The man charged with abducting missing UVA student Hannah Graham appeared in court today after being arrested on a Texas beach on Wednesday.
Jesse 'LJ' Matthew, 32, stood in green prison overalls with his hands cuffed in front of him at 8am as he appeared, via a video link, before Galveston County Judge Mark Henry.
He was charged on Thursday with being a fugitive from justice and abduction on a Virginia warrant. He also faced a charge of giving false information to a police officer in Texas.
He was denied bond on the federal abduction charge and his bond on the Galveston County charge was set at $1,500. He was not asked to enter a plea and turned down a court-appointed lawyer.
The nursing assistant complained that the jail had taken away his clothes during the five-minute court appearance.
He appeared bewildered by the paperwork he was being asked to sign which included a fugitive warrant from Virginia.
Detectives from Charlottesville, where UVA student Hannah Graham disappeared, arrived in Texas today to bring Matthew back to Virginia to face charges of abduction with intent to defile and reckless driving.
The abduction charge is a class 2-felony which is punishable by 20 years to life in prison.
Matthew was captured in Gilchrist, Texas at 3.30pm on Wednesday by a sheriff's deputy, following a massive manhunt by the FBI and police forces across the U.S. It is unclear why Matthew was in Texas.
Matthew was found in a tent on the beach after a tip-off from a member of the public. According to CNN, he was held at the scene on the Gilchrist beach for several hours and questioned.
He was later caught on camera being led into Galveston County Jail surrounded by law enforcement at 8pm.
He had been on the run since Saturday just hours after he was named by MailOnline as the last person seen with the 18-year-old student on the night she disappeared in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Matthew was captured at a beach in the resort town of Gilchrist about 3.30pm after police received a call from a member of the public reporting a suspicious person.
A deputy responding to the call found a man who had pitched a tent on the beach with his car parked nearby.
A check of the car's plates revealed it was the vehicle sought in connection to the missing Hannah Graham case.
Authorities have applied for a warrant to search the car - a blue Nissan Sentra which belongs to Matthew's sister.
The 32-year-old fugitive did not resist arrest, according to law enforcement. Matthew, with his hands cuffed behind his back, was brought into the Galveston County Jail on Wednesday night by a number of sheriff's deputies.
Matthew's arrest and subsequent court appearance today came after MailOnline exclusively revealed today that he was accused of rape when he studied at Liberty University.
Matthew was expelled in 2002 from the Christian university founded by Jerry Falwell in Lynchburg, Virginia, following the alleged sex attack on a female student but was not charged with any crime, former teammates said.
Lynchburg City Police investigated the rape allegation and Matthew was named as a suspect, MailOnline has been told.
But the student was not arrested or charged, due to lack of evidence.
However his scholarship was withdrawn and he was thrown out of the university, his teammates told MailOnline.
Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo told a press conference on Wednesday: 'Jesse Matthew is in custody.'
'By the grace of God and the good work of the Galveston's Sheriff's office it took place. The Grahams would like to thank them too.'
Chief Longo added: 'This case is nowhere near over. We have a person in custody but there's a long road ahead of us. We made that commitment to Mr and Mrs Graham and we will continue to work hard on this.'
Chief Longo said he had 'no idea' if Matthew had provided any information about Hannah Graham's whereabouts following his arrest in Texas.
FBI Special Field Agent Adam Lee said: 'The hero of today is a deputy with the Galveston County Sheriff's Office.
'I would like to, on behalf of the FBI, thank him for some very effective police work today. This is a positive close to this chapter of the case.'
Chief Longo added that police were still searching for Miss Graham who disappeared on September 13.
The reward for information leading to the location of Hannah Graham had increased to $100,000 'due to the generosity of thousands of private citizens'.
Chief Longo said the search for missing UVA student was 'nowhere near over' and he urged 'everyone who can hear my voice to help find Hannah Graham'.
A day before his capture, Matthew was caught on surveillance cameras entering and exiting Dave Paresh's convenience store in Galveston.
The business owner told ABC 13 that Matthew came in asking him if it was safe to stay on the local beach.
Mr Paresh warned him that there were a lot of mosquitoes in the area, and the wanted man left after buying a bottle of insect repellent.
The 32-year-old fugitive, from Charlottesville, had walked into Charlottesville Police Department on Saturday but refused to discuss his 'interaction' with 18-year-old student.
He fled after he spotted police and FBI agents following him.
He was initially charged with two counts of reckless driving.
On Tuesday night, Matthew was charged with abduction 'with intent to defile' - a legal term for sexual assault – after investigators provided 'sufficient evidence of probable cause' to a magistrate.
Prime suspect Matthew was named by MailOnline as the man with dreadlocks seen following Miss Graham and putting his arm around her in Charlottesville's Downtown Mall at 1am on September 13.
Prime suspect Matthew was named by MailOnline as the man with dreadlocks seen following Hannah and putting his arm around her in Charlottesville's Downtown Mall at 1am September 13.
Witnesses later saw Matthew buying drinks for the 18-year-old at the Tempo bar and the pair leaving together, his arm wrapped around her waist.
Chief Longo has said Matthew was the last person to see the 18-year-old student before she 'vanished off the face of the earth'.
MailOnline exclusively revealed how Matthew told family members he was not responsible for the 18-year-old's disappearance and that the pair 'went their separate ways'.
