Investigates

Senator: Bill sitting in Harrisburg could have prevented Pitt student's murder

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Channel 11 uncovered new details tonight that the judge who presided over Alina Sheykhet's hearing for a PFA request was very concerned about her safety and considered her ex-boyfriend, Matthew Darby, a danger.

On Oct. 5th, Sheyket told the judge Darby climbed up the gutter and broke into her Oakland home on Sept. 20th.

Judge: Why are you afraid of him?
Alina: He's very controlling.

TRENDING NOW:

Judge: Do you think he's going to hurt you?
Alina: No.
Judge: I'm more worried about your safety than you are. I think he's a danger to you.

Three days after this hearing, District Attorney Stephen Zappala says Matthew Darby broke into the basement of Sheyket's home, grabbed knives and a hammer and killed her.

"The PFA's need to be accompanied by some kind of electronic monitoring to prevent the kinds of situations that just occurred," said State Sen. Jay Costa (D) Allegheny County.

There is a bill currently in the state Senate that would "...allow a judge to order an electronic monitoring device on a defendant in a protection from abuse order...if a defendant is found, by a judge, to present a substantial risk of violating a protection from abuse order."

Costa, a co-sponsor of this bill, says this kind of legislation might have saved Alina Sheykhet.

"We have to take steps that are going to allow us to do a better job of monitoring where they're at, particularly when you've got a location where someone is living," Costa said.

Sheyket's family agrees with the bill and said they don't want another woman to ever go through the suffering she did.