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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...