Alina Sheykhet was a 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh junior who was murdered in her off-campus Oakland apartment on October 8, 2017, by her ex-boyfriend Matthew Darby, just days after she obtained a protection-from-abuse order against him. Darby is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole. Her parents have since founded a Pittsburgh nonprofit, Alina’s Light, and have spent years pressing Pennsylvania lawmakers to pass “Alina’s Law,” which would let judges order GPS monitoring of high-risk defendants under protection-from-abuse orders.
Who She Was
Sheykhet was studying physical therapy at the University of Pittsburgh and hoped to make a career of it. Her father, Yan Sheykhet, described her as someone who loved to dance and sing.1BBC News. Pitt Student Found Dead in Oakland Apartment Roommates and friends who spoke at a campus vigil remembered her as fun-loving, generous, and beautiful.2WPXI. Roommates Recall Sheykhet as Loving, Generous at Vigil She had previously dated Darby, a former student at the University of Pittsburgh’s Greensburg campus.3The Pitt News. Suspect in Homicide of Pitt Student Arrested in South Carolina
The Abuse Before the Murder
The relationship had already turned dangerous. On September 20, 2017, Darby allegedly broke into Sheykhet’s apartment by climbing a gutter and entering through a second-floor window.1BBC News. Pitt Student Found Dead in Oakland Apartment In her petition for a restraining order, Sheykhet documented past grabbing, pushing, and emotional abuse, writing that Darby acted “because I left him and stopped answering his phone calls.”3The Pitt News. Suspect in Homicide of Pitt Student Arrested in South Carolina
Darby was arrested on September 26 and charged with felony criminal trespass. He was released on bond with a no-contact order.4WTAE. 20-Year-Old Woman Found Dead in Oakland A temporary protection-from-abuse order was served on October 5. At the PFA hearing, Judge David Spurgeon told Sheykhet he was “more worried about your safety than you are” and considered Darby a danger to her.5CBS News Pittsburgh. Court Transcript Shows PFA Hearing for Pitt Student
At the time of the break-in and the killing, Darby was already free on $10,000 bail from a separate case in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, where he had been charged in February 2017 with raping an ex-girlfriend.6CBS News Pittsburgh. Matthew Darby Rape Charges Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala’s office later acknowledged it had not learned of those Indiana County charges until Pittsburgh police discovered them after the homicide, a communication gap between the two counties.7Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Allegheny County, Indiana County Did Not Communicate on Charges Prior to Murder Case
The Murder and Arrest
In the early morning hours of October 8, 2017, Darby made five unanswered calls to Sheykhet’s phone between 4:15 and 4:55 a.m.1BBC News. Pitt Student Found Dead in Oakland Apartment Surveillance video captured him taking a car service from Duquesne University’s campus to Cable Street in Oakland, near Sheykhet’s residence, with later footage showing an individual matching his profile walking toward her apartment.8The Duquesne Duke. Accused Killer Visited Duquesne Before Pitt Attack
Later that morning, Sheykhet’s parents arrived to pick her up for a breast cancer awareness walk. When she did not answer calls, texts, or knocks, her father forced open the locked bedroom door and found her body on the floor.9The Pitt News. Pitt Student Found Dead in Oakland; Police Looking for Ex-Boyfriend Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. The Allegheny County medical examiner’s office ruled the death a homicide caused by sharp and blunt trauma to the head.3The Pitt News. Suspect in Homicide of Pitt Student Arrested in South Carolina Surveillance footage showed Darby dropping a shiny object into a sewer grate near the apartment; detectives recovered a claw hammer and two stainless steel knives from the sewer.4WTAE. 20-Year-Old Woman Found Dead in Oakland
Darby fled Pennsylvania. At 12:45 a.m. on October 11, police in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, arrested him after spotting him tampering with a window at a residence.3The Pitt News. Suspect in Homicide of Pitt Student Arrested in South Carolina He was charged with criminal homicide, burglary, flight to avoid apprehension, theft by unlawful taking, and possessing instruments of crime.4WTAE. 20-Year-Old Woman Found Dead in Oakland On October 19, Allegheny County police filed additional rape charges against him for an alleged assault on a 17-year-old girl in Elizabeth Township on October 3, five days before the murder.10WPXI. New Rape Charges Filed Against Suspect in Pitt Student Murder In February 2018, Zappala’s office notified the court it would seek the death penalty.11CBS News Pittsburgh. Death Penalty Sought in Pitt Student Murder
