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The night Jesse Matthew met and killed Hannah Graham

Neal Augenstein | naugenstein@wtop.com

March 3, 2016, 7:03 AM

Jesse Matthew opened tabs at several Charlottesville bars the night he met Hannah Graham (WTOP/Neal Augenstein)
Jesse Matthew opened a tab at 11:18 p.m. at Rapture, 303 E. Main Street, on Friday, Sept. 12, 2014, about two hours before he observed Hannah Graham walking on the Charlottesville Downtown Mall. Matthew bought three house rums. (WTOP/Neal Augenstein)
WTOP/Neal Augenstein
Shortly after 11:30 p.m., at the Blue Light Grill & Raw Bar (which is now out of business), at 120 E. Main Street, Jesse Matthew ordered two drinks. Matthew met and started talking with two women, when he “easily and without warning picked both women up at the same time without their consent by cradling them underneath their buttocks, making them feel uncomfortable,” according to court documents. While holding them in the air, he danced side to side, as the women tried to push him away. The women left Blue Light.  (WTOP/Neal Augenstein)
WTOP/Neal Augenstein
A few minutes after leaving Blue Light, the two women again saw Jesse Matthew at Tempo, at 117 5th Street. One woman said after taking off her boots because her feet hurt, Matthew grabbed her leg, took off her sock, and touched her foot. Matthew told her “A woman that takes care of her feet takes care of everything else.” When Matthew grabbed the other woman’s leg, they left Tempo.  (WTOP/Neal Augenstein)
WTOP/Neal Augenstein
Jesse Matthew returned to Rapture, where he bought another drink. He grabbed the buttocks of a former acquaintance without her consent. As she hid behind a person standing nearby, Matthew tried to grab her again. After being confronted about his behavior, Matthew closed out his tab at 1:03, three minutes before he first observed Hannah Graham.  (WTOP/Neal Augenstein)
WTOP/Neal Augenstein
At 1:06 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014, surveillance video at Sal’s Caffe Italia, 221 E. Main Street, captured Jesse Matthew walking westbound on the mall. He held up his hand to offer a “high five” to two women — one returned the gesture, the other did not. As Hannah Graham walked eastbound, alone and impaired, Matthew crossed the mall and walked behind her. Within a minute, Matthew had his arm around Graham. One of the women who’d been offered the “high five” told Matthew “You don’t even know her,” to which Matthew replied: “Hush.”  (WTOP/Neal Augenstein)
WTOP/Neal Augenstein
The two female witnesses followed Hannah Graham and Jesse Matthew back to Tempo, where Matthew ordered two drinks, one for himself and one for Graham. One of the witnesses asked Matthew to buy her a drink, but he refused. The witnesses noticed Graham’s pink cell phone case in her back pocket. As Graham and Matthew left Tempo, one witness said to the other, “He’s gonna f*** her up.”  (WTOP/Neal Augenstein)
WTOP/Neal Augenstein
At 1:18 a.m., after leaving Tempo, Hannah Graham and Jesse Matthew walked north on 4th Street, captured by surveillance video at Red Pump Kitchen, 401 E. Main Street. As they left the view of the video camera, Matthew paused for about 10 seconds, as indicated by his shadow. It's unclear whether Graham also stopped. (WTOP/Neal Augenstein)
At 1:18 a.m., after leaving Tempo, Hannah Graham and Jesse Matthew walked north on 4th Street, captured by surveillance video at Red Pump Kitchen, 401 E. Main Street. As they left the view of the video camera, Matthew paused for about 10 seconds, as indicated by his shadow. It’s unclear whether Graham also stopped.  (WTOP/Neal Augenstein)
WTOP/Neal Augenstein
At approximately 1:20 a.m., on Sept. 13, a male witness saw Hannah Graham standing next to Jesse Matthew’s orange 1998 Chrysler Sebring at this parking spot on 4th Street, at the corner of E. Market. Matthew unlocked the passenger door. The witness heard Graham say “I’m not getting in that car with you! What is it, stolen?” The witness kept walking up 4th, looking back twice as he listened, but didn’t see Graham get into Matthew’s car. Less than two minutes later he drove past 4th, but did not see Matthew or Graham. Hannah Graham was never again seen alive.  (WTOP/Neal Augenstein)
WTOP/Neal Augenstein
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Jesse Matthew opened tabs at several Charlottesville bars the night he met Hannah Graham (WTOP/Neal Augenstein)
At 1:18 a.m., after leaving Tempo, Hannah Graham and Jesse Matthew walked north on 4th Street, captured by surveillance video at Red Pump Kitchen, 401 E. Main Street. As they left the view of the video camera, Matthew paused for about 10 seconds, as indicated by his shadow. It's unclear whether Graham also stopped. (WTOP/Neal Augenstein)

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Newly released court documents detail the movements and actions of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham and Jesse Matthew — who pleaded guilty Wednesday to murdering Graham and Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington — the evening the two met on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall.

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In the statement of facts, prosecutors and Matthew’s defense lawyers agree Matthew inappropriately touched and harassed several women in mall bars on Friday, Sept. 12, 2014, before he saw Graham walking alone on the mall shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday.

In a plea agreement, Matthew pleaded guilty to first degree murder and abduction with intent to kill in the 2009 death of Morgan Harrington, and the same charges in connection with Graham’s 2014 death.

Matthew was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences, added to the three life sentences he received for the 2005 rape and attempted murder of a woman in Fairfax, Virginia.

As part of the agreement, prosecutors agreed to not try Matthew for capital murder in Graham’s death, which could have resulted in the death penalty.

Neal Augenstein

Neal Augenstein has been a general assignment reporter with WTOP since 1997. He says he looks forward to coming to work every day, even though that means waking up at 3:30 a.m.

naugenstein@wtop.com

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