UNC Charlotte student found dead on the Catawba River

Ramblings
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tonight on Foxnews, Greta Van Sustren was down on the Catawba River with the police chief of Mt Holly where they found her, then they went to her car in custody

sounds like they have 0 leads

Yeah, the police really don’t have anything solid.
http://www.gastongazette.com/news/yarmolenko_20435___article.html/belk_police.html

They say that she made a deposit and a withdrawal at the credit union she went to. That just seems weird, unless it’s depositing a check and getting cash back. But, I don’t think that’s considered a withdrawal.

And it doesn’t look too good really. They say it looks like she struggled on the banks of the river.

“We’d certainly like to think that we have some strong leads and they are following them, but I don’t want to mislead you, there is nothing that shows we’ll have an arrest in the next little bit,” Belk said.

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[QUOTE=49timesthelovin;319466]Sounds like the kind of thing John Walsh would come to town for.[/QUOTE]

He just helped get his 1,000th suspect since AMW began airing. I hope the police find the killer before he would have to get involved.

Anybody know what she was doing there or if she frequented the location? Seems like a strange place to go by oneself.

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Anybody know what she was doing there or if she frequented the location? Seems like a strange place to go by oneself.

Her friends have no idea at all why she would have been in this area. The place she was found was about half a mile off of a paved road, and you’d really have to know that area to know about this road. In fact, rescuers didn’t even know about it at first. They think she was taken against her will at some prior point to this and taken to this spot.

She went to her bank about 10:20 a.m., made a deposit and a withdrawal, then was last seen leaving Jackson’s Java at 10:50. Figure in a 30-40 minute drive from campus to there, with her body being found about 1:15 p.m., and that leaves a small window of time.

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I’ve also read that she had a friend in Mount Holly that she was known to visit. I don’t know why there are conflicting stories about this.

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I've also read that she had a friend in Mount Holly that she was known to visit. I don't know why there are conflicting stories about this.

I read that somewhere too. But even then, it said, it wasn’t really near this spot and she wouldn’t have had a reason to be near here.

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http://www.gastongazette.com/news/ira_20483___article.html/car_police.html

[B]Here’s the latest from Mount Holly Police Chief David Belk:[/B]
Detectives have interviewed Ira’s former boyfriends, but none of them have been identified as suspects.
When her body was discovered by jet skiers, both the driver’s door and the passenger-side door on the backseat of Ira’s blue Saturn were open.
Her body was lying parallel to the driver side of the vehicle with her feet toward the edge of water.
Ira did not have chest injuries from the impact of her car crashing. Her car crashed into a stump at the bottom of a steep hill near the river’s edge. But, Belk said, that doesn’t mean she wasn’t sitting behind the wheel.
The air bags did not deploy when her car crashed and there was no damage to the windshield.
Evidence suggests that the front wheels of the car remained in motion after it crashed, indicating that the car was on and the transmission was in gear.
Mount Holly police have requested additional assistance from the SBI to conduct more interviews at the UNC Charlotte campus and in the Chapel Hill area, where Ira was originally from.
Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Charlotte are discussing a possible reward for information leading to the arrest of Ira’s killer.

[B]HERE’S WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW[/B]
The Crime Scene and the search for the suspect
To get to the crime scene, Ira’s car traveled from N.C. 273, through a housing development to a bumpy dirt road running into the woods. From there, her car traveled down a steep embankment where it crashed.
Police officers have not made any arrests or identified any possible suspects in their investigation. And they have not discussed any likely motives for her murder. They said there is no evidence showing that robbery was a motive.
At this time, police have not said whether they think someone acquainted with Ira or a random stranger killed her.

[B]THE TIMELINE[/B]
On the day of her murder, Ira was seen on campus at 9:45 a.m., after taking an exam.
She stopped at a credit union near campus to make a deposit and small withdrawal at 10:17 a.m.
At about 10:35 a.m., she stopped at Goodwill to donate items.
Ira was last seen at 10:50 a.m., when she left Jackson’s Java, a café near campus where she worked and often hung out.
Ira’s body was discovered shortly after 1 p.m. in Mount Holly, which is about a 30-minute drive from Jackson’s Java.

[B]THE JET SKIERS’ DISCOVERY[/B]
Two jet skiers - Dennis Lovelace and Brenda Pierce - found Ira’s body after they saw her car crashed on the riverbank.
According to Lovelace, Ira’s clothing had not been removed. The tall grass had been knocked down in an area about 8 feet in diameter surrounding her body, which gave the appearance that she struggled with the killer there, Lovelace said.

[B]IRA YARMOLENKO[/B]
Ira was born May 2, 1988. She was killed three days after her 20th birthday. Her family moved to the U.S. from Ukraine in 1996, according to her brother Pavel Yarmolenko. At the time, young Ira did not speak English.
She grew up in Chapel Hill, where her family lives. Her parents are scientists; her father works in Greensboro and her mother in the Research Triangle. Her brother is a graduate student at Duke University, studying biomedical engineering.
Ira has been described as an artist, a poet and a gifted student. She was a photographer and reporter for the UNC Charlotte campus newspaper University Times. And she worked at Jackson’s Java, a café close to campus.
She had been accepted to UNC Chapel Hill and had plans to transfer there, where she was hoping to major in public health.

