Missing student's parents visit site daughter last seen

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Morgan D. Harrington’s parents went Wednesday to the Copeley Road bridge where she was last seen to leave mementos and posters at a small, makeshift memorial.

“We are not building a mausoleum. This is her place of hope,” said her mother, Gil Harrington.

Harrington disappeared the night of Oct. 17 after leaving a Metallica concert at the John Paul Jones Arena. Police have said they’ve received several reports of a woman matching her description hitchhiking at about 9:30 that night on the bridge, which crosses railroad tracks.

On Wednesday, Harrington’s parents taped up laminated posters about their daughter and left a variety of mementos, as well as handing out business cards asking for help finding the missing Virginia Tech student.

A streamer of Tibetan prayer flags also draped the bridge. Prayer flags are a favorite of Morgan’s, and she displayed them on a balcony in Blacksburg and on her bed in her parents’ Roanoke home, her mother said.

Her parents said that, as far as they know, state police haven’t established a timeline beyond the 9:30 p.m. spotting on the bridge.

She was likely trying to return to James Madison University in Harrisonburg, her mother said.

“If she was traveling under her own wishes, that’s the direction she would have been heading,” Gil Harrington said.

She had stopped there on her way to the concert at the University of Virginia. From there, she rode in her own car with a group of friends, one of whom drove to UVa.

In the month since their daughter went missing, the Harringtons have been doing their utmost to keep their daughter in the news. Morgan’s case has been featured on “Nancy Grace” and “Dr. Phil,” and her photograph has appeared on the cover of People magazine.

A host of benefactors has allowed Crimestoppers to offer a reward of more than $150,000 for information leading to her location.

The family has also been using tools including Facebook, Dan Harrington said.

“We’ve used the social networking I think pretty significantly to get the word out and keep the story going,” he said.

But the one-month mark has been particularly hard on the family, Gil Harrington said.

“I would say, as of last night, we’ve kind of unraveled,” she said.

She urged anyone who might know something to come forward and said that if someone took her daughter, that person has likely exhibited odd behavior lately.

“There’s a really big reward out there, and we would love to have our daughter home for Thanksgiving,” she said.

After their stop at the bridge, they planned to take Harrington’s dental records to the Virginia State Police.

Harrington is 5-feet-6-inches tall and weighs about 120 pounds. She was last seen wearing a black T-shirt with “Pantera” written across the front in tan letters, a black miniskirt, black tights and black boots. She was also wearing a Swarovski crystal necklace with a chain-link design that her brother had given her.

Police are asking anyone with information to call 352-3467 or e-mail bci-appomattox@vsp.virginia.gov.