True Crime With Caledonian Kitty : October 2020

The Atlanta Monster (28 victims?): Wayne Williams

(Wayne Williams back then. Picture credit: Oxygen)

Fans (and I'm one of them) may recognise the name 'Wayne Williams's from the Netflix series Mindhunter but for those who are not familiar with his story, I've decided to cover him and the Atlanta murders in this week's post.

I've had Wayne Williams on my list of cases to cover for quite a while and I've been looking back over the case this past week and how people to this day are divided in their opinions about him. Wayne is often listed as a Serial Killer and is said to have been responsible for at least 28+ victims, most of whom were children. His killing spree is on record to have taken place from 1979 to 1981. You may know this case as ''The Atlanta Child Murders'' but some of Wayne's alleged victims were adults. Some people believe that the reason Wayne murdered the older victims was because he must have mistaken them for children as they looked young for their age.

Wayne is alive and well today and still behind bars but who is he? What was he alleged to have done, how was he brought to justice and is this case really closed? These are questions that I am going to answer in this post and leave it for you to decide.

Wayne Bertram Williams was born on the 27th of May 1958 in an area known as Dixie Hills in Atlanta. He lived most of his life there and was known around the neighbourhood as a bit of a fantasist who would often make up lies in order to gain attention. His childhood was said to have been a normal one, he got on well with his parents, Faye and Homer. Both of his parents were teachers and he had dreams of being famous in the music industry and had designs on being a DJ. His parents allowed him to set up his own makeshift radio station in their house which he was still living in at the time of his arrest.

There had been rumours around the neighbourhood for years that Wayne was homosexual but he never came out publicly to confirm this. Wayne was known for 'scouting' local talent and would hand out fliers offering to help aspiring musicians and singers to record demos and get into the music industry.

Wayne just seemed like any other loner who had big dreams and a far fetched imagination, people thought he was harmless but in July 1979 fear struck the local neighbourhood. All of a sudden young black children were being snatched off the street, murdered and their remains found weeks and months later in rivers and wooded areas often resulting in cases where cause of death could not be determined because the bodies had been left undiscovered for so long.

Mothers were terrified, they kept their children indoors, took them out of school and begged the police to do something because they believed there was a serial killer on the loose. It annoys me to say that the police didn't listen to the concerns of the black community in the beginning and this brought into question was it a race issue? There was a belief back then and in many cases today that the police didn't act as they should have done because the children happened to be black. It got to the point where there was murders happening every other week and the police had no choice but to fully investigate.

Nobody had any idea who was killing these children and why all of the victims were black. In the beginning some people believed it must have been some crazy racist white guy but then they came to the conclusion that a white guy would have stuck out around the local neighbourhoods, people would have noticed something. Some witnesses came forward to say that they saw one of the victims get into a car with two black men. Criminal Profiler John Douglas believed the murders of the children to have been committed by a young black male.

Investigators tried to gather as much evidence from the victims remains as they could and a lot of carpet fibers and Dog hairs were found. More than 100 investigators were working on the case and decided to do a stake out of all of the local bridges believing that the killer would strike again and dispose of a body in the water as many victims had previously been found in the Chattahoochee River.

On the 22nd of May 1981, an investigator who was down by the James Jackson Parkway Bridge suddenly heard a big splash in the water around 2:50 am followed by some car lights on the bridge. The car which belonged to 23 year old Wayne Williams was eventually stopped and he was grilled by police for two hours. Wayne told them that he was going to meet a woman who he was helping with a demo tape. The police later found no record of this lady's existence. Believe it or not, they let him go. In the river at that time there was no sign of a body and it was too dark to do a proper search at that time.

Two days later, the nude body of a 27 year old man by the name of Nathaniel Cater was found not far from where the splash was heard in the river by two young boys fishing. Nathaniel had died as the result of asphyxia, there was also a bullet wound to his shoulder and he was identified from his finger prints. To the shock of the local people in the neighbourhood, Wayne was the prime suspect. A witness had came forward to say that they saw Nathaniel and Wayne holding hands, kissing and walking outside of a movie theatre a few hours before the police officer had heard the splash in the river. The police put two and two together and gathered that the splash was Wayne disposing of Nathaniel's body.

