Suspect charged in U.Va. student's disappearance

Update: Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. has been arrested.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Officials have obtained an arrest warrant in the case of missing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham.

In a news conference Tuesday evening, Charlottesville police said that Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr., previously named a person of interest, is now being sought for arrest on charges of abduction with intent to defile.

Authorities also said "we are absolutely continuing our search for Hannah," adding they hope to have some information in the next couple of days related to their case.

Until Tuesday afternoon, Matthew Jr. had not been charged in the disappearance of Graham, the second-year 18-year-old U.Va. student last seen in the early morning hours of Saturday, Sept. 13 -- ten days ago -- on or near Charlottesville's downtown pedestrian mall.

Officials said Tuesday, "we're at a critical stage."

On the night she disappeared, Graham, who came from England to Virginia at age 5, met friends at a restaurant for dinner, stopped by two parties at off-campus housing units and left the second party alone, police have said. 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.

Police have previously said Matthew was seen on surveillance video walking with Graham on the mall, and they believe she later went to a bar with him and may have been in his car when he left the area.