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[URL=http://www.publicrelations.uncc.edu/default.asp?id=33&objId=1][B][U]Reward Offered in Off-Campus Student Death[/U][/B][/URL], UNC Charlotte
[URL=http://www.charlotte.com/breaking_news/story/625914.html][B][U]Reward offered in UNCC slaying[/U][/B][/URL], Charlotte Observer

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I hope they find the bastard that did this.

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tough to read…

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I don’t know how her parents function

I really don’t

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So sad. I cant even imagine what the family feels like.

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Latest…

http://www.charlotte.com/109/story/626457.html

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Surveillance video released…

http://www.charlotte.com/109/story/627087.html

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A little bit of an update that’s a little promising…
[URL]http://www.gastongazette.com/news/yarmolenko_20684___article.html/pavel_police.html[/URL]

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 Catawba River in Mount Holly.

“There’s certainly evidence,” Pavel Yarmolenko said Sunday. “The police have evidence she was with someone when she came into Mount Holly. And I’m sure that will become evident very soon.”

Ira Yarmolenko’s body was found lying next to her dark-blue Saturn, which had traveled into the woods behind the Stowe Family YMCA and Water’s Edge Development and then down a steep embankment, where it crashed into stump a few feet from the river. She died of asphyxiation, according to police.

Her older brother Pavel, who is a graduate student at Duke University, said his family is not privy to every detail in the case.
Pavel Yarmolenko said he isn’t certain of the killer’s identity, but he thinks the killer is a man, who was a stranger or not very familiar with his sister.

“By knowing my sister, I can’t imagine that she had a conflict with anybody that she couldn’t defuse.”

The police are being very careful about the details of the investigation that they release to the public, Pavel Yarmolenko said.

While he doesn’t know exactly how close detectives are to his sister’s killer, Pavel said he definitely doesn’t think the trail is getting cold.

“I think police have a very good idea,” Pavel Yarmolenko said

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[QUOTE=Gill2003;320059]So sad. I cant even imagine what the family feels like.[/QUOTE]

:frowning:

This seriously seems like a case on Law & Order. No leads, no conclusive evidence. I hope they figure it out quick. Too many of our own have died lately.

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Police apparently have some new leads on the case…

[URL]http://www.gastongazette.com/news/belk_20787___article.html/public_holly.html[/URL]

Detectives are following new leads in the search for Ira Yarmolenko’s killer this week, according to Mount Holly Police Chief David Belk.

These leads were generated with help from the public, Belk said. Several people have called in tips since police released surveillance video of the slain UNC

Charlotte student making a donation at Goodwill on May 5 about three hours before she was found dead on the banks of the Catawba River in Mount Holly.

But, Belk hasn’t said anything else about the investigation since last Friday when the video was made public.
“Since the release of surveillance video from Goodwill, Mount Holly police have received several calls from the public with information regarding this case,” Belk said in a prepared statement. “We are continuing to follow up on the information that the public has provided to us.”

Yarmolenko, who turned 20 three days before her death, stopped at the Goodwill to donate some items at about 10:17 a.m. May 5. She was seen 30 minutes later at Jackson’s Java, an off-campus café where she worked.
Shortly after 1 p.m., two jet skiers found Yarmolenko’s body, beside the open driver-side door on her dark blue Saturn. The Saturn traveled into a wooded area behind the Stowe Family YMCA and Water’s Edge development, then down a steep embankment, crashing into a stump a few feet from the river.

Police have not said if they’re getting close to an arrest. Mount Holly has six officers dedicated to the investigation, which does not include assisting SBI agents and medical examiners, according to Mount Holly spokeswoman Leslie Shiel.

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$5,000 more offered for reward…

http://www.charlotte.com/112/story/674121.html

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Beyond 30 days, the odds of finding someone in a case like this go way, way down. Unfortunately, I don’t think they’re going to find the killer in this one unless the killer admits to it or someone close gives up information they’re sitting on.

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I hope they catch the bastard.
Usually these cases open up because usually the killer is dumb enough to brag. Let’s hope he or she does something stupid to get caught.

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Nothing much, but a little new imformation…

"According to data retrieved from her car’s black box, someone was sitting in the driver’s seat when the vehicle, a blue four-door 1998 Saturn, went down the embankment.

The speed at the time of impact was estimated at 15 mph. In addition, the driver’s side seat belt was engaged at that time.

Finally, the black box revealed that someone started Ira’s car at the scene.

“We are continuing to work with the SBI and FBI in analyzing data and evidence,” said Chief David Belk. “It is slow and arduous task and we hope that the final results provide us with more information.”

[URL]http://www.gastongazette.com/news/mount_22229___article.html/holly_police.html[/URL]

Am I the only one that didn’t know cars had this kind of “black box” technology?