The man charged with raping and killing a Pitt student and with raping an IUP student has entered a guilty plea to first-degree murder in Allegheny County Court. In exchange, prosecutors will not seek the death penalty against him.
WTAE-TV Reports that 22-year-old Matthew Darby of Greensburg now faces life in prison without parole. He was arrested in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina just days after police found 20-year-old Alina Sheykhet dead at her off-campus apartment in Oakland in March of 2017.
Darby also faces charges in Indiana County, where he is accused of raping another ex-girlfriend, an IUP student, in February of 2017. A plea court hearing is set for tomorrow in Indiana County Judge Thomas Bianco’s court, and a jury trial is scheduled to get underway on October 22nd in President Judge William Martin’s courtroom. In Indiana County, Darby faces charges of rape-forcible compulsion, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault-forcible compulsion and indecent assault-forcible compulsion.
Darby is also charged with raping a girl in Elizabeth in October of 2017.