Dedication for slain Va. Tech student

A 20-year-old Roanoke woman who was last seen alive about a year ago at a concert at the University of Virginia will be remembered this weekend at the school.

Morgan Harrington disappeared Oct. 17, 2009, after leaving a Metallica concert. The Virginia Tech education major’s remains were found in January several miles away on an Albemarle County farm. No arrests have been made.

U.Va. officials say Harrington’s parents will speak Sunday afternoon at a dedication of a plaque on the bridge where she was last spotted. A screening of a documentary called “A Gift for the Village,” which is dedicated to her, also will be shown.

This spring, the Harringtons went to U.Va. to speak out against violence against women.

Harrington’s mother, Gil, said Thursday on NBC’s “Today” show that some of her daughter’s ashes went to Zambia this spring as part of a trip by Orphan Medical Network International, a group with which Gil Harrington volunteers. The group has helped build classrooms, and its founder, Karen ReMine, had an idea to build and dedicate new classrooms in Morgan’s name.

In April, Gil Harrington traveled to Zambia to break ground on the Morgan Dana Harrington educational wing. She sprinkled the ashes on the site of the building’s foundation.

-- Associated Press