WASHINGTON – As many as five women have gone missing in the Charlottesville area during the past several years but a criminologist says that’s not unusual for a college town.
Don Smith with Old Dominion University calls the women’s disappearances a troubling pattern but says it is not uncommon for women to go missing from college towns across the country.
He calls college students a vulnerable population. Students are typically young and living away from home for the first time. They may drink or make poor decisions, Smith says.
And criminals can take advantage of such young women and often kill them, he says.
Police have said they don’t think that Hannah Graham’s disappearance is linked to any other cases.
The mother of one of those cases joined searchers during the weekend. Gil Harrington’s daughter Morgan disappeared in 2009 after attending a concert at the University of Virginia. Her remains were found in 2010 at an Albemarle County farm.
Still missing are then- nineteen-year-old Samantha Ann Clarke, who vanished after leaving her Orange County town house in September 2010, and DaShad Laquinn Smith, who was also 19 and disappeared in Charlottesville in November 2012, according to the Associated Press.
Alexis Murphy, 17 of Nelson County, was last seen at a gas station in Lovingston in 2013. She has never been found. Randy Allen Taylor has been tried and convicted for her murder.
Almost a thousand volunteers fanned out across Charlottesville to search for Graham, who was last seen in the early morning hours of Sept. 13. Trained search and rescue teams will resume their efforts Monday.
WTOP’s Nick Iannelli contributed to this report. Follow @WTOP on Twitter and on Facebook.