People were shocked that the son of two well respected school teachers could have done this. Wayne failed three polygraph tests and fibers that were found on the victims matched the fibers that were in his car, the family home and the William's dog.

The police believed that they had their guy and he was put to trial on the 6th of January 1982. The trial relied heavily on the witness statements and the fibers that were found on the victims that matched fibers in the Williams family home, dog and car. He was suspected to have been responsible for the majority if not all of the murders but as some victims had been badly decomposed there was no way of telling if there was any connection to him, all they had to go on was that there was a pattern in the murders. How the victims were killed, the fibers on some of the bodies and where the bodies were placed.

On the 27th of February 1982 the verdict was in after 11 hours of deliberation of a jury of 9 women and 3 men (said to have been made up of 8 African Americans and 4 Caucasians) and they believed that Wayne was 100% guilty of the deaths of Nathaniel Cater (27) and Jimmy Ray Payne (21). The Jury and the police believed that he was responsible for more deaths but as mentioned before, a lot of the bodies were too far decomposed to determine the exact cause of death. Wayne was sentenced to two consecutive life terms.

Some people were happy with the verdict, others felt that Wayne was an innocent man who was stitched up by the police as there was pressure on them from the black community to find the murderer. As soon as Wayne was captured, the murders suddenly stopped.

(Wayne Williams today. Picture credit: CNN)

Wayne is 62 years old and still behind bars, he claims he is innocent and is willing to partake in any new investigation. He was recently denied parole in 2019 and is said to be eligible to try again for it in 2027.

John Douglas who claimed that he believed that the child murders had all been carried out by a young black male also believed that Wayne had not been responsible for all of the murders. There was a lot of rumours going around at that time that the KKK may have been responsible for some of the murders. Witnesses claimed that they had heard that the KKK were planning to start a race war and had plans to target children and women.

A number of books have been written about the case as well as a TV series. Wayne himself has been interviewed. I have included links below with articles and documentaries, news reports etc that you may find interesting to dig into yourself, see what you think.

RIP to all of the people who were murdered in Atlanta. I hope there will be justice for every single one of them one day.

(Are all of these tragic young people the victims of Wayne Williams? I hope they rest in peace and justice is found for them and their families. Picture credit: CNN)

Further reading & sources:

- The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers (Second Edition) | Michael Newton

- Wayne Williams | Murderpedia

- Wayne Williams Documentary

- Wayne Williams Interview

- Wayne Williams 1980s Footage

- Wayne Williams | Wikipedia

- The Atlanta Murders | CNN

Take care as always, thank you for taking the time to check out my post and I hope you will join me in the next one x

The Bodies In The Ice Box | Charles Frederick Rogers

(Investigator posing with the fridge where Fred and Edwina's remains were found. Picture credit: houstoniamag)

When it comes to unsolved cases, this is one of those stories that has so many theories around it that it's hard to tell what is exactly fact and what is fiction. I have a long list of cases that I will be covering in future posts and this story just happened to be on the list so this week I wanted to go for a case which left a lot of questions behind it.

You'll see as the story goes on, its quite obvious who the murderer was but the circumstances were not that simple so let's get into it....

In 1965 an elderly couple by the name of Fred and Edwina Rogers were living with their son Charles, at a house he owned in an area called Montrose in Houston, Texas. Charles was unemployed and in his 40s and the relationship between himself and his parents had always been rocky. Fred and Edwina had been together for 50 years and they also had a daughter, Betty who had sadly passed away years before.

To anyone looking in, Fred and Edwina were just a quiet, ordinary couple but behind closed doors they were said to have abused Charles both physically and psychologically and this had been going on since he was a child. The couple would also commit acts of fraud and often used Charles name to open various accounts without his knowledge, eventually he would find out about the scams and he'd have to pay back the money that was owed. There's no record of him ever reporting his parents to the authorities for this but it did further deepen the resentment he had towards them.

(Fred and Edwina Rogers. Picture credit: houstoniamag)

Charles would communicate with his parents through notes that would be pushed under his bedroom door. Charles was never seen by the neighbours, they assumed that Fred and Edwina lived alone in the house this was because Charles would often leave the house early in the morning and return at night. Some believe he communicated to his parents with notes because either it was due to him leaving the house so early in the morning whilst they were asleep or that he just simply didn't want to talk to them.

