VA - Hannah Elizabeth Graham, 18, Charlottesville, 13 Sept 2014 - #6

[Jmm124567]

OMG! I've been on this site for the past 5 days . . . . . and just the name of the POI released. I know him! He coaches my sons football team! I cannot believe I did not recognize him from the video. I think I just did not even associate him with the potential to commit a crime! He is the nicest, caring, Christian man . . . . . Always helping the boys, encouraging them, as a volunteer.

He cannot be guilty! I need to confirm, but I think he was at football practice the Saturday morning after the incident. I really don't think he is guilty!

Yup apparently he went to Liberty University which is a Christian University founded by Jerry Falwell and he also played football there. Also him working at the UVA medical center could be a sign that he is a caring person who likes to help people. But on the other hand why is he out walking alone at 1am then picks up a girl and apparently buys her drinks. Didn't Longo say in the press conference that this guy has been in trouble with the police before?

 

[SwampMama]

JM's life could well be on the line as well, if he is framed. VA is a death penalty state. When posters say "race has nothing to do with it" they are not thinking from HIS point of view. If you want to speculate about what he may be thinking or why he wouldn't come forward, it's important to factor race in. He could very well be torn up inside that a girl he was with has gone missing, but for him to step forward and talk could endanger his own life if he is innocent and wrongly convicted due to circumstantial evidence. Unfortunately the reality in this country is that black men are wrongly convicted and are over-represented in cases like those found with the innocence project. JMO I still hope he talks with his lawyer and if he is innocent video surveillance will corroborate his story.

Death penalty? But for what crime? There is no body, simply a girl who is missing. It is exceedingly hard for LE to charge anyone with murder or a crime when there is no body, no evidence of foul play, no blood, etc. Has there been a crime proven yet?

Even if/when she is found, why would he think there would be enough evidence to convict him. She could be found alive, found states away, years from now or with if she has been killed his DNA wouldn't be on her if he is innocent.

I'm not saying no one has never been suspected, charged or convicted of a crime they did not do. But overwhelmingly LE is not out to target a certain race or a certain person - they are out there to get the one who did the crime. There isn't even a crime that we know of yet! This is not a case about trying to get JLM, it is about finding Hannah and what happened to her.

I have no reason to want JLM behind bars if he is innocent. I want to find Hannah. I would be happy if JLM could tell us anything to help us believe him. Give us something to work with to help prove him innocent. WS is not a witch hunt site. You see us debating back and forth on who we believe did what. Even now you can see JLM's point of view. You see others still eyeing up WG as a potential suspect.

We are not here to convict JLM. We are here to find Hannah. Please Hannah, come home safely and make your parents dreams come true. That is my prayer. I hope that is the prayer that JLM has tonight as well if he is innocent. If he is guilty and knows something that we don't, well then I imagine his prayer is a very different one tonight.

 

[ollibear]

From the Liberty University 2002 Football Roster. I think this is him. He appears on the 2000, 2001 and 2002 rosters each time listing his class as freshman. I think he was redshirted.


http://www.liberty.edu/flames/index.cfm?PID=10872&TeamID=9&RosterID=5856

For those considering the possibility that JM is connected to the Morgan Harrington case, sports teams for the Liberty Flames play the George Mason Patriots in Fairfax quite often.

Could JM have been visiting Fairfax for a game in 2005, when that sexual assault occurred in the City of Fairfax? The sketch drawn afterwards was later linked by forensic evidence to Harrington.

 

[Claudia]

Thank you otto!

 

[absentia]

So do we know if they have any OTHER persons of interest? maybe someone who works at that bar? i remember a case a while back where a bouncer had raped (I hate that word) a young lady..

I hate that word too. sexual assault is more accurate.

 

[leilarose68]

Yup apparently he went to Liberty University which is a Christian University founded by Jerry Falwell and he also played football there. Also him working at the UVA medical center could be a sign that he is a caring person who likes to help people. But on the other hand why is he out walking alone at 1am then picks up a girl and apparently buys her drinks. Didn't Longo say in the press conference that this guy has been in trouble with the police before?

LE said he has had police contact. it could be as innocent as a parking ticket or getting caught drinking booze outside, or being asked to turn his music down

 

[BloodshotEye]

JM's life could well be on the line as well, if he is framed. VA is a death penalty state. When posters say "race has nothing to do with it" they are not thinking from HIS point of view. If you want to speculate about what he may be thinking or why he wouldn't come forward, it's important to factor race in. He could very well be torn up inside that a girl he was with has gone missing, but for him to step forward and talk could endanger his own life if he is innocent and wrongly convicted due to circumstantial evidence. Unfortunately the reality in this country is that black men are wrongly convicted and are over-represented in cases like those found with the innocence project. JMO I still hope he talks with his lawyer and if he is innocent video surveillance will corroborate his story.

Agreed.
And If JLM was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time, and yet 'all they've got' right now, and they're leaning very hard on him - I can't imagine what that would be like. It would be shocking - as in, 'I am a dead man walking. Who is going to believe that we parted ways, after she got her self together, and headed home on foot?'. If JLM is innocent, the damage may well indeed, be done. That is a small town. Suspicion dogs someone - seemingly forever. Don't even get me started about the quality of legal representation available for someone with very little means to pay. Hoping that if there is evidence to support an arrest, that it is by-the-book, rock solid. And not some weasely circumstantial crap that is fluffed up by an ambitious DA.

http://www.innocenceproject.org/

 

[cluciano63]

Link that he has a lawyer?
Link that he gave her alcohol?

