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Morgan Harrington remembered a decade after she was abducted and murdered in Charlotesville

Posted at 6:12 PM, Oct 17, 2019
and last updated 2019-10-17 22:27:09-04

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Thursday marks 10 years since college student Morgan Harrington was abducted and murdered after leaving a concert in Charlottesville in October 2009.

The Virginia Tech student disappeared outside John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville while attending a Metallica concert. The case of her murder stumped investigators for years, until DNA evidence from a second murder, the Hannah Graham case, led investigators to Jesse Matthew in 2014.

Matthews is now serving a life sentence for killing both women

 Today in Charlottesville, Morgan's parents put a 10-foot banner on the Copley Bridge where she was last seen alive. It's a timeline with pictures to illustrate Morgan's life and legacy, given to them by one of Morgan's professors at Virginia Tech as well as one of her classmates.

The organization created in her honor, Save The Next Girl, also created 10-year anniversary t-shirts.

At Morgan's alma mater, Virginia Tech, chapter members took turns manning a table for the organization, asking passersby to “write one thing you will do you help save the next girl."

Morgan's parents Dan and Gil also took the time to stop by Heather Heyer’s memorial off the Downtown Mall to tie a ribbon in honor of her murder.Heyer was killed during the violent Unite The Right rally in Charlottesville, when James Alex Fields drove his car into a crowd

Leaving  Morgan’s trophies and other mementos are the Copley Bridge Memorial, Gil said that they want to build a positive legacy.

“Remembering Morgan on the bridge in Charlottesville, the last place she was seen alive ten years ago today, is like making a sand mandala. The specific ingredients will scatter. But the act of building a positive legacy for The Next Girl is sacred.”

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