As I mentioned before, Charles was single, in his 40s, unemployed and lived with his parents but before this he had quite an interesting background. He was a very intelligent man who had friends in high places and gained a Bachelor of Science degree in nuclear physics and he had a very keen interest in amateur radio. He could speak several different languages and had spells as a pilot in the US Navy as well as serving in the Office of Naval Intelligence.

He worked as a very successful seismologist for Shell Oil and had a natural talent for finding oil, gas and gold, making the companies that he worked for quite a lot of money. He was a very sought after individual, everyone wanted Charles to come and work for them and he was making quite a lot of money. To anyone looking in, Charles seemed to have it all having such a successful career and steady, decent income. The only thing that seemed to be missing in Charles life was a long term relationship. He was a handsome man but for some reason the romantic relationships only ever lasted short term.

(Charles Frederick Rogers. Picture credit: medium)

In 1957 Charles made a shocking decision out of the blue, he decided that after 9 years working for Shell Oil that he was going to just quit, just like that! No explanation, no warning, just quit his job, walked away from an amazing salary and his friends and colleagues were dumbfounded and couldn't figure out why as he had always enjoyed his work.

So from 1957 to 1965 he was living with his parents and what nobody knew was that Charles had endured years of abuse from both his mother and his father. The abuse from his father was also said to have been sexual. On the 20th of June 1965, Charles finally snapped, June the 20th was Father's Day and instead of just packing his bags and leaving, he decided to murder his parents. This case is often put down as ''unsolved'' or ''Charles is the number one suspect but we can't be 100% sure'' but I think it's pretty obvious what happened if you follow the details of the case.

Before I continue, you may want to skip over this part as it is quite gruesome.

Fred was attacked with a claw hammer, his eyes had been gouged out and his penis had been removed. Edwina had been brutally beaten and shot in the head. As if this horrific murder of two elderly people was not enough, the bodies were then taken upstairs to the bathroom where they were dismembered. Some of their remains were put in the fridge (their heads were placed in the vegetable compartment) and the rest were cut up and flushed down the toilet.

All of this must have taken some time and all in the same house which further adds to the belief that Charles had committed these horrific murders. The killer knew their way around the house and the anger in which the murders were carried out. To gouge out the eyes and remove the penis of one victim? Some people believe that Charles had done this as an act of revenge for the alleged years of sexual abuse at the hands of his father and for the murders to have taken place on Father's day too, it all seemed so personal.

On the 23rd of June the police went to the house after a concerned relative contacted them after they hadn't been able to get through to Fred and Edwina on the phone for a couple of days. After receiving no response to their knocks on the door, the police forced their way into the home. Someone had stacked plant pots up against the door in what looked like an attempt to add some weight against the door so nobody could get in.

The house was quiet, there was no noise, no response to the police. The house looked clean, nothing looked out of place but they did notice a plate of food on the kitchen counter that didn't look stale which gave them the impression that someone must have been there recently.

One of the officers decided on a whim to look in the fridge where he saw what looked like pieces of dead hog meat all stacked up on top of each other, it had no packaging on it, he was just about to close the fridge door when he spotted what looked like human heads in the vegetable compartment.

Just like in the Dennis Nielsen case (who I'm sure you have probably thought of as you've been reading these last few lines) the drains outside were starting to back up. The police removed the remains from the fridge and the drains. Charles was still nowhere to be seen and no note was left behind, he simply vanished. There was a little blood that was found leading to his bedroom and a keyhole chainsaw with blood on it.

Back in the 60s they didn't have the technology and DNA science that we have today so the police did the best they could with what they had. No trace of Charles was ever found, appeals were made but they came to nothing. 10 years after his death he was declared dead so his estate could be probated.

(Newspaper article about the case. Picture credit: Unknown newspaper source)

So what happened to Charles?

This is where the number of theories come in. I'll let you come to your own conclusion...

There was a book released in 1992 called 'The Man on The Grassy Knoll', written by two men named John R. Craig and Phillip A Rogers (no relation) and in their book and investigation into Charles, they concluded that Charles was a CIA agent who had been one of the two shooters involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy before fleeing to Guatemala. They concluded that Charles murdered his parents because his mother had been monitoring his phonecalls and catching onto his plans.

A couple who had been following the case for years and did their own research into Charles (Hugh and Martha Gardenier, they also wrote a book about the case 'The Ice Box Murders'.) claimed that Charles did indeed murder his parents after years of abuse and fled to Mexico with the help of some powerful, wealthy friends. They also claimed that Charles had been murdered himself in Honduras over a financial matter. They rejected the theory that Charles was a CIA agent but they did say that he came into contact with some contracted CIA workers during his time at Shell Oil.

There's the theory that someone came into the house and murdered Charles along with his parents and the police just haven't been able to find the body.

Another theory is that he murdered his parents and then went somewhere where he couldn't be found and then took his own life,

What do I think happened? Well, I think he did murder his parents and then fled. He made a lot of money in the 9 years that he worked for Shell Oil, enough money to have bought his own house which himself and his parents were living in. He was a single guy with no children so maybe he had saved a lot of money, took off and started a new life. I do believe that he had powerful connections, oil is a very sought after thing and I can imagine he was in the company of various types of people, people who had money, people who had power. As for the connection to the John F. Kennedy assassination, I'd have to look into that more as that is another case that has thousands of theories surrounding it.

Will they ever find out what happened to Charles? Like I mentioned before, this was the 1960s, times were different, it was a lot easier for people to take off to somewhere and start a new life. Everything was done on paper back then, no internet, no mobile phones, no forensic science techniques.

If charles is alive today and that's a big IF, he'd be 99 years old so even if the case was solved and he was found, there's really not anything that could be done.

I guess it's just one of those cases that will forever remain with theories and rumours about what became of Charles Frederick Rogers.

Let me know what you think.

RIP Edwina, Fred and John F. Kennedy.

Thanks for checking out my lastest case, see you in the next one x

Further reading & sources:

- Charles Rogers | Wikipedia

- The Ice Box Murders | Houstonia Magazine

- John F Kennedy | Wikipedia

- The Icebox Murders | Hugh & Martha Gardenier

- The Man on The Grassy Knoll | John R. Craig & A. Rogers Philip

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The Secret Life of Claudia Lawrence?: What really happened?

(Claudia Lawrence. Picture credit: theguardian)

The Claudia Lawrence case may ring a few bells for those of you who live in the UK and quite possibly beyond as it has been covered on quite a number of blogs and Youtube channels. I recently had a look back over the case and realised that it's been 11 years since the beautiful, 35 year old Claudia Lawrence had vanished from her home in York, England.

York is a beautiful city and one that I have visited many times. I first came across the Claudia Lawrence case way back in 2010 when I saw one of her 'Missing' posters which was on an information board at York Minster. I remember looking at this pretty woman and wondering what had happened to her. I hoped that she would be found safe and well.

Like the rest of the public at the time, I read the news articles and watched the Crimewatch reports and I saw how some of the public's interest in the case went from sympathetic to lacking interest.

I want to go into some of the details of Claudia's disappearance and other factors surrounding the case. I hope you'll join me in this post and give me your opinion on what you think may have happened to her.

So let's begin...

Claudia Elizabeth Lawrence was born on the 27th of February 1974 in Malton, North Yorkshire, England. Her father, Peter is a solicitor and her mother, Joan is a stay at home housewife. She also has a sister called Ali. Claudia has always been very close with her family and had a happy childhood. Claudia and Ali were obsessed with horses growing up and each of them had a pony which they adored.

You will notice that in this post I talk about Claudia very much in the present tense this is because I feel that it would be disrespectful to talk about her in the past tense. Nobody knows where she is or what happened to her and as we've seen in a number of cases, sometimes victims can be held for years and can be rescued decades later. I feel it's important to never give up hope in these situations as hard as it can be.

(Peter Lawrence with his daughter Claudia. Picture credit: express.co.uk)

Claudia was always popular and very pretty, as she grew older she was never short of admirers and had plenty of friends, male and female. She loved socialising and loved having a drink with her friends in the local pubs around York or going to a nightclub. She was always seen with her friends having a good time and enjoying herself. She had previously worked in a few pubs as a chef but the late hours began to take their toll on her so she was excited when she landed a job as a chef at the University of York. The hours at her new job suited her fine as she started early and would be finished by lunchtime.

Claudia owned her own house and seemed to have the world at her feet so when she suddenly vanished on the 18th of March 2009 nobody could understand why. It was so out of character for her, she loved her job and was happy with her life and friends so what happened?

(Claudia (far right) with her sister Ali (left) and mum Joan (centre). Picture credit: bbc.co.uk)

Well, according to the official timeline of Claudia's last known movements, she finished work as she normally would on the afternoon of the 18th of March 2009. She spoke to her mother that evening and made plans with her for Mother's Day which was that Sunday. Her mother later reported that Claudia sounded ''cheerful and relaxed''. She also sent a text message to a friend at 8:23pm but nothing after that. At 9:12pm a text was sent to her phone from a male friend in Cyprus, there was no response from Claudia.

Investigators believe that she got up early as she normally would for work and because her car was being repaired she had been walking to work the past few weeks. She left behind her passport, bank cards and purse but her rucksack, chef whites and mobile phone were missing.

When she didn't arrive at work her manager tried to call her but didn't get an answer. What's even more sinister is that her mobile phone was deliberately switched off at 12:08pm by someone, could it have been Claudia? or someone who had abducted her?

Claudia was supposed to meet her friend Suzy that night for a drink and a girly catch up but she didn't turn up so Suzy kept trying to call her and when she got no answer she called Claudia's father Peter. Peter had a spare key for her house and was worried sick, he raced over to the house and his fears were realised when he found that Claudia was nowhere to be seen. Peter contacted the police and reported her missing.

(CCTV footage of Claudia's last known movements. Picture credit: pressreader.com)

The investigation into what happened to Claudia Lawrence began, there was apppeals and missing posters everywhere. There was two potential sightings of a man and a woman either stood together outside of the University talking or arguing in the early hours of the 19th of March. There was also some CCTV footage of a strange male figure seen around the back of Claudia's house at 5:30am that morning. A £10,000 reward was offered for anyone who could come forward with any information.

The public was gripped by the whole situation. York was always seen as this lovely, safe picturesque city and to hear that someone had gone missing there was quite a shock and for Claudia's family and friends, they were completely dumfounded as well as worried sick.

The appeals to the public for information continued and the police were interested to talk to an owner of a Ford Focus which was caught on CCTV just outside Claudia's house but sadly nothing came of this but it is still of major interest to the police.

As time went on, Claudia's family and friends never gave up appealing for information to help find her. Claudia's story was front page news and everyone wanted to know what happened to her and if she would ever be found. The newspapers however took a drastic turn from being sympathetic to trashing Claudia's private life.

All of a sudden the British public were picking up newspapers seeing all of these unsavoury details about relationships Claudia had with married men. She'd reportedly had 40 lovers in the space of 3 years and a lot of them were married. She was also said to have had a taste for older men and even had affairs with her friends husbands.

(A missing poster outside of Claudia's home in the early stages of the investigation. Picture credit: yorkvision)

It didn't help matters when the investigators kept saying that she had a ''secret life''. Her family were furious and said that it was all lies. Her friend Suzy wasn't happy about it either and described Claudia as a very shy person.

The investigation itself was like searching for a needle in a haystack because although it's not right to judge someone on what they do in their private life (and Claudia certainly didn't deserve to be abducted, harmed or whatever happened to her) the police had to interview quite a number of men that Claudia had been involved with and that was a nightmare. Nobody wanted to talk, a number of them were married and obviously they didn't want their wives to find out. None of them wanted to be dragged into the case either.

There was a theory that Claudia may have had some trouble with one of the married men, maybe threatened to tell someone's wife or maybe the wife found out? These were just theories.

There were people taken in for questioning and some were arrested and let go. A group of officers were sent to Cyprus to talk to some of the people who knew her including the man who sent her the text on the 18th of March. Areas of York were searched but nothing came of that either. It was like she had just vanished without a trace.

Investigators were able to trace some more information from her phone (which was still missing) and established that she had spent a lot of time in a place called Acomb (which is another area of York) in the weeks leading up to her disappearance. They also found a male's DNA in her car on a ciggarette and some additional fingerprints but nothing came of this either.

The police took down the reward for the £10,000 stating that time had run out for people to come forward anonymously and they were also annoyed about the fact that the people who Claudia did have some form of contact with, were not being cooperative.

Because of the newspaper articles and the rumours flying around, the arrests of the men and all the talk of older married men, a lot of the public lost sympathy and interest in the case and it went cold and now here we are 11 years later.

A lot of people believe that Claudia either threatened to expose one of the married men or they wanted to silence her or that one of the wives had found out and took revenge. Other theories include human trafficking, possibly being a victim of Christopher Halliwell or simply running off to a new life in Cyprus.

Her parents believe she was abducted.

What do I think happened? This is a case which really messes with your mind because the circumstances were really complicated. I think it's plain for all to see (as much as Claudia's family found it hard to accept and I don't hold that against them, nobody wants to think of their loved one being talked about in such a manner and it must have been so horrible to see all of that stuff splashed all over the newspapers) that Claudia did have a private life (we all do) but it seemed that she had quite a few more relationships or encounters than usual.

I have no idea or theory in this case and I do pray that it will be solved. Whatever went on in Claudia's private life, she didn't deserve this and she didn't deserve the lack of sympathy either. Nobody is perfect and we don't know the full circumstances. It also takes two to tango, she was a single woman and some of the men were married, they should have known better and they were also in the wrong in that respect.

In another sinister bit of information on this case, every year since 2009, someone has been placing a wreath on Claudia's doorstep. Nobody knows who it is and her parents have asked for whoever it is to stop. Could this be a sick joke by someone? Could it be the person who abducted her or murdered her? We may never know.

What are your thoughts on this case?

If you are in the UK and happen to have any information about this case, please pass it on to the police (no matter how small) by dialling 101 (North Yorkshire Police), select option 1 and pass the details onto the Force Control Room, quoting ''Claudia Lawrence''.

You can also contact Crimestoppers in confidence on 0800 555 111

Please check out Peter Lawrence's website

Thank you for checking out my latest case, see you in the next one x

Further reading & sources:

- Claudia Lawrence Investigation | North Yorkshire Police

- Claudia Lawrence | Wikipedia

- Find Claudia Lawrence

- Claudia Lawrence | Crimewatch UK

- Claudia Lawrence Appeal | Crimewatch UK

- Claudia Lawrence CCTV | North Yorkshire Police

- Claudia Lawrence Feature | This Morning

- Claudia Lawrence Feature | 4 News

UPDATE: August 2021. Peter (Claudia's father) sadly passed away earlier this year without fully getting to the bottom of what happened to his daughter despite years of tiresome searching. In late August 2021, Investigators began searching an area outside of York known as former gravel pits fishing lakes. From there they continued their search onto a wooded area not far from this site. The investigation continues and there's no word as of yet about who tipped the police off to search these areas or what, if anything has been found.

Further updates to follow....

Unprotected: The Alina Sheykhet Story

(Alina Sheykhet. Picture Credit: bbc.co.uk)

I've written a few cases previously in a similar vein to this one and it always breaks my heart. No matter where you go, no matter what part of the world you live in or if you happen to be rich or poor, domestic violence and stalking continues to destroy the lives of victims and their families.

I've written about both male and female stalkers, possessive partners, jealous ex lovers and written the line ''If I can't have you, nobody can'' once too often. Not only does my heart go out to people who have had their lives turned upside down because of someone's obsessive behaviour but I'm actually a survivor myself of stalking.

I know what it's like to be terrified in your own home, to be scared of what's coming next, always having to look over your shoulder and having your life put on hold. My stalker would sit outside my house in the early hours of the morning, call my number at all times of the day, threaten to have me raped and killed. The situation was such a horrendous nightmare made worse by the fact that I worked at the same company as him and he was married.

When I got the police involved they were useless. I had to pay for a restraining order and all it did was make him park his car up the hill from my house. I ended up having to leave my job and move house. I changed my car and got tinted windows and even today I don't use my full name on social media. I'm safe now but there will always be that part of me that feels I need to look over my shoulder just incase.

