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Irina Yarmolenko's friends remember her as a young woman with a camera, rushing to make the most of every day. She wrote for the university's student newspaper, worked at a campus computer center and a local coffee shop, and was a roving amateur photographer. She loved poetry, music and the outdoors.

GASTON COUNTY, N.C. -- A jury found Mark Carver guilty of first-degree murder in the 2008 killing of a local college student. Carver was convicted in the death of 20-year-old Ira Yarmolenko, a UNC Charlotte student who was found dead near the banks of the Catawba River. Investigators said she was strangled. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Jurors began deliberating at about 1:30 p.m. Friday after hearing closing arguments. They reached a verdict shortly before noon on Monday. Carver’s trial began last Monday. He has said he is innocent. Forensic experts testified that...

A Mount Holly man who was scheduled to go to trial Monday for the 2008 murder of a UNC Charlotte student has reportedly died of a heart attack. Neal Leon Cassada Jr., 55, of Mount Holly, was to be tried on charges of felony conspiracy and first-degree murder for the death of Ira Yarmolenko. But that trial, which was expected to last about two weeks, will never happen now, said Gaston County District Attorney Locke Bell. Bell said he was notified by Gaston County Police Capt. Joe Ramey late Sunday morning that Cassada had died at home, where he was...

GASTONIA, N.C. -- Court documents filed Friday reveal more details in the death of a University of North Carolina at Charlotte student found dead along the banks of the Catawba River. Two men are charged in Ira Yarmolenko’s strangling in May 2008. Attorneys for Mark Carver and Neal Cassada Jr. have filed motions asking for modified bond for the suspects. Both were released from jail on bond and given house arrest in February 2009, a little more than two months after their December 2008 arrests. Carver’s request, filed early Friday, states that Yarmolenko, 20, was found lying on her back...

Mary Beth Sallaz hadn't made any friends at UNC Charlotte yet, but then Ira Yarmolenko walked into their bio statistics class one day and sat down at the desk in front of her. "She turned around and said, "Hi, what's your name?" She had a bubbly personality," Sallaz said. "She was my first friend at UNCC. She was the first person to speak to me." Yarmolenko took Sallaz under her wing during the first semester of 2008, introducing her to new people and showing her around campus. And on May 2, 2008 - Yarmolenko's 20th birthday - Sallaz said she...

MOUNT HOLLY, N.C. -- Two men have been arrested and charged with murder in the death of UNC-Charlotte student Irina Yarmolenko. Mark Bradley Carver and Neal Leon Cassada Jr. were arrested at about 4:30 a.m. Friday. They are charged with first-degree murder and felony conspiracy. Mount Holly police held a news conference on Friday morning, but investigators would not release details on what led to the arrests or a possible motive in the case. "This is a good day for all law enforcement involved in this case and our investigation continues to move forward," said Chief David Belk. "We hope...

As the year winds down, their sorrow and frustration stays fresh. Gaston- and Cleveland-area families are still searching for Jamie Fraley, Jennifer Rivkin and Mouy Tang – women missing for months; a brother is still looking for the killer who left his sister's body beside the Catawba River in Mount Holly; and Catawba County families are searching for Travis Baker and Wayne Conner. The burden of unanswered questions grows even heavier during the holiday season. “Holidays are awful for them,” said Joan Petruski, founder of the Charlotte-based Kristen Foundation, a national nonprofit that crusades for relatives of missing adults. “They...

Ira Yarmolenko's murder haunts her family so much that even the sight of children dressed in ghostly or gruesome costumes at Halloween touched a nerve, said her brother Pavel Yarmolenko. "There were kids knocking on the door and we didn't even have candy to give them. We just locked the door and turned off the lights," he said. "It became a strange holiday for us - all of the scary stuff; people in skeleton costumes walking around." With Thanksgiving approaching, the Yarmolenko family will gather for a meal, but for the first time in two decades Ira Yarmolenko won't be...

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,"...

Some of you may have heard about the murder of UNCC student Irina "Ira" Yarmolenko. She wasn't a close friend of mine, but during the time I knew her she probably poured me a gallon of coffee at the coffee shop where she works. She was murdered on May 3. The killer has not been found, and I'm not even sure if there are any leads. Any prayers for justice for her, and for comfort for her family would be greatly appreciated.

When 20-year-old Irina "Ira" Yarmolenko was found dead on the banks of the Catawba River in Mount Holly four months ago, members of the Gaston County Police Department were among the first on the scene. For one, Gaston County Police thought Yarmolenko's body might be in their jurisdiction and, second, the description of her body matched the description of another young woman that disappeared from Gastonia on April 8 - Jamie Michelle Fraley. Gaston County Police Sgt. Christie Rhoney said investigators searching for Fraley have compared notes with Mount Holly investigators looking for Yarmolenko's killer and Gastonia detectives searching for...

