Saturday, October 31, 2009
Additional specifics on missing Virginia Tech student confirmed
State police said a scrape on Morgan Harrington's face was likely from a fall, not an assault.
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Matt Chittum | The Roanoke Times
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Missing Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington sustained a facial injury before she vanished from an Oct. 17 concert in Charlottesville, Virginia State Police confirmed Friday.
State police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said investigators didn't disclose the fact earlier because the injury was consistent with what a person would sustain after falling and doesn't appear to be related to her disappearance.
"Many of those we've spoken to during the course of this investigation recalled seeing a minor scrape or cut on the face of the young woman they saw fitting Miss Harrington's description," Geller said. "This injury would be consistent with a slip or fall. In no way would such a minor abrasion be associated with an assault."
Police decided to disclose the injury after reporters began inquiring about it.
Harrington, 20, vanished Oct. 17 while attending a Metallica concert with friends at the John Paul Jones Arena. Her friends told investigators she left them sometime that night to go to a restroom and wound up outside the arena -- after 8:20 p.m. -- where she was barred from re-entering. Harrington called her friends to say she would try to find another way home, according to authorities.
At a Wednesday news conference in Charlottesville, state police lead investigator Lt. Joe Rader said Harrington was last seen between 9:20 and 9:30 p.m. south of the arena, walking on the Copeley Road bridge, which stretches over railroad tracks just north of the well-traveled Ivy Road.
Harrington's purse and cellphone were found the next day between the arena and the Lannigan Field track. Harrington, who has blue eyes and blond hair, stands 5-foot-6 and weighs 120 pounds. She was last seen wearing a black miniskirt, a black T-shirt with the name of metal band Pantera across the front, black tights and black knee-high boots.
State police have set up a tip line at (434) 352-3467, and a $100,000 reward has been established for information leading to Harrington's return or the conviction of those responsible for her disappearance.
