The woman was trudging home from a Fairfax City supermarket in 2005 when the man grabbed her from behind, authorities said. A witness recalled the woman’s “bloodcurdling” cries piercing the night.
Nearly a decade later after detectives probed dozens of leads and 40 suspects, the man authorities said committed the brutal crime will finally stand trial in a Fairfax County courtroom on Monday. His alleged victim is expected to face him again.
The trial is the first for Jesse L. Matthew Jr., 33, of Charlottesville. Authorities say he may be a serial predator. He also has been charged with capital murder in the high-profile killing of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, and authorities say there is a DNA link between the Fairfax case and the slaying of Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington in 2009. Matthew has not been charged in that case.
Matthew has pleaded not guilty in the Fairfax case, but authorities say they have strong evidence against him. Defense attorneys and prosecutors declined to comment for this report, citing the upcoming trial.
Court documents show forensic tests established a DNA match between Matthew and material found under one of the victim’s fingernails. Law enforcement sources said the woman fought her attacker and might have scratched his face. Prosecutors have said the victim is prepared to testify, and she may identify Matthew in court.
At a pretrial hearing Thursday, the victim in the case testified that she saw a photo of Matthew online after his indictment and he looked “very familiar.”
Jonathan Phillips, a defense attorney and former Fairfax prosecutor, said the trial could be an uphill battle for Matthew and his attorneys.
“DNA evidence is something the jury is always looking for,” Phillips said. “When you get that sort of evidence, the pendulum swings in favor of the commonwealth. No longer is the evidence the memory and recollection of the witness, which can be disputed.”
The stakes are high for Matthew — his punishment could be up to life in prison if convicted on the more serious charges. He is facing counts of attempted capital murder, abduction with intent to defile and sexual penetration with an object.
Phillips said it did not appear that Matthew’s attorneys were preparing to mount an insanity or mental-incapacity defense. He said one path they might follow is to concede the sexual assault but dispute the intent to kill. If successful, they could potentially reduce the sentence their client will face.
Authorities said the incident began about 10 p.m. on Sept. 24, 2005, as the woman, then 26, was walking home from a Giant store. They say she was abducted on Rock Garden Drive. The Washington Post generally does not name the victims of sexual assault.
Stacey Remick-Simkins, who lives adjacent to the park, said she heard the woman’s cries and her husband glanced out the window to see a man tussling with a woman. She said the woman’s purse was dropped in front of her house, before she was dragged to the park at the end of her block. Remick-Simkins said police responded quickly to the scene.
The investigation into the case dragged on for years before detectives caught a break. In 2010, authorities announced a forensic link between the Fairfax assault and the Harrington case. Harrington vanished while attending a Metallica concert in Charlottesville in 2009. Her body was found on a farm southwest of the city, but no one has been arrested in that case.
Then, on the night of Sept. 12, 2014, Graham went out with some friends in Charlottesville. She was seen on surveillance video, and patrons of a restaurant saw her with Matthew in the early hours of the next morning, but after that she vanished.
Her disappearance prompted a massive search and turned into a national story. Matthew was arrested Sept. 24, on a beach in Texas, after a nationwide manhunt.
Matthew was indicted on charges in the Fairfax case the next month, and a fresh test found a “1 in greater than 7.2 billion” chance that DNA in the material collected from the victim belonged to anyone except Matthew, according to court records.
The case is scheduled to last about two weeks.
Matthew’s involvement in the Fairfax and Graham cases has shocked his friends.
“I was surprised he would be accused of doing something like that,” said Terris Gregory, who attended college with Matthew at Liberty University and played football with him. “He was a really nice guy in college. He was goofy, but not necessarily violent.”