Guilty Plea and Life Sentence
On October 17, 2018, Darby pleaded guilty to first-degree murder before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning. Under the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped the death penalty. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of simple assault related to the Elizabeth Township victim.12CBS News Pittsburgh. Matthew Darby Court Hearing Part of the agreement included an arrangement for Darby to avoid being classified as a sex offender in the prison system.13TribLive. Hempfield Man Convicted of Killing Pitt Student Alina Sheykhet Withdraws Appeal
Twelve people delivered victim impact statements. Sheykhet’s mother, Elly, told Darby her daughter “wants you to stay alive” and “to live a long life and think about what you have done.” Her father, Yan, said his anger was “immeasurable” and that Darby had “stolen so much from us, including a future with our daughter.”14Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Matthew Darby Pleads Guilty to Murder of Alina Sheykhet Darby declined to speak. Judge Manning, who had handled homicide cases for 30 years, described the murder as one of remarkable brutality and imposed the mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.12CBS News Pittsburgh. Matthew Darby Court Hearing
The Case Is Closed
Darby later filed a petition for post-conviction relief, claiming his trial attorney, Thomas Farrell, had been ineffective in advising him to plead to first-degree murder. His new lawyer, Joseph Hudak, argued that the evidence supported at most third-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter.15TribLive. Man Who Killed Pitt Student Alina Sheykhet to Get Hearing on Effectiveness of Former Attorney After an appeal to the Pennsylvania Superior Court forced a hearing on the claim, Darby abandoned the petition partway through testimony on February 22, 2022.16CBS News Pittsburgh. Man Serving Life to Get Hearing in University Student Murder Deputy District Attorney Ron Wabby Jr. stated on the record that the withdrawal would foreclose all further state court relief. Judge Edward J. Borkowski accepted the withdrawal, telling Darby his “options and rights are being terminated” and that he would “likely die in prison.”13TribLive. Hempfield Man Convicted of Killing Pitt Student Alina Sheykhet Withdraws Appeal
Alina’s Light
In 2019, Yan and Elly Sheykhet founded Alina’s Light, a Pittsburgh-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to combating domestic violence through education, advocacy, and prevention.17Alina’s Light. Alina’s Light It runs educational presentations at schools and organizations, provides monetary support and shelter visits for survivors, awards an annual scholarship for students passionate about the arts, offers counseling through a Healing Arts Program, and sponsors personal safety devices for victims. The organization hosts an annual “5K Walk and Run for Love.”18CBS News Pittsburgh. Alina’s Light Walk and Run 2024 In 2023, it received the Sherley and Ted Craig Humanitarian Award from the Women’s Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh. On October 7, 2025, the Pittsburgh City Council unanimously declared October 7 as “Alina’s Light Day.”
Alina’s Law
Through the nonprofit, the Sheykhet family has pushed for Pennsylvania legislation known as “Alina’s Law,” which would let judges order electronic monitoring of defendants deemed a substantial risk of violating a protection-from-abuse order. GPS-enabled monitoring would alert a victim if the person subject to the PFA came near them. The original legislative memo put the argument plainly: “If law enforcement had been able to monitor his activity, Alina could still be alive today.”19Pennsylvania General Assembly. HB 1747 Co-Sponsorship Memo
The bill was first filed as HB 1747 during the 2021-2022 session, sponsored by Representatives Anita Kulik and Natalie Mihalek, and reintroduced as HB 1150 in the 2023-2024 session.20Pennsylvania General Assembly. HB 1150 Co-Sponsorship Memo In September 2024, the House Judiciary Committee amended HB 1150 by a 14-11 vote, stripping out the electronic monitoring provision and replacing it with a grant program for district attorneys to fund domestic violence prevention initiatives. The amended bill was laid on the table on September 30, 2024, and did not advance before the session ended.21Pennsylvania General Assembly. HB 1150 Bill Information The Sheykhet family and Alina’s Light have called the amendments “half-measures” that gut the law’s original intent, arguing that a grant-based funding model does not address the core need for judicial authority to impose electronic monitoring on high-risk PFA defendants.22Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Alina Sheykhet Law Domestic Violence Pitt Murder