CHAPEL HILL - Even after she went to Charlotte for school, Irina "Ira" Yarmolenko spoke to her mother, Yelena, almost every day. On May 4, the pair made plans for Ira to return home to Chapel Hill that week. She had just turned 20 but couldn't come any sooner because of exams. Expecting to hear from her the next day, Yelena Yarmolenko instead got a knock on the door at dinnertime from a police officer: Her daughter's body had been found on the banks of the Catawba River next to her car. "I don't think what I'm living is called...

An agent with the State Bureau of Investigation recently told the Yarmolenko family that evidence in the unsolved murder of Irina "Ira" Yarmolenko isn't sitting on a shelf. The slain UNC Charlotte student was found dead on the banks of the Catawba River in Mount Holly on May 5. After three months, Pavel Yarmolenko said the conversation with the SBI was somewhat comforting to his grieving family. But he said they don't know if the state has found forensic evidence or DNA that might lead police to a killer. "They are working actively on DNA analysis," Pavel Yarmolenko said. "That's...

CHARLOTTE -- The brother of murdered UNC Charlotte student Irina Yarmolenko says someone has recently vandalized her gravesite. Pavel Yarmolenko says flowers planted at his sister’s grave in Chapel Hill were dug up. The UNCC student was found dead along the banks of the Catawba River around the first of May. Her death is still being investigated as a homicide, after the cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation. No arrests have been made, and a $15,000 reward is being offered for any information which leads to the arrest and the conviction of the person or persons responsible.

Appealing to the conscience of the person responsible for killing his 20-year-old sister could be futile, said Pavel Yarmolenko. But Yarmolenko appealed directly to the killer in a statement delivered to the media Thursday. He said he believes the killer of his younger sister Ira Yarmolenko has been watching the news and has learned a lot about his sister, her life and her character. "I think some of those messages have reached him. I can't help but think that he would be tormented by it," Yarmolenko said. "If not, he should be." The body UNC Charlotte student Ira Yarmolenko was...

A reward for information leading police to the killer of UNC Charlotte student Irina "Ira" Yarmolenko increased to $15,000 Tuesday, thanks to a contribution from Gov. Mike Easley's office. Two passing jet skiers found the body of Yarmolenko lying next to her crashed car on the banks of the Catawba River in Mount Holly May 5, three days after her 20th birthday. Mount Holly detectives have not identified any suspects. Police are awaiting the results of crime scene evidence analyzed at the state's laboratory. That evidence or new information received in response to rewards from the state and UNC Charlotte...

Charlotte, N.C. — The family of a slain University of North Carolina at Charlotte student found one-month ago said Thursday it has been agonizing waiting to find out why the student was killed. Irina Yarmolenko, who is from Chapel Hill, was found dead on the banks of the Catawba River in Mount Holly on May 5.

Ira Yarmolenko's mother, older brother and cousin journeyed into the woods along the Catawba River for the first time Tuesday to see the spot where the slain UNC Charlotte student was found dead May 5. Brother Pavel Yarmolenko, a graduate student at Duke University, said he appreciated a memorial placed on the riverbank by two jet skiers that found her body - Dennis Lovelace and Brenda Pierce. Yet somehow the crime scene - a grassy slope rising up from the tranquil river - could not convey the horror of his sister's final moments. "I don't know if I felt any...

Police have evidence that slain UNC Charlotte student Ira Yarmolenko was with a possible suspect when she arrived in Mount Holly on May 5, according to her brother Pavel Yarmolenko. Pavel Yarmolenko would not discuss details of evidence, such as whether a witness saw his 20-year-old sister with a possible suspect somewhere in Mount Holly. In the two weeks since Ira Yarmolenko was killed, police have not disclosed any evidence of her whereabouts between 10:50 a.m., when she was seen at Jackson's Java near campus, and 1:15 p.m., when two jet skiers found her body on the banks of the...

Irina "Ira" Yarmolenko had a sunny spirit, a quick smile and friends everywhere she went. She wasn't supposed to die at age 20, friends and family said. The UNC Charlotte sophomore was found Monday next to her car on the banks of the Catawba River in Mount Holly. On Wednesday evening, police still did not know how Yarmolenko died and how she ended up so far from campus. Tonight, her friends will honor her with a candlelight vigil. Yarmolenko was born in the Ukraine but grew up in Chapel Hill. Her brother, Pavel Yarmolenko, 25, said their family moved to...