Metallica asks fans to help FBI catch concert killer

Metallica has recorded a public service video for the FBI to help law enforcement officials in Virginia catch a man who is suspected of killing a Virginia Tech student after one of the rock band's 2009 concerts.

In it, Metallica lead singer James Hetfield asks fans to assist Virginia State Police in their investigation into the death of Morgan Harrington, 20, who disappeared after a concert in Charlottesville. Harrington's remains were later found in a field 10 miles away.

"Remember, any information—no matter how small you might think it is—could be that crucial piece investigators need to help solve the case," Hetfield says in the video.

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The band is also offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case.

The suspect has been linked by DNA to a similar assault on a woman in Virginia, Hetfield said. According to the Associated Press, a woman walking home from a grocery story in 2005 "reported being grabbed from behind, dragged behind a maintenance shed and attacked."

A composite sketch of the suspect described by the woman in the 2005 attack is shown in the public service announcement—all part of an advertising blitz launched Wednesday by the FBI and local law enforcement.

Posters featuring the sketch and reward offer are being distributed at bus shelters along the East Coast, the FBI said.

Pueng Vongs contributed to this report.