Community has helped mother of slain student
Published: Sat, Aug. 09, 2008 12:30AM
Modified Sat, Aug. 09, 2008 01:27AM
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closeCHAPEL 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.
REWARD OFFERED
There is a $15,000 reward for information on the murder of Irina Yarmolenko. Call the Mount Holly Police Department at (704) 827-4343 or UNC-Charlotte police at (704) 687-2200.
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"I don't think what I'm living is called life anymore," she said.
In her first extended interview since her daughter's murder, Yelena Yarmolenko talked about the difficulties of emigrating from Ukraine to give her children a better life, the almost too-carefree attitude of her daughter, and why, despite everything, she's still glad to be in Chapel Hill.
"Without this community, it would be impossible to survive," she said.
Mount Holly police say Irina was asphyxiated. They have made no arrests.
sadia.latifi@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4768
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