c-ville work so hard to make it out like the Truman show there. Trying to control everything g so that the country Clubbers and preps feel oh so sweet in their beds. This is the picture they paint so they make the top ten aces to live every year. So of course it gets seized on.
When I lived there, there was a serial rapist trolling JPA. They never caught him. Yet he just went away and police declared the city safe. Serial rapist don’t go away. They did, move, get arrested for something else or progress to more violent crimes like serial murder. I always wondered if there was a link between the earlier disappearances. Nothing wrong with a little fear to remind society of reality.
It’s just a regular town and like most of them, it thinks it is special in some sort of way that seems naive and charming from the outside. Some place in the Dakotas boasts of having the biggest ball of twine or something like it and Charlottesville isn’t much different. There are a handful of people who really drum it up and are dry humping the leg of Thomas Jefferson still, but most people are just living life in a midsize city and there isn’t that much that rarefied about it.
Every town hates bad news about itself and tries to control the narrative a bit. So there was a serial rapist some years ago who didn’t get caught. Once the police ran out of leads, what should they have done? Get on TV every night to remind everyone that they still don’t have closure? Self flagellate themselves in some way? Lot’s of crimes go unsolved and if the books get closed as unsolved it doesn’t mean anything.
As for being one of those top ten places to live or whatever, most people I’ve talked to don’t much appreciate that label because it makes it really hard to get proper changes made here. How do you advocate for better transit design and to fix stuff if Forbes and the travel magazines all say that your town is lovely as-is? Whoever makes that list obviously doesn’t live here because the running gag is that Charlottesville offers northern Virginia cost of living with central Virginia wages. Nice place to retire after you “make it” but damn it is complicated otherwise.
The reason it makes national news is because c-ville work so hard to make it out like the Truman show there. Trying to control everything g so that the country Clubbers and preps feel oh so sweet in their beds. This is the picture they paint so they make the top ten aces to live every year. So of course it gets seized on.
You think this is unique to Charlottesville? I spent 4 of the best years of my life in Charlottesville and visit often, and I’ve also lived in probably 10-15 other towns and small/medium/large cities throughout the country. Charlottesville is no different in terms of trying to control perception than every other place I’ve lived.
I didn’t say it was unique. Just that when bad things happen in such towns they disproportionately get attention for things that happen all the time within two hours of the place.
Again, they denied the serial component until they couldn’t any longer. This is common. No I don’t expect them to keep dredging it up. I’m just not convinced he went away. Or he might have returned.
Arrested in Galveston, TX. Didn’t see that far afield coming.
He drove and kept going. Not looking good for Mr Matthews. I wonder what new evidence they have.