His grandmother Christine Carr told Mail Online: 'He told his mother he bought her some drinks.
'He said she did not get into his car. He said he went his way and she went hers.'
It was revealed on Wednesday that Matthew also has a long list of previous charges against him - from assault and grand larceny to trespassing and being in possession of stolen property.
Online court records showed that Matthew was convicted of trespassing in 2010 but provide no details about the incident.
He also faces a slew of traffic violations, according to WSLS.
In June 2009, Matthew allegedly assaulted someone during an attempted theft of a cell phone but the charges were later dropped.
Matthew has hired a former prosecutor as an attorney, WUSA9 reported on Wednesday afternoon.
James Camblos, a veteran attorney, told the station that he had spoken to Matthew but would not confirm if he knew his client's current location.
A 'wanted' posted issued on Tuesday revealed that Matthew, who is 6'2 and weighs 270lb, was last seen driving his sister's 1997 model blue Nissan Sentra with Virginia plates.
Hundreds of volunteers have been trawling a 14-square mile area around Charlottesville, looking for anything that might help with the on-going investigation.
Miss Graham's disappearance has sent a ripple of fear through the quiet college town of Charlottesville.
University president Teresa Sullivan said in a written statement on Tuesday that local and campus police have increased patrols, and the university has expanded the hours of a program that provides late-night van transportation for students.
Students have said they've begun walking in pairs at night and are paying closer attention to their surroundings.
Authorities have searched Matthew's car once and his apartment twice, decided they had probable cause to charge him on Tuesday in Graham's disappearance.
The police chief refused to release details of the new information that had led to the charges and new arrest warrant but he said the search for the UVA student continues.
Chief Longo said: 'We absolutely are continuing our search for Hannah.'
A $50,000 reward has been posted for information relating to her disappearance.
Authorities announced on Tuesday that they had taken clothing during the search. Charlottesville Police Captain Gary Pleasants declined to comment on the importance of the clothing or give any further details on what prompted the second search.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the state lab was still analyzing evidence it has received from Charlottesville police, including nearly two dozen items and eight 'known samples that we would use for comparison purposes,' said Jeffrey Ban, director of the Department of Forensic Science's Central Laboratory in Richmond.
Ban said that the department has expedited the case and hoped to provide authorities with results in the 'very near future'.
Matthew has been employed at the University of Virginia Medical Center since August 12, 2012, as a patient technician in the operating room, university spokesman McGregor McCance said.
Matthew had a taxi permit from 2007 through 2010, according to Pam Goheen with Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.
His former boss, John Amato, told WVTF: 'He was a nice guy, always in a good mood, always easy to talk to. I never had any problem with him. He was always reliable to call. The customers really liked him, so I'd be very, very surprised if he were tied into this negatively in any way.'
Suspect Matthew was named by MailOnline as the black man with dreadlocks seen following Miss Graham and putting his arm around her as she walked through Charlottesville's Downtown Mall at 1am on Saturday, September 13.
Witnesses later saw Matthew buying drinks for 18-year-old Hannah at the Tempo bar and the pair leaving together.
Matthew has confirmed he met the 18-year-old in Charlottesville's Downtown Mall on the night she went missing and bought her drinks at a local bar, MailOnline revealed.
Chief Longo said Matthew was the last person to see the 18-year-old student before she 'vanished off the face of the earth'.
MailOnline exclusively revealed how the UVA nursing assistant told family members he was not responsible for the 18-year-old's disappearance and that the pair 'went their separate ways'.
Matthew's grandmother Christine Carr told MailOnline: 'He told his mother he bought her some drinks.
'He said she did not get into his car. He said he went his way and she went hers.'
'LJ would never hurt anybody,' Mrs Carr, 82, from Charlottesville, told MailOnline. 'I know he is a good boy. I have known him all his life.'
Matthew has been on the run since Saturday when police issued an arrest warrant for his arrest on two counts of reckless driving.
According to Charlottesville Police Chief Longo, Matthew walked into the police station with his mother and his uncle on Saturday but quickly left the station after asking to speak to a lawyer.
Police say he sped away afterward, losing officers who had him under surveillance and prompting authorities to issue two arrest warrants for reckless driving.
Hannah's parents, John and Sue Graham, made an emotional appeal for their teenage daughter's safe return on Sunday during a press conference.
Mr Graham said: 'As this nightmare for Hannah, for us, for Hannah's big brother James, her grandparents and extended family continues we would like to make this statement.
'Hannah is our little girl, our only daughter, James's little sister. She is also the oldest granddaughter of her grandparents. She is enormously precious to us.'
According to police, Graham met friends at a restaurant for dinner on September 12 before stopping by two parties at off-campus housing units.
The sophomore, from northern Virginia, left the second party alone, police have said, and sent a text message to a friend saying she was lost.
Surveillance videos showed her walking, and at some points running, past a pub and a service station and then onto the Downtown Mall, a seven-block pedestrian strip lined with shops and restaurants where police believe she entered a bar with Matthew.
According to family members and police, Graham is an alpine skier and plays the alto saxophone. Organizers of a candlelight vigil last week at the university handed out her favorite candy, Starburst.
Police Chief Longo said he learned from visiting with Graham's parents that the graduate of West Potomac High School earned straight A's six years in a row.
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