Posted on 10/01/2008 7:01:48 AM PDT by murdoog
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- His sister's murder remains a mystery five months after her body was found on the banks of the Catawba River.
Irina Yarmolenko, a 20-year-old UNC-Charlotte student, was killed in May.
On Tuesday night, her brother met with students on campus to talk about the status of the case and their fears, because her killer still hasn't been caught.
Pavel Yarmolenko stood at a college lectern with images of his murdered sister playing on the screen behind him. He is a devastated older brother.
"I’m just kind of going on, thinking about it pretty much all the time," he said.
He is desperately trying to find his sister's killer.
“As a family, we're pretty hopeful the killer will be caught,” he said.
Irina Yarmolenko, Ira to those who knew her, was a beautiful student who loved music, the outdoors and people.
Her roommate and best friend said, “She saw the best in everybody.”
Close friends and her brother worry that might have led to her death. They wonder if a stalker could have kidnapped Yarmolenko and then drove her car towards the river where it was found in Mount Holly.
“Anything is possible,” her roommate said.
It's one of the things they talked about Tuesday night as her brother led an open discussion, remembering the 20-year-old and hoping to get others to remember something that could help lead to her killer.
“It could be just nothing, but the important thing is, those little nothings could enlighten the case significantly,” he told the crowd of former classmates at the Belk Theatre.
Mount Holly's police chief says the murder is an active case, but there's been nothing new in about a month.
That has Pavel Yarmolenko working beside police on his own mission.
“Overall it's the thought that’s running constantly at the back of my mind -- it will go on until this guy is caught,” he said.
Anyone who has information on the Yarmolenko case is asked to call the Mount Holly Police Department at 704-827-4343 or UNC Charlotte Police at 704-687-2200.
10-1 its a gang member.
Who knows? Areas around college campuses are notoriously unsafe.
From the Charlotte News comments page http://www.topix.com/forum/charlotte/T7TJ6BIG9TM4QST65
Pavel Yarmolenko:
“Thank you all for your comments. This is something we need to do to fight most crime, not specifically happened to my sister, in case people want to leap to judgements about how this comment pertains to the case.
I believe that until we all get up and reach out to the poor, crime-ridden neighborhoods, tragedies like my sister’s murder will be frequent. Sure, we can be afraid and concerned for the safety of our loved ones. Sure, we can take preventative measures... But the bottom line is that we have a problem in our social fabric. The only way we can fix it is to help some of the people who want to climb out of poverty to do just that. I’ve been thinking about how much time we all waste lately, and if we just put 10 minutes of our off time into helping our community instead of watching TV or playing video games we can make a world of difference. Ira really knew how important this approach is... I didn’t, but man, was she right!”
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(In response to other comments pointing out that “filthy hood rats” had been responsible for a number of other college girl killings in the area).
I guess Pavel has been indoctrinated even more effectively here than he would have been growing up in the old country back in the day.
Gang initiation.
Becoming more commonplace.
Random, innocent people being killed so some punk can get some “street cred”
I suggest all citizens buy a concealable firearm, become proficient with using it and carry it with you at all times, even if your state does not allow CC, like CA
Well, CA does, but only for people like Sean Penn.
I’d rather be charged with a Felony then end up dying on the street because some punk, possibly here illegally, wanted to make a name for himself with his fellow hoodlums.
the reason they have to kill is because once you kill somebody they can trust you. There is NO statute of limitation on murder. It isn't just for kicks, but for a way of proving you are ready to be a real soldier. The gang has that murder on you in case you decide you don't want to be a gang banger after you're in.
Blood in-Blood out. them's the rules.
I knew Ira and live near the area where she was last seen.
While there is a lot of section 8 housing around here that breeds a lot of crime, I tend not to think it was a “hood rat”. I really believe that if it was, he would have been caught by now (ala Eve Carson’s killers.) This seems to have been done by a much more sophisticated criminal.
Sigh, in which case I wonder how long it will be before someone starts connecting various dots here and there and proclaims we have a new Ted Bundy.
Recall all that noise over the “Smiley-face killer” who was drowning drunk college boys in towns up and down the Mississippi-Missouri river. Whatever became of that?
I thought of Irina today when I was waiting to pick Anoreth up at Central Piedmont CC. (I’d borrowed her car for the morning.) At least four girls passed with obviously Russian or Ukrainian features - beautiful girls, all smiled back when I smiled at them.
That sounds just like Ira.
BTW, thanks for your consistent participation in these threads. Every bump helps.
I didn’t know her, but I’m sure I would have liked to. And aside from caring about any nice young girl who is murdered, an unsolved major crime in this (general) area affects me, too. It could just as easily have been Matthews, where my daughter goes to school, as Mount Holly.
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