Basketball Players Questioned About Missing Metallica Fan Morgan Harrington

For more than a month, there's been speculation that, on the night she disappeared, Morgan Harrington was last seen speaking with a group of male basketball players. On Tuesday, police and university officials confirmed to reporters that several members of the University of Virginia men's basketball team have been interviewed by state police about missing Metallica fan Morgan Harrington. But what those interviews yielded, we may not know for some time.

According to a statement by UVA spokesperson Carol Wood, several players were approached after practice by a female matching Harrington's description the same night she went missing.

"As police worked to establish a time line of Oct. 17 in hopes of locating Ms. Harrington, they interviewed a number of witnesses, including some members of the men's basketball team," says the statement. "They cooperated fully with law enforcement investigators and, like other witnesses interviewed by the police, they provided information that is important to police efforts to establish Ms. Harrington's movements."

The team's practice facility is located close to the John Paul Jones Arena, where Harrington attended a Metallica concert with friends. She was separated from the group, and ended up outside the venue, where there is a no re-entry policy. Harrington was last seen hitching for a ride on a nearby bridge. State Police are still following leads in the case, but no suspects or persons of interest have been identified.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children recently got involved with the search for Morgan, fielding calls and taking any information about Harrington's case.

Recently, Metallica's Robert Trujillo spoke out about the matter. "I was crushed," Trujillo says, of learning about Harrington's disappearance; he added that the case has been ever-present on the band members' minds. "Stuff like this just really, really bums me out, especially when you are a parent and you have children. I mean, it's the worst thing that you could ever imagine. And of course, you know, we're all hoping for the best and just praying that she's alive. It really hit a sour chord with us and bummed us out."