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Bench warrant issued for Jesse Matthew in 2005 rape case

Jesse Matthew was named in a Fairfax County bench warrant to face charges over the 2005 rape that has been connected to Morgan Harrington's 2009 murder.

By Gabrielle Levy

FAIRFAX, Va., Oct. 23 (UPI) -- A Fairfax, Va., judge has issued a bench warrant for Hannah Graham suspect Jesse Matthew in connection with a 2005 rape.

Matthew, 32, was indicted Monday on three felony charges: attempted capital murder, abduction with intent to defile and sexual penetration with an object.

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No court date has been set.

Police say a 26-year-old woman, identified in court documents only as "R.G.," was grabbed from behind while walking home from a grocery store, forced into a wooded area and sexually assaulted.

Jim Camblos, the same attorney representing Matthew in the Graham case, will also represent him in the Fairfax county charges.

Forensic evidence links the 2005 rape with the 2009 disappearance of Virgina Tech student Morgan Harrington in Charlottesville. Her body was later discovered on a farm southwest of the university town.

Matthew has also been implicated in Graham's disappearance, and after his arrest in Galveston, Texas, and extradition to Charlottesville, was charged with abduction with intent to defile.

On Oct. 18, human remains were discovered in Albermarle County, on an abandoned property just four miles from where Matthew and his mother once lived. Forensic analysis of the remains is being conducted as police continue to search the spot to determine if it could be a dumping ground for bodies.

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Matthew was also accused of sexual assault twice in college: once at Liberty University on Oct. 17, 2002, and at Christopher Newport University on Sept. 7, 2003. The Liberty victim declined to prosecute, and CNU officials are withholding the records of his case in cooperation with law enforcement.

Investigators are also examining five other unsolved cases of missing women from the area, from 2003 to 2010, to determine if those cases are connected to Matthew.

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