Metallica Fan Morgan Harrington’s Death Ruled a Homicide

One week after the grisly discovery of missing Metallica fan Morgan Harrington's skeletal remains in a remote hayfield 10 miles south of Charlottesville, Va., medical examiners have ruled out the possibility that her death was, as some have speculated, accidental. Harrington was murdered. The news was revealed Feb. 2, but officials have yet to determine just how she was killed. That information should be released in the next few weeks.

According to reports, Harrington, who was a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student, did not wander away from Charlottesville and die from exposure to freezing temperatures. She was likely abducted and her life taken from her. Morgan vanished from Metallica's Oct. 17 concert, after she was separated from friends and ended up outside the venue, which has a no re-entry policy.

The medical examiner's office says they're not yet able to release information on how Harrington was killed. Forensic experts revealed that it could take weeks to make that determination, due to the rate of decomposition of her body. Officials say that if Morgan's body was, as her family suspects, left in the hayfield the night she disappeared, it endured warm and cold weather, rain and snow storms and possibly, animal and insect activity.

These factors could "make it a lot more difficult to determine the cause and manner of death," explains Emil Moldovan, an adjunct instructor of criminal justice at Radford University and former death investigator in the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office. Moldovan says if Harrington were beaten or shot to death, that might be readily apparent to examiners. If she were strangled, there would be little evidence outside the possible fracture of the tiny hyoid bone in the neck. The skeletal and tissue remains also might not show any sign of a stabbing.

Morgan's parents, Dan and Gil Harrington, will memorialize their daughter Feb. 5 with a 3:30 PM ET mass at St. Andrew's Catholic Church in Roanoke, Va., with a public reception to follow afterwards at the Hotel Roanoke.

In a statement, Metallica expressed its deepest sympathies for the Harrington family. "Our most sincere condolences go out to the family and friends of Morgan Dana Harrington, the 20-year-old Virginia Tech student who was last seen while attending our concert at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Va. Sadly, Morgan's body was found yesterday ending her family's three month vigil, hoping and praying for her safe return. Mere words cannot express the anguish and grief that we know her parents Dan and Gil are feeling, and our thoughts are with them."