Police: Man and missing UVa student Hannah Graham were at bar

'People saw Hannah, and people saw him, and people saw them together,' Longo said.

Longo described the man as black, 32 years old, 6-foot-2, 270 pounds and having dreadlocks - but would not identify him.

Hundreds of volunteers have signed up for a massive search today. Asked if he believed the 18-year-old Graham was still alive, Longo said he was 'hopeful.'

He said police believe Graham might have left the area with the man in his burnt orange 1998 Chrysler coupe.

'If you remember seeing that vehicle and seeing it drive away, we need to hear from you,' Longo said at a news conference.

He also urged anyone who might have seen the two at The Tempo, a bar and restaurant, to call police.

Longo stopped short of calling the man a suspect but said police are keeping an eye on him.

'We're very interested in learning more about his interactions with Hannah,' he said.

Late Wednesday, a witness who was seen following Graham as she walked on the mall just after 1 a.m. told police that he had followed her because she looked like she was in distress. But he told police that when he saw another man put his arm around her, he thought she was fine and left, police said.

Volunteers and law enforcement officers conduct a determined effort to find Hannah Graham, a University of Virginia student missing since the ...

The witness had given a description of the man who put his arm around Graham that is similar to Longo's description Friday of the man who was in the bar with Graham, but the witness said the man he saw had a close-shaved head. It is unclear whether these are two separate men.

Sgt. Jim Mooney, the lead investigating detective, said he spoke with the man Friday morning when police executed a search warrant at his apartment 'and I want to talk to him again.' He declined to say what the man told him.

Longo said police had previous contacts with the man, but he would not provide details.

According to the chief, some of the more than 400 tips police have received prompted their search of the vehicle and the off-campus apartment. He declined to say what evidence police collected.

However, he said the search of the car 'established probable cause' for the subsequent search of the apartment.

Until Friday, the search had focused primarily on Graham's movements the night of Sept. 12 and into the early morning hours of Sept. 13. The second-year student from Northern Virginia 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.

At 1:06 a.m. she texted friends that she was lost. She sent other texts, but police have said none of them reflected fear or panic.

Longo said he visited with Graham's parents just before Friday's news conference.

'They want their daughter back. They want to know what happened to their little girl. That's all,' he said.

U.Va. has notified students and faculty of at least three reports of sexual assaults near campus, based on information from Charlottesville police. But Longo said Friday that he has no reason to believe those incidents are related to Graham's disappearance.

The first one allegedly happened in the early morning hours of Sept. 13, the same morning Graham disappeared, according to the U.Va. police website, which provided no additional information.

A female U.Va. student also reported being sexually assaulted near Wertland Street in the early morning hours of the next day, Sunday, according to the university.

According to a statement from U.Va., a female also reportedly was sexually assaulted in the 200 block of 15th Street NW early Monday morning, and police found her unconscious.

Late Thursday, students and others turned out by the thousands for a vigil. Graham's disappearance has left many on edge.

U.Va. first-year students Anna Frazier of Reston and Jefferson Sheron of Herndon strolled the Downtown Mall on Friday afternoon .

'I feel safe on (U.Va.) grounds, but I wouldn't come downtown without Jefferson here,' Frazier said.

Sheron said Graham's disappearance increased his sense of responsibility to look out for his female friends.

Graham is at least the third young person to have disappeared from the Charlottesville area in recent years.

Morgan Harrington, a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student, disappeared from U.Va.'s John Paul Jones Arena while attending a rock concert in October 2009. Her remains were found three months later in rural Albemarle County. No arrests have been made.

Samantha Ann Clarke, 19, vanished after leaving her Orange County town house in September 2010.

DaShad Laquinn Smith, 19, who police have said was a man who often dressed like a woman, disappeared in Charlottesville in November 2012.