Virginia State Police said they are confident that the body found on a farm outside Charlottesville belonged to the Virginia Tech student who disappeared during a Metallica concert in October.
State Police Superintendent Steve Flaherty would not reveal what evidence led them to believe that the skeletal remains were that of 20-year-old Morgan Harrington.
The body was taken to the state medical examiner in Richmond to confirm the identity and determine the cause of death. Detectives continue to work the case like it was a homicide.
“We believe the perpetrator or perpetrators are at large and we will catch them,” said Lt. Joe Radar of the Virginia State Police.
The discovery comes 101 days after Harrington went missing outside a concert hall in Charlottesville. The farm is about 10 miles from the arena.
The remains were found by a farmer driving a tractor over a barren hayfield in a secluded area of the farm. At the time of Harrington’s disappearance, the field would have been covered with waist-high hay waiting for harvest, police said.
The area is not accessible by road and was not one of the places searched by officers and volunteers. Police said they had no reason to search the area.
Police have blocked off access to the Anchorage Farm in southern Albemarle County and forensics teams were combing the area for clues.
Dan and Gil Harrington, Morgan’s parents, rushed to Charlottesville on Tuesday to meet with investigators.
“I was hoping we would find her alive, but at least we won’t always be wondering for a lifetime,” her mother told CBS affiliate WCAV. “We’re still kind of processing, trying to, although all this time, we’ve been trying to prepare ourselves for this endpoint.”
David Bass, the owner of the farm, told the Associated Press he was checking a cow pasture he rarely visits and saw the remains.
“I looked down and saw what looked like a human skull and my first thought was that it was Morgan Harrington,” Bass told WTVR.com.
