Metallica Supporting Murdered Fans’ Family

More than three years after 20-year-old Metallica fan Morgan Harrington vanished after leaving one of the band's concerts, only for her remains to be found several months later, the young girl's parents say that the band is still supporting their efforts to solve her murder and bring her killer to justice. Morgan's mother, Gil Harrington, told Noisecreep, "It has been humbling from the very beginning. Two days after Morgan was abducted, they could have distanced themselves from an ugly occurrence. But (Metallica frontman) James Hetfield called this house to speak to Dan (Harrington, Morgan's dad), as a father, and asked, 'What can we do?' Three years out, they are still doing things. James participated with the FBI and did public service announcements."

Metallica has also added $50,000 to the $100,000 reward already offered by the Harringtons for information on their daughter's murder, and invested another $50,000 in a scholarship named in her memory.

Yet another $40,000 from the sale of a special "Enter Sandman" T-shirt was donated in Harrington's name to a medical scholarship fund at Virginia Tech, where the victim was a student.

The case remains unsolved and Morgan's parents continue to press the investigation in the hope that the killer does not claim another victim.

Morgan vanished while hitchhiking home from the band's show on the Virginia Tech campus on October 17th, 2009. Her remains were found on a farm about 10 miles from the venue in January 2010.

Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo told us at the time how he felt when he first heard about the tragic incident: "I mean, I was crushed. Stuff like this just really, really bums me out, especially when you are a parent and you have children. I mean, it's the worst thing that you could ever imagine."

Although her killer is still at large, the FBI has used DNA evidence to link him to a 2005 sexual assault in Fairfax County. Authorities have not been able to identify the suspect but have released sketches of what he may look like.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Virginia State Police at 434-352-3467.