This is Alina Sheykhet. She was 20 years old. Matthew Darby was brought into the Allegheny County Jail on a criminal trespass charge after breaking into her apartment. He refused to cooperate with my coworker. Cocky. Arrogant. Defiant. I saw he had a pending rape case out of another county. I couldn’t see the victim’s name. I needed to know if it was the same woman. I called Allegheny County 911. They transferred me to Indiana County 911. A sergeant from the department that arrested him for the rape called me back. He was in his cruiser and told me he didn’t have the information with him. He said he would turn around, go back to the station, pull the file, and call me right back. And he did. When he called back, he asked for the name of my victim. I told him Alina Sheykhet. “Different girl,” he said. Then he added, “He really gets around.” I told him I knew that — and that I was going to try to stop it. I called my supervisor. She was also the manager responsible for the jail population numbers. Let me explain why that matters. We worked for the criminal courts. We did not run the Allegheny County Jail. Managing the jail population should have been the responsibility of county jail leadership, not someone in the very Pretrial Services office receiving grant money to reduce that population. The same office pushing to release defendants was responsible for tracking the numbers used to measure the success of those efforts. That is a glaring conflict of interest. And to me, it screams corruption. I told my supervisor everything. Pending rape case. Refusing to cooperate. No idea where he would go if released. I told her he doesn’t like women telling him no. I asked for an override. I did not want this man released on a non-monetary bond. She declined it. I documented the declined override that night. I still have the screenshot. I also told my coworkers out loud: He will kