Police: Missing woman may have hitchhiked

State police announced Friday that they think Morgan D. Harrington was trying to hitchhike on a Copeley Road bridge the night she disappeared, which her father said isn’t something she’d normally do.

“That’s certainly out of character for her and unexplained,” Dan Harrington said Friday.

He added, “My take on it is that regardless of that, no one deserves to be abducted or murdered.”

The Harringtons presume their daughter was the victim of foul play, but police have yet to turn up any evidence pointing toward a crime.

Authorities are hoping the information will bring in new leads.

Harrington disappeared the night of Oct. 17 after leaving a concert at the John Paul Jones Arena.

Police have long made public that they’re acting on the assumption that she was last seen on the Copeley Road bridge at about 9:30 p.m. The identification is based on multiple independent sightings of a woman matching Harrington’s description, said Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller.

They had also long suspected that Harrington had been hitchhiking, but hadn’t released the information because they couldn’t confirm it, Geller said.

New information provided by a witness has confirmed that the woman police assume was Harrington was trying to hitch a ride, Geller said.

Witnesses reported seeing a woman matching Harrington’s description sticking her thumb out as she looked for a ride, Geller said.

The release of the information was briefly delayed as authorities dealt with the flooding caused by the remains of Hurricane Ida, which have been dumping rain on the region this week.

Harrington became separated from her friends after she wound up outside the arena and was unable to gain readmission. She told a friend in a phone call that she would try to find a way home.

“The trail still goes cold around that 9:30 period, which would lead us to believe maybe she did get a ride,” Geller said.

But police don’t know for sure.

They’re hoping the new information will prompt witnesses to recall seeing either a woman hitchhiking, or a vehicle inexplicably stopped in the road that night that could have just picked up a hitchhiker, Geller said.

“If their way is impeded by a vehicle randomly stopped in the roadway, they’re going to remember that,” she said.

Also Friday, state police released a detail of Harrington’s description that they had previously been withholding, in the hope that it would spur more tips.

The night she disappeared, Harrington was wearing a Swarovski crystal necklace with a link motif. Earlier, photographs of a similar necklace had been shown to community searchers who gathered to look for Harrington last weekend.

Dan Harrington said the necklace was special to Morgan because it was a gift her brother, a recent University of Virginia graduate now in New York, gave to her.

State police also suggested Friday that the public try to remember if a woman matching Harrington’s description approached them asking to borrow a cell phone, but Geller said the request isn’t based on any specific evidence.

Harrington’s cell phone was found with her purse in a parking lot the morning after she vanished, so police are wondering if she tried to call anyone after she presumably lost the phone, Geller said.

The case has been receiving national media coverage, which has generated tips from across the country for police. In a bid to help find their daughter, Harrington’s parents have been very willing to grant interviews and have appeared on national television shows, including “Nancy Grace” and “Dr. Phil.” Harrington’s photo is on the cover of the latest issue of People magazine, as part of a story about missing people.

Dan Harrington also said Friday that he was surprised to hear that there are still people in Charlottesville who haven’t heard about his missing daughter.

Several of Harrington’s neighbors came to Charlottesville to take part in last weekend’s community search, and have since told Harrington that in the course of their searches they ran into residents near the arena who hadn’t heard about the missing Virginia Tech student, he said.

“It just amazed them that people had not even heard of this in Charlottesville,” he said.

Harrington is 5-feet-6-inches tall and blonde and weighs about 120 pounds.

In addition to the necklace police described Friday, Harrington was wearing a black T-shirt with “Pantera” written across the front in tan letters, and a black miniskirt, black tights and black knee-high boots the night she disappeared.

The Virginia State Police are looking for tips at 352-3467 or via e-mail at bic-appomattox@vsp.virginia.gov.

There is a reward of more than $150,000 for information leading to Harrington.

Anonymous tips are welcome, but police are asking callers to leave as much information as possible, since follow-up calls aren’t possible for anonymous tips.