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Man Accused Of Killing Pitt Student To Stand Trial For Homicide

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A man accused of stabbing and beating a 20-year-old Pitt student to death will stand trial for homicide.

That decision came after a gut-wrenching three-hour hearing Friday.

Emotions were high at the hearing for Matthew Darby, who is accused in the death of his ex-girlfriend Alina Sheykhet.

A series of surveillance video tracked his moves that day, and it prompted an emotional outburst from Sheykhet's father.

Yan and Elly Sheykhet arrived early for the hearing on the man accused of killing their daughter. It wasn't easy to be there.

"They've lost the light and love of their life," Bob Del Greco, the family's attorney, said, "and there's just nothing more that could be said except they're grieving."

When Darby was brought into court, he was met by a nasty greeting from Alina's father, who sat 10 feet away from Darby.

Yan Sheykhet said, "How you doing, you son of a [expletive]?" and then he broke down and cried.

"She didn't deserve this. She was more than this," Rachel Byrge, Alina's friend, said.

About a dozen of Alina's friends attended the hearing in t-shirts that said "Love shouldn't hurt." They are lobbying for a law that would force people under PFAs to wear electronic monitoring.

"She's a bigger person than this. She was a caring person," Byrge said. "This is what she would want. She would want to help people."

In the hearing, the DA presented what they call a ton of circumstantial evidence, including surveillance video that shows who they believe is Darby taking an Uber from Duquesne University to Alina's apartment on the morning of the assault. Later, more surveillance video shows a man who resembles Darby dumping something in a sewer grate. Police say it was a hammer and two knives.

Alina's roommate also testified about how Alina's parents had to break her bedroom door down, only to find their battered daughter dead.

Darby's attorney, David Shrager, says all they have is circumstantial evidence.

"There is no forensic evidence," he said. "All we have here is a lot of circumstantial evidence."

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