Hannah Graham and her mother Sue Graham
AP(2)
"Somebody listening to me today either knows where Hannah is or knows someone who has that information," Hannah Graham's mother, Sue Graham, standing next to her husband, John, says in a heartrending video released Oct. 4 (watch below). "We appeal to you to come forward and tell us where Hannah can be found."
Graham, 18, a sophomore at the University of Virginia, was last seen in the early hours of Sept. 13 in an area of Charlottesville known as the Downtown Mall. She hasn't been seen since, and police are still looking for her.
Holding back tears, her mother says, "Please, please, please help end this nightmare for all of us. Please help us to bring Hannah home."
Even though police have made an arrest in the case and have received more than 3,000 tips, she says, "Someone must have critical information yet to be revealed."
In the video, released by the city of Charlottesville three weeks to the day Graham went missing, Sue read from a statement. Her husband held her in his arms at the end of her appeal when she broke down in tears.
She thanked everyone who has helped search for their daughter, given police tips and contributed money to the reward fund since Graham went missing. Authorities are offering a $100,000 reward leading to Graham's safe return.
On Sept. 24, police arrested Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr., 32, of Charlottesville, the last person authorities believe was seen with Graham. He was charged with abduction with intent to defile in connection to her disappearance.
Days later, Virginia State Police made the bombshell announcement that it had found forensic evidence linking Matthew to Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, 20, who was found brutally murdered after attending a concert at UVA in 2009.
A Link to Morgan
DNA evidence from Harrington's killer that was found on her remains linked her murder to a 2005 rape in Fairfax, Virginia. Based on this new evidence, police around the state are reopening other missing persons cases, rapes and murders to see if there is a connection to Matthew.
While Virginia State Police have only said that they have found "forensic evidence," earlier this week, law enforcement sources told CNN that DNA links Matthew to Harrington.
Matthew is being held without bond in the Albemarle Regional Jail and is due to appear in court on Dec. 4 to face the abduction charges in Graham's case.
Matthew's attorney, former Commonwealth attorney James Camblos, told NBC News that the "Commonwealth has yet to provide me with any evidence of links to those two cases," referring to Graham's disappearance and Harrington's murder.
Camblos said he would not comment on any possible links to other unsolved cases in the area, including the 2005 sexual assault in Fairfax.
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