Police seeking student’s former boyfriend
Slain woman had obtained PFA order
Pittsburgh police were looking for the ex-boyfriend of a slain University of Pittsburgh student who obtained a protection-from-abuse order against him last month.
Detectives on Monday asked the public for help in finding Matthew Darby, 21, of Greensburg, who was arrested Sept. 26 and charged with a felony count of criminal trespass for allegedly breaking into Alina Sheykhet’s apartment on Cable Place in Oakland six days earlier.
Ms. Sheykhet’s parents found her body Sunday morning in her second-floor apartment. An autopsy determined she died from “sharp/blunt trauma of the head.”
In announcing Monday afternoon that detectives were aware of the restraining order filed against Mr. Darby, police said, “At this point in the investigation, he has not been charged in the homicide.”
Police did not specify why they were seeking Mr. Darby. Investigators had not announced any suspect, motive or charges inMs. Sheykhet’s death.
Mr. Darby’s $10,000 bail was revoked Sunday for an unspecified violation of bail release conditions. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 17.
Mr. Darby’s attorney, David J. Schrager, would say only, “We are conducting a thorough investigation of all the facts, but until I’m in possession of all the facts, I could not adequately advise my client. I’m hoping to able to have more information [Tuesday].”
In the restraining order request, Ms. Sheykhet, 20, wrote that Mr. Darby “climbed up the gutter on the side of the house and broke through the secondfloor window of my home. He did this because I left him and stopped answering his phone calls.”
Ms. Sheykhet listed “grabbing” and “pushing” as prior incidents of abuse and described Mr. Darby as emotionally abusive, jealous and controlling.
Under the terms of the temporary restraining order, which was granted, Mr. Darby was forbidden to come to Ms. Sheykhet’s home. A hearing on the temporary protection-fromabuse order was scheduled for last week but was postponed
until Oct. 19 because he had not been served.
Mr. Darby also is awaiting trial in Indiana County on charges of rape and other sexual assault offenses. Those charges were filed in March by Indiana police. He posted the $10,000 bond in that case in March.
According to her friends and the university, Ms. Sheykhet had transferred to Pitt’s main campus this fall after spending her freshman and sophomore years at the university’s Greensburg campus. Mr. Darby also attended PittGreensburg but had withdrawn from the branch campus recently, a Pitt spokesman said.
Pittsburgh’s police chief said Monday that the homicide does not appear to be random.
“We do not believe at this time that this was a random act of violence,” Chief Scott Schubert said in a statement. “There is no continued threat to Oakland residents and the university communities.”
Chief Schubert would not provide additional information about Ms. Sheykhet’s death, saying, “releasing additional details at this time could be detrimental to the investigation.”
Ms. Sheykhet’s body was found just before 9 a.m. Sunday in the 3500 block of Cable Place. On Monday, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office ruled the death a homicide and confirmed the cause of death.
A city police spokeswoman would not comment on why police believe there is no danger to Oakland residents or the university communities with a presumed homicide suspect at large, repeating that, “We do not believe this is a random act of violence.”
Ms. Sheykhet’s body was found by her father, Yan, who said he and his wife were picking her up to go to a breast cancer awareness walk.
“She didn’t answer the phone. She didn’t text us,” Mr. Sheykhet said Monday during a brief phone interview. “So we tried to open the door. It was locked. I pushed the door and I found her laying on the floor.”
Mr. Sheykhet said he dropped his daughter off at her Cable Place apartment around 11 p.m. the night before after she finished work at the Hilton Garden Inn in Oakland.
He called her “the best person in the world,” and said she excelled at dancing, singingand gymnastics.
According to Ms. Sheykhet’s Facebook page, she was a native of Ivanovo, Russia, a town about 40 miles west of Moscow.
Many of Ms. Sheykhet’s friends, shocked over her death, shared fond memories of her.
“I could go on and on about how much of a wonderful person she is,” said Mark Schlaegle, a former classmate at Montour High School and friend. “Alina was the most beautiful, open-minded, talented, careful person.”
Mr. Schlaegle said he and Ms. Sheykhet performed in musicals and danced together outside of school.
Hunter Smith, a Slippery Rock University student who had known Ms. Sheykhet since middle school, said she was “probably the funniest girl I’ve ever met.”
“Everyone gravitated toward her because she was so nice and so kind,” Mr. Smith said. “She was always the one looking to have fun.”
Cable Place is a two-block street that connects Atwood and Semple streets. What appeared to be a two-story apartment building on Cable was blocked off by yellow crime scene tape late Sunday afternoon while a police officer walked around the perimeter.
Pitt spokesman Joe Miksch released a statement Sunday saying “our campus is saddened and extends its deepest sympathies to the student’s family and those who knew her.” Citing the police, he said “the situation, which occurred off campus, provides [no] further threat to the university community.”
Police are asking anyone with information about Mr. Darby to call 412-323-7800.