Police: missing Tech student last seen on bridge

The last reported sighting of Morgan D. Harrington was on a bridge over railroad tracks near the John Paul Jones Arena.

Harrington, a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student, has been missing since Oct. 17, when she disappeared after leaving a Metallica concert at the University of Virginia’s arena.

After receiving roughly 300 tips, police believe they’ve strung together a rough timeline of Harrington’s movements until about 9:30 p.m., when a woman matching her description was seen at the bridge on Copeley Road, between University Hall and Ivy Road.

UVa police Lt. Melissa Fielding said that no crimes have been reported at that bridge in recent memory.

Virginia State Police officials released the new timeline Wednesday in the hopes that it would prompt more and better tips. They also emphasized that it’s a rough sketch, not a detailed chronology, and people shouldn’t hold back providing information based on it.

Police say they’re now less interested in tips, photographs and videos inside the arena, and more interested in what happened outside, particularly after about 9:30.

According to police, Harrington left her friends to look for a restroom. She then exited the arena and, in a phone conversation with a friend, said she couldn’t get back inside.

She “stated she would try to get a ride home from friends around Charlottesville,” according to state police Lt. Joe Rader.

Harrington’s father, Dan Harrington, said that his daughter could have known people through either her parents or her brother, but the possible connections have been checked out.

Her brother graduated from UVa in the spring, but spent his last semester abroad in London and was mostly friends with people who also graduated in the spring, Dan Harrington said.

Police did get a list from her brother of friends that Morgan Harrington could have tried to call, he said.

And Morgan’s parents have friends in Charlottesville because her father is employed by the university. The family lived in Charlottesville before he was sent to Roanoke to start a psychiatry unit in that city’s Carilion Clinic in 1990.

“We have lots of friends that she knows … but we’ve been in contact with all those folks that she would have called,” Dan Harrington said.

Harrington’s phone conversation with her friend was at 8:48.

“We don’t have her having any more cell phone contact,” state police spokeswoman Corrine Geller said.

Police think she stayed near the arena until about 9 p.m., and may have been seen in several areas around the building, including near doors concertgoers could have tried to use to re-enter the stadium.

Between then and 9:10, a woman matching Harrington’s description was seen walking, with her purse, through the University Hall parking area.

In the next 10 minutes, a woman matching her description was seen in the grassy overflow parking area near Lannigan Field. Harrington’s purse, along with her battery-less cell phone, was found in that area the next morning and turned in to the authorities as lost property.

And between about 9:20 and 9:30 Saturday night, someone matching the description was seen on the bridge.

“I think the focus is really trying to see if anyone saw anything of Morgan after 9:30 at that Copeley Road-Ivy Road intersection,” Dan Harrington said.

State police have already confirmed a $100,000 reward through Crimestoppers, and Metallica is in final negotiations to add another $50,000, Dan Harrington said.

Harrington and his wife, Gil, have been working to boost the media profile of their daughter’s case, appearing on shows including “Nancy Grace” and NBC’s “Today.”

Now they’ve hired Washington, D.C.-based Levick Strategic Communications to help them spread their message.

Harrington, a 5-foot-6-inch tall, blonde 20-year-old, was last seen wearing a black T-shirt with “Pantera” written on it in tan letters, a black miniskirt, black boots and black tights. Her purse was a two-strap model that could also be worn as a backpack, police said.

Police are asking people with information to call 352-3467 or e-mail .

Anonymous calls are fine, they say, but callers should leave as much information as possible.

“Nothing is too trivial,” Rader said.

Police timeline

All locations are for a woman or women closely matching the description of Morgan Harrington.

Oct. 17
8:20-8:48 p.m. - in several areas immediately outside John Paul Jones Arena, possible including doors, and the side near University Hall.
8:48 - Friend calls her on cell phone, Harrington explains situation, says she’ll try to find ride home.
9-9:10 - Walking, with her purse, through the University Hall parking area.
9:10-9:20 - seen in the grassy overflow parking area at Lannigan Field.
9:20-9:30 - Seen on Copeley Road bridge over railroad tracks.
Oct. 18
Harrington’s purse is found in overflow parking area at Lannigan Field.