SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times

"I had to be here and look and feel if there was anything [of Morgan] here," said Gil Harrington (left), supported by her husband, Dan Harrington, while visiting the site where their daughter Morgan Harrington's remains were discovered a year ago.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- For the first time, Morgan Harrington's parents walked the hayfield Tuesday where a farmer discovered her skeletal remains one year ago today.

When they reached that secluded site on the 740-acre farm in Albemarle County, Gil Harrington buried her face in her husband's chest and wept.

Moments later, with Dan Harrington at her shoulder, she knelt at the spot that once cradled her daughter's bones and ran her hands through the dark soil and wheat-colored grass.

"I don't feel Morgan here," Gil Harrington said. "She's gone. I had to be here and look and feel if there was anything [of Morgan] here."

She added, "Evil happened here."

Morgan Harrington was 20 years old and a Virginia Tech student when she disappeared the night of Oct. 17, 2009, after leaving a rock concert before the main act and being barred from re-entry at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville.

State Police Special Agent Dino Cappuzzo said Morgan was last seen about 9:20 p.m. on the Copeley Road bridge with her thumb extended as though hitchhiking.

Cappuzzo and the Harringtons, who are residents of Roanoke County, led a small group of TV and newspaper reporters Tuesday on a walking tour of the key known events of Oct. 17, 2009.

When Gil Harrington's weeping began at the farm, all cameras swiveled in her direction. The Harringtons said Tuesday's media tour was emotionally grueling. But they emphasized that, if renewed coverage of the case leads to capturing the killer, the raw grief provoked will justify the pain.

Gil Harrington said she believes more than one person might have participated in the killing. Cappuzzo declined to say whether investigators share this view. His narrative throughout the day generally referenced a single killer who was male.

He confirmed that DNA analysis definitively links Morgan's case to a similar crime in Fairfax County in 2005. Police previously released a sketch of that suspect.

Cappuzzo said behavioral and geographical crime scene specialists have convinced authorities that Morgan's killer was familiar with the territory where her remains were found in a small clearing near a tree-lined creek.

"They did not feel they would be discovered in bringing her here," Cappuzzo said. "The location is not something a person unfamiliar with this area is likely to find on a whim."

He said the site could have been reached via different routes, with the nearest access point being about 100 yards from the place where Morgan's remains were found.

Cappuzzo declined to say whether police believe she was killed at the site or dumped there. He would not say whether tire tracks were detected at the scene. And he would not disclose the suspected cause of death or say whether the cause has been determined.

But Cappuzzo said investigators believe the man who abducted and killed Morgan is still "moving about" in the nearby Red Hill and North Garden sections of Albemarle County.

"I feel very confident this case will solve," he said.

He would not say whether police have a specific suspect in mind. But he added, "That person doesn't know it yet, but we're getting closer."

The disappearance

Three friends accompanied Morgan to the Metallica concert Oct. 17, 2009. They rode from Harrisonburg in Morgan's car and parked at the John Paul Jones Arena at the University of Virginia about 6:15 p.m., Cappuzzo said. He said a friend was the night's designated driver, which is why Morgan had no car keys later.

The women entered the arena and took their seats, he said. About 8:15 p.m., Morgan said she was going to the restroom. At some point, Cappuzzo said, witnesses saw Morgan fall as she walked through the arena's concourse. She might have bloodied her chin, he said, but refused help from people who witnessed her spill.

For some reason, he said, Morgan then exited the arena. She was warned she could not return without a ticket stub, Cappuzzo said. People outside the arena who encountered Morgan told police they believed "she was impaired in some way," he said.

"I can say that Morgan had been drinking alcohol that night, but I'm not going to say what degree of intoxication there was, in deference to the family and this investigation," Cappuzzo said.

At 8:48 p.m., one of Morgan's friends inside the arena called her cellphone to inquire about Morgan's whereabouts. Cappuzzo said Morgan described being barred from the concert and then said, essentially, "Don't worry about me. I'll find a ride."

Cappuzzo said Morgan joined a group of male students who were leaving the arena and heading toward their cars in a lot at Lannigan Field, a spot where UVa athletes often park. Morgan occasionally supported herself along the way by leaning against parked cars, he said. They soon reached the vicinity of Lannigan Field -- where Morgan's backpacklike purse, umbrella and cellphone were later found.

"She asked them for a ride, but, based on her behavior, they did not give her a ride," he said.

None is a suspect, Cappuzzo said.

Morgan then walked to the nearby Copeley Road bridge and apparently began hitchhiking. Authorities believe a vehicle stopped and that Morgan probably entered willingly, he said.

In drizzling rain, she wore a black miniskirt, black tights, knee-high black boots with high heels and a black T-shirt with "Pantera" written on the front.

"She has no coat, the weather is beginning to deteriorate. She doesn't have her phone," Cappuzzo said. "She's in a vulnerable and compromised position. The logical conclusion is that she got in a vehicle somewhere on Copeley Road between the bridge and the intersection with Ivy Road."

On Nov. 11, a college student found a T-shirt investigators have determined was Morgan's at the corner of Grady Avenue and 15th Street in Charlottesville -- an area in the opposite direction from which an abductor would have driven the 10 or 11 miles to the Anchorage Farm.

Cappuzzo said behavioral specialists recommended Tuesday's recap of Morgan's disappearance and death. Gil Harrington described the couple's feelings about finding those responsible.

"For Dan, it's personal," she said. "As a father and with a father's protective instincts, he wants punishment.

"For me, I feel punishment will be delivered, if not here then later. But I don't want anyone else to live through this. My child is dead, and nothing will bring her back. But I can't give up on the next girl."