An affidavit submitted to receive an arrest warrant for Jesse Matthew Jr. was recently unsealed after a motion made by the U.S. attorney.
An FBI special agent filed the affidavit Sept. 22, 2014. The affidavit lists evidence justifying an arrest warrant for Matthew, including interviews with his family.
The affidavit stated license plate readers took photographs of the license plate of a car belonging to Matthew’s sister in Louisiana Sept. 21 and 22. On Sept. 23, members of Matthew’s family told Charlottesville Police Department Detective Scott Godfrey they had received a call from Matthew.
Call records show Matthew’s cell phone used cell phone towers in Louisiana Sept. 22 and 23. The affidavit concluded there was probable cause to arrest Matthew for the offense of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
Neal Augenstein, a reporter for WTOP, who first reported the decision to unseal the warrant, said the warrant was unsealed after the conclusion of the case.
“The U.S. Attorney said the disclosures of the federal arrest warrant would jeopardize the case and cause harm to law enforcement,” Augenstein said. “To reveal them at the time would have jeopardized the hopes of finding [Hannah Graham] and any possible prosecution.”
During court proceedings, only the lawyers were aware of the arrest warrant. It is typical for sealed documents to be unsealed after the conclusion of a case, Augenstein said.
Augenstein said he believes it is unlikely any other documents from the federal case will be unsealed but expects documents from lower courts will be unsealed soon.
“I’d think that documents sealed in Albemarle County will be unsealed,” Augenstein said. “Since it’s a sexual assault case, maybe not all the documents, but I’d imagine quite a few, will be unsealed.”
Matthew’s lawyers for his case did not respond to requests for comment.
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