I wanted to tell Alina's story in this post because I care about it and I noticed that no other bloggers had covered her case, all I could find was newspaper articles. I was drawn to this amazing, beautiful young woman who was so full of talent and light that it was important to tell people what happened to her and why Alina's Law must be passed to help protect other victims now and in the future.

So, I want to tell you about an amazing girl called Alina Sheykhet. Since a child she was bursting with talent and had dreams of becoming a professional dancer (she had won countless awards) but an injury in her early teens put a dampener on that dream when she had to have major surgery. Despite this draw back, Alina soldiered on and added singing and acting to her list of talents. Her singing was so good that she would often move family, friends and complete strangers to tears. Alina was destined for a very bright future.

Alina was originally born in Russia but moved over to the US with her Mum, Dad and brother when she was a toddler. Alina was very close with her family and doted on her niece Angelina, she was so excited for her birth that she was in the actual delivery room when she was born. She loved animals, children and had a strong desire to help people especially after what she went through with her injury. She decided to study Physical Therapy at the University of Pittsburgh.

With Alina's beautiful looks, bubbly personality and caring nature it was no wonder that she was very popular with the staff and pupils alike and she had many friends. She was dating a boy who played basketball at the University of Pittsburgh called Matthew Darby. At first Matthew (or as his friends called him, Matt) seemed like the perfect guy and they were both close but it didn't take long for Alina to discover that Matt have very much the green eyed monster about him. He was very jealous, controlling and had random mood swings. It all became a hassle and Alina finally couldn't take any more of it and ended the relationship. Matt wouldn't take no for an answer and continued to harass her. He was dropped by the basketball team for reasons that remain 'confidential'.

As time went on it was becoming clearer and clearer that Matthew Darby was not a very nice individual indeed. One wonders what a beautiful, talented girl like Alina saw in him in the first place (she was way out of his league), maybe it was the bad boy image or he was just good at masking his real personality?

Matthew had apparently tried to sexually assault a previous girlfriend and had troubles with the law, things weren't looking too good for him and he took his harassment of Alina further by blowing up her phone all night and day and climbing up the drainpipe of her apartment and breaking in. Luckily at that time she was safe but understandably shaken up by the incident. She filed a report with the police and he was arrested on the 26th of September 2017. He was charged with Felony Criminal Trespass. Alina then took out a restraining order against him but unfortunately like most restraining orders, it was just a piece of paper and didn't hold or guarantee Alina's safety.

Matthew Darby had already proved that he was the type of individual who wouldn't take no for an answer and he wasn't going to let a piece of paper stop him from getting to Alina. It is unbelievable to me that a person as dangerous as him with his background and previous allegations was NOT monitored by an electronic tag. He was quite obviously a danger to women and had broken into Alina's apartment before.

As a result of not being monitored, on the 8th of October 2017, Matthew Darby once again broke into Alina's apartment and this time he heartlessly took her life in cold blood using a clawhammer and two knives he'd found in the basement before fleeing the scene.

Alina's parents who had come by to pick her up to take part with them in a charity walk, had discovered their daughter's body covered in ''stab and chopping' wounds. Alina was deceased at the scene. It was a horrible nightmare that should have never occurred and to this day, Alina's parents, family and friends are trying to push for 'Alina's Law' which means that any offender who is deemed dangerous (and has a restraining order out against them) should be monitored at all times to fully help protect the victim.

(Matthew Darby: Picture Credit: pittsburgh.cbs)

Hundreds of heartbroken people turned out to pay their repects at Alina's funeral. It was a beautiful service and the song 'Memory' (which was from one of Alina's favourite musicals, Cats) was sung in tribute to her. She was buried in Homewood Cemetery in Pittsburgh, her beautiful memorial stone is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen and has a beautiful picture of Alina on it (I've included a picture below).

As I mentioned earlier, this was a heartbreaking story and I pray that Alina's Law will be passed, it's so important and it's also what Alina would have wanted as she always wanted to make a difference and help people. She definitely left a huge mark on the people who knew her and anyone who knows her story. She will never be forgotten.

Matthew Darby was sentenced to life in prison. Alina was only 20 years old when he took her life and he was just 21.

RIP Alina.