 

[Claudia]

My original thought that I posted earlier was perhaps he removed his license plate, which prompted a neighbor to alert authorities. I know, I am grasping here.

Aren't we all?!

 

[colette]

Maybe strands of long hair like Hannah's could have been seen in the car.

 

[Evie Ivy Over]

There is a reality though in many communities. In my small town, the public wants a crime to be solved and several times the police try to pin it on someone who ends up not being guilty and many times it takes years to get to the real truth. Plus if you follow the justice project and other programs like that - innocent people get charged and convicted all the time. Why cast suspicion on yourself. Plus if there is a warrant out for your arrest - even for parking tickets - or child support - why would you hang around the police?

....Or if you bought liquor for a minor? Wouldn't that give LE a reason to pull him in?

 

[zapped]

LE often isn't moral or ethical, which is why people don't come forward.

I dunno if I would agree with your characterization of "often" in regards to police officers not being ethical or moral. Sometimes, perhaps.

But at the end of the day I still trust them more than the criminals.

You do realize they are the good guys right?

 

[absentia]

Someone earlier posted that the last message was something to the effect of I'm going to a party, but I'm lost, so I doubt someone finding the phone would write that.

the text did not say she was going to a party. just "lost at 14th and Wertland".

 

[thinksalot]

I'm amazed that JM was able to pass up the WG and catch up to the fast walking HG before Tuel's Jewelers. Sal's and Tuel's are about 200 feet apart, a 1 minute walk. JM started to walk a little faster at the end of the video from Sal's but not fast enough to catch HG before Tuel's. JM either started running or shouted out to HG to get her to stop walking. I also wonder what made the WG think HG was in distress? Based on the video from Sal's the WG was walking I would guess 70-100 feet in front of HG before he stopped to let HG pass.

I wish we had audio. I think that might help a lot. I am wondering if that group of guys behind Hannah were yelling at her and so attracting attention to her and also making WG and POI aware of her too. If that is the case, it then would make WG's actions much less suspicious and explain why POI turned around and began going in her direction before she is even in his area.

 

[otto]

Could be he WAS going to the party with HG...and he did buy take-out drinks from Tempo. Maybe that's the evidence in his car--one for him, one for her? She couldn't find the party, he dropped her off, and after that...........

Should be straight forward ... he can tell police where she was dropped off, and they can pursue video surveillance from that point forward.

 

[sonicfanaticsmommy]

Yet again I come back and I'm 10+ pages behind! As far as people asking about POI's whereabouts in 2005, my friend says he has always lived down in the Cville area, which is 2.5 hours from Fairfax. She does not know of any reason he would have/has now to be up here. So, take that as you will.

Also, mods, I know you like to verify "inside" info, so please let me know if you need anything from me for that purpose!

 

[leilarose68]

LE released the name, and major news outlets have published it. Therefore, it can be posted here. However, initials and/or POI are preferable since he has not been charged.

yeah. it's just that being named a POI ruins more lives than it helps cases. someone posted a really good article about it earlier.

 

[sonicfanaticsmommy]

^re him "being up here" I am in the Fairfax area, just to clarify!

 

[otto]

Someone earlier posted that the last message was something to the effect of I'm going to a party, but I'm lost, so I doubt someone finding the phone would write that.

"What police know about the hours before Hannah Graham disappeared from Charlottesville, Va., near the University of Virginia campus, come mostly from businesses' surveillance cameras. A map locates the places in this timeline.

Sept. 12

2. 9:30 p.m. ET. Graham is captured on Camden Plaza Apartments surveillance video in a hallway a few blocks away from the GrandMarc apartments (1) where she lives.

2. 11:50 p.m. Graham's friends meet her at Camden Plaza Apartments on 14th Street Northwest. It is the last time they see her.

Sept. 13

3. 12:46 a.m. Graham is captured on surveillance video at McGrady's Pub on Grady Avenue. Police say she was having a conversation with a man and appeared drunk.

4. 1 a.m. Graham is captured on surveillance video at a Shell gas station on Preston Avenue across railroad tracks from her apartment and the UVa. campus. She's seen running then walking.

5. 1:06 a.m. Graham is captured on surveillance video at Sal's Pizza on East Main Street. A white man walks into the camera's view, looks over his shoulder then steps into a doorway. Graham walks past him and then he starts walking behind her. He later came to police and told them he was following Graham because she seemed distressed and he wanted to make sure she was safe.

6. 1:08 a.m. Graham is captured on surveillance video at Tuel's Jewelers on East Main Street. The video shows the man walking some distance behind her.

7. After 1:08 a.m. Graham and a man with dreadlocks enter Tempo Restaurant & Bar on Fifth Street Southeast. He buys alcohol, they stay 15 minutes and leave together.

• 1:20 a.m. Graham texts friends, "I'm coming to a party...but I'm lost." It was the last time she had contact with anyone. If her phone pinpointed her location, police have not released the information, and police did not clarify whether the text was sent before or after leaving the bar.

On Sept. 19, police receive a warrant to search a car and condo (8) about 3 miles northwest from where Graham was last seen."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/19/missing-virginia-student/15890571/

 

[Claudia]

Yup apparently he went to Liberty University which is a Christian University founded by Jerry Falwell and he also played football there. Also him working at the UVA medical center could be a sign that he is a caring person who likes to help people. But on the other hand why is he out walking alone at 1am then picks up a girl and apparently buys her drinks. Didn't Longo say in the press conference that this guy has been in trouble with the police before?

I don't think it's been confirmed that he bought her drinks, just that he bought alcohol. We don't know if it was just for him or for both.

Eta.... his record has minor infractions like not displaying license plate and other vehicle related charges.