Police Confirm Discovery of Morgan Harrington’s Pantera Shirt
Virginia State Police gave reporters a lot of information during the early stages of the investigation into the disappearance of 20-year-old Metallica fan Morgan Harrington. But now, with the investigation shifting to a homicide, we're learning that they didn't reveal everything about the investigation during the first few months.
Six months after Harrington, a student at Virginia Tech, vanished from a Metallica concert at the John Paul Jones Arena on the University of Virginia campus, police revealed that, less than a month after she was abducted, the black Pantera T-shirt she'd worn to the concert was found by a local resident, 11 miles from where her remains would eventually be found.
Harrington's body was found Jan. 26 in a remote hayfield just 10 miles south of the arena. Harrington attended the concert with friends, but was somehow separated from the group and ended up outside the venue. JPJ has a no re-entry policy, which, in light of Harrington's murder, is being reconsidered. Harrington was last seen on a bridge nearby, wearing the Pantera shirt, black boots and a black mini-skirt; she was also bleeding from the chin, according to police, who believe the injury could have been caused by a fall.
A $150,000 reward remains up for the taking for anyone with information that leads to an arrest and conviction in the Harrington case.
Earlier this month, adults and children from the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church protested in front of the Hillel Jewish Community Center in downtown Blackburg, to protest outside Harrington-related events. The group believes God hates Virginia Tech, and, on its Web site, writes, "You all wail about the fate of Morgan Harrington, but you know you brought that curse on yourselves by your proud disobedience to the standards of God."