[Cooper:] As we mentioned at the top of the program, there is new word tonight about evidence in Hannah Graham's disappearance that may tie it to the murder of another young woman, Morgan Harrington, five years ago. In a moment we're going to get reaction from Morgan's father and father. But first, the evidence from CNN's Jean Casarez.
[Jean Casarez, Cnn Legal Correspondent:] It has been 17 days since Hannah Graham vanished and there is still no sign of the missing 18-year-old University of Virginia student. She was last seen on September 13th.
[Chief Timothy J. Longo, Charlottesville Police:] Nothing. Nothing. It is easy to say that's frustrating. We'll find results, somewhere, somehow, we'll find results.
[Casarez:] Jesse Matthew is now behind bars and held in connection to Graham's disappearance. He may also be the answer to a question investigators have been asking since 2009. Who killed 18-year-old Morgan Harrington? A law enforcement source tells CNN that DNA evidence links Matthew to the Virginia Tech student. It was October 2009 when Morgan Harrington traveled almost 150 miles to attend a Metallica with friends at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. While at the concert, Harrington headed to the restroom but walked outside of the arena. She was not allowed to reenter the show. She told friends that she would find a ride home. According to the FBI she was last seen hitchhiking, never heard from again. A massive search ensued as Harrington's parents tearfully pleaded for her safe return.
[Gil Harrington, Morgan's Mother:] Be strong. We are trying to find you. We will never stop.
[Dan Harrington, Morgan's Father:] Morgan is out there and here is us, please come home.
[Casarez:] Morgan Harrington would never come home. On January 26th, 2010, Morgan Harrington's skeletal remains were found on farmland outside of Charlottesville along Route 29. Police say she was raped and beaten so badly her bones were splintered.
[Gil Harrington:] Our sorrow is etched in our faces, our pain has been carved into our hearts.
[Casarez:] Investigators also found foreign DNA allegedly from Harrington's murderer. Two years later, that DNA matches a 2005 rape case in nearby Fairfax City. The 26-year-old victim gave authorities a composite sketch which investigators released in the Harrington case. But is this Jesse Matthew? Police in the Hannah Graham case won't say, saying only that a search of Matthew's car and apartment provided a link between the Graham and Harrington cases.
[Longo:] I wouldn't speak to what other departments may or may not investigate as it relates to this case or any other case. We're certainly poised to be cooperative and helpful in any way that we can with regard to cases in which other departments might have an interest.
[Cooper:] Jean Casarez joins us now from Charlottesville, Virginia. So why are police more clear about the connection between the cases?
[Casarez:] You know, quite simply, DNA analysis is difficult. I spoke today with the director of the Virginia Department of Forensic Science and that's where they're doing all the testing. He would not comment on this case at all or any other. But he said that DNA testing is so sophisticated because, first of all, they have to look at the quality of what they have. Many times there's mixtures. They have to try to separate and they'll have a speck of something or they'll have a large stain of something, but what is the quality of it? And once they get that DNA profile, they then simply send it to law enforcement. Law enforcement can say we want it retested, which is usually the case and it just doesn't happen in a day.
[Cooper:] All right, Jean. Appreciate that. We're going to hear from Dan and Gil Harrington shortly. But first, I want to bring in Ed Smart, who consulted with them shortly after Morgan vanished, whose daughter, of course, Elizabeth, who was abducted 12 years ago and rescued nine months later. Also forensic scientist, Lawrence Kobilinsky, from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Dr. Kobilinsky, let's start with you. The idea of a forensic link, which is term authorities have been using between these two cases with Hannah Graham and Morgan. What exactly does that mean? Do we know?
[Lawrence Kobilinsky, Forensic Scientist:] It's a good question. Well, first of all, I think the investigation of Hannah Graham's disappearance had everything to do with it. The search warrant, the search of the home, I am sure they collected tooth brush, which gives them DNA. They collected hairbrush which gives them hair.
[Cooper:] So that search is what allowed them to get that
[Dna. Kobilinsky:] Precisely. And law enforcement will sometimes get surreptitious samples. They'll pick up a glass that he drank out of or something of that sort. Here you have hair samples, you have DNA samples. You can then compare it to evidence collected off the body. Now from the body we don't know what they got. It is possible they have DNA under the fingernails. It is possible that there is semen possibly on clothing. Certainly not on the body but on clothing. It's possible that there's hair evidence they collected from the victim. So all of this comes together. DNA is a science. We know what we're doing. We can look at mixtures, we can interpret them. I'm sure that we know exactly where we're headed scientifically.
[Cooper:] Interesting. Ed, I mean, you were very supportive of the Harringtons when their daughter was missing back in 2009. I spoke to them earlier, we're going to play that shortly. One of the things that Dan Harrington said to me was that the missing phase, that's really the worst part. That's something you does that ring true for you?
[Ed Smart, Father Kidnapping Survivor Elizabeth Smart:] Absolutely. You know, during the nine months that Elizabeth was gone the not knowing was worse than anything else. And there is a group that I belong to called the Surviving Parents Coalition. Many of them still have children that are missing. And that not knowing is so incredibly difficult. Even if it turns out that they're deceased, it is better to find that out than to go through your life, you know, feeling like a part of your life is missing and that question remains in your mind all the time of issues still out there. What can I do? What am I not doing to try to help bring her home? I think that's why it's so incredibly important for the Grahams to have the public support, to help find her and bring this bring her home to them.
[Cooper:] And Dr. Kobilinsky, the idea that there is a link between Morgan's case and a prior kidnapping and sexual assault that thankfully did not end in a murder. That victim survived. She is a survivor of that attack. Is it does that automatically mean all three are linked?
[Kobilinsky:] Not necessarily, but it sounds like there is a clustering here. First of all, geographically, secondly, although not ethnically, the victims of different ethnicities but they're about the same age, they're college students or high school. In other words, there are too many similarities here. Looks like there is one person on the loose trapping these poor girls and there is an evolution of violence here starting off with kidnapping and rape. And now it is murder.
[Cooper:] And Ed, you've been working with a group called DNA Saves. They're trying to get legislation passed, to mandate the DNA is taken when somebody is arrested in a felony. Is that right?
[Smart:] Absolutely, Jan Savige, her daughter was abducted and found in a garbage dump the next day. And there was DNA underneath her fingernails. And that lead finally brought about finding out who had taken her. And this is the same scenario. So what does DNA is going to provide is answers and, you know, I hate to use the word closure but it leads to answers to what has happened to their children. And the Harringtons are absolutely wonderful people. And they did everything that they could to help, you know, bring their daughter home. And in this same case with the Grahams, unfortunately, it seems like there is potential linkage here. But you know, it goes back to the importance of trying to find her and but DNA is this link. And we have about 28 states that have passed a form of legislation taking DNA on felony arrests. And this really speaks to the issue of why we need to do it and why the other states need to come on board so that we can get answers in these criminal cases.
[Cooper:] Ed, appreciate you being on. Ed Smart. Dr. Kobilinsky, as well. When we come back, my conversation with Dan and Gil Harrington, Morgan Harrington's parents, about their feelings on the news today and their hope that justice will finally come for their daughter's killer.