The Murder of Irina Yarmolenko UPDATE

Episode 052 - The Murder of Irina Yarmolenko

Twenty year old Irina Yarmolenko was was finishing her sophomore semester in May of 2008.  Ira was planning to move onto UNC Chapel Hill to pursue a career in Public Health, however, Ira would never make it to her junior year, losing her life under strange circumstances.

On May 5th, 2008, just days after her twentieth birthday, Ira attended school to take a final exam.  Finishing her exam, with a second one planned for 5pm but she went to run errands but never returned.  Surveillance footage followed Ira through some of her errands that day, though when she drove down towards the Catawba river no one was aware.

Not long after, two jet skiers going down the river came upon a strange scene.  Ira’s body was lying beside her car which had impacted a tree stump, though not at a high rate of speed.  When investigators arrived they found the twenty year old with three ligatures around her neck.  It was ruled that she had died as the result of asphyxia secondary to strangulation.

On the same day they found Ira, investigators spoke with Mark Carver who had been fishing not far from the scene of the crime.  Detectives became suspicious when Carver claimed not to have heard anything as they believed someone that close to the crime would have heard the car, if nothing else.  Seven months later Carver and his cousin, Neal Cassada, were arrested and charged with conspiracy and murder.  Cassada would die before the trial leaving Carver to be charged alone.

However, it took prosecutors two years to finally bring him to trial.  This was due, in part, to the fragility of the evidence using technology which was new, at the time.  Carver’s guilt was alleged due to touch DNA found in three locations on the victims car, though it was also mixed with touch DNA from investigators.

There were many questions about the evidence used against Carver including but not limited to improper collection of evidence, contamination of the crime scene and the fact that investigators focused on Carver from day one, never really looking at any other potential angles to the crime.  Things were complicated further by the fact that Carver had a limited education, was illiterate and had trouble understanding questions investigators asked.

Another issue with the case was that at least one person had confessed to the murder, then later recanted.  In addition to this, investigators told the Yarmolenko family that someone was in Irina’s car when she drove to the river but this never came up during the trial.  There were also questions about the manner of Ira’s death and the possibility of suicide.

During the trial, Carver’s defense attorneys called no witnesses nor did they present any evidence.  Carver was ultimately found guilty, but shortly after, his case was taken on by Chris Mumma a lawyer for North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence.  Mumma battled against prosecutor Locke Bell about evidence, his failure to deliver files and the holes in the trial.

CASE UPDATE

As of the original episode release, Mumma was fighting to get Carver a new trial.  In April of 2019 an evidentiary hearing took place in which witnesses testified about Carver’s mental and physical disabilities.  Others testified about mistakes made during the investigation and at least one juror from Carver’s previous trial filed an affidavit to recant his guilty vote.

A DNA expert testified that the evidence used to convict Carver were of low quality samples and would not qualify as a match today.  Police Captain Scott Wright testified about a second suspect who was reported to have been seen in the area the day Ira died, though this evidence was not provided to the defense during the first trial.

On June 5th, 2019, Judge Christopher Bragg, following consideration of the evidentiary hearing, made the decision to set aside Carver’s conviction and grant a new trial.  This decision was made based around bad representation by Carver’s lawyers in the original trial as well as problems with the original touch DNA evidence.

District Attorney Locke Bell told the media he would file an appeal and that, if necessary, he would prosecute the case again.  Six days later, on June 11th, Carver was released from jail of $100,000 bail which was paid for by the NCCAI.  Carver received GPS monitoring instead of house arrest, allowing him to move freely through the state of North Carolina while being monitored.  On July 5th, 2019, Locke Bell filed his official notice to appeal.  This is the last development in the case, with the new trial pending following a decision of Bell’s appeal, which has not yet been filed.