CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Gil Harrington can relate to the horror of frantically searching for a college-aged daughter. Five years ago, Morgan Harrington vanished from a Metallica concert at the University of Virginia, and her body wasn't found for three months.
On Saturday, Harrington joined in the search for another missing woman - 18-year-old U.Va. student Hannah Graham - whose bizarre disappearance a week ago has shaken the college town, all too familiar with cases of missing women.
'It's the little bit I can do to try to save the next girl,' said Harrington, who spoke to volunteer searchers Friday night at the same arena where her daughter was last seen. Police have not found Morgan Harrington's murderer.
Harrington said she empathizes with Graham's parents, John and Sue Graham, who on Wednesday said in a statement, 'We will not rest until we find her and she comes home.'
'It's a debilitating and emotional process,' Harrington told NBC News. 'For us, Morgan missing was worse than knowing she was dead because there are rituals for death. People know what to do. There is no hallmark card for 'missing.''
Morgan Harrington and Graham are two of five girls who have disappeared in the area within the last five years.
DaShad Laquinn Smith, 19, also disappeared from Charlottesville in 2012. Nineteen-year-old Samantha Ann Clarke vanished from Orange County, about 50 miles from Charlottesville, in 2010, and 17-year-old Alexis Murphy disappeared from Shipman, about 40 miles from Charlottesville in 2012. None of their bodies have been found, according to bberitaa.blogspot.com.
Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo told NBC News on Saturday that he doesn't have any 'factual information' that suggests the five cases are connected. But that doesn't make the community any less rattled.
Amanda St.Clair, a volunteer who created a Facebook page when Harrington went missing and did the same earlier this week for Graham, said residents become more 'traumatized' with every disappearance. 'There's a problem here,' St.Clair told NBC News. 'They just disappeared into thin air.'
Diana Salmon, a Charlottesville resident, who helps run the Facebook page, said volunteers came out in droves on Saturday because 'they are tired of having this sort of thing happening here.'
'Hannah Graham's disappearance has brought back so many bad memories' from the Harrington case, Salmon told NBC News. Memories of the other missing girls have painfully surfaced as well.
'This was us this time last year,' Angela Taylor, Alexis Murphy's aunt, told NBC affiliate WVIR during the search effort for Graham on Saturday. 'There are just no words to really describe, you know, what they're going through, and my heart just aches for Hannah and her family.'
And others in the community who have not experienced the same trauma of the families of the missing girls couldn't help but imagine what it might be like to be in a similar horrifying situation.
'This could very well be my daughter,' said volunteer Pam Graves, whose daughter, like Graham, is a second-year college student. 'I'd want everyone in the world to come and help me to come and find my daughter in this process,' she added. 'I need to do the same in return for my community.'
Graham went missing in the early morning hours of Sept. 13 after leaving an off-campus party, according to Charlottesville police. A person of interest who was seen with Graham at a restaurant was found, but he has not been arrested or questioned, police said. Search warrants were served for his car and apartment on Friday.
'There is no hallmark card for missing.'
Jonathan Jay, a U.Va. student who also joined in the 1,000-person search effort on Saturday, said the mood on campus has been somber all week. 'Everyone's affected in one way or another,' Jay said. 'We want to bring Hannah home more than anything else.'
Tracy Jarrett reported from Charlottesville, and Elisha Fieldstadt reported from New York.
First published September 20 2014, 3:59 PM
Tracy Jarrett is an award-winning digital reporter for NBC News. She started this role in September 2013 after completing the News Associates program where she contributed to Dateline, Nightly News, TODAY and nbcnews.com. Jarrett joined NBC after completing a GlobalPost-Kaiser Global Health Reporting Fellowship where she traveled to South Africa to report on women living with HIV. Jarrett's work with NBC and GlobalPost has allowed her to participate in international fellowships through the International Center for Journalists and the UN Foundation. Jarrett graduated from the Columbia School of Journalism in 2012 and Amherst College in 2011.She lives in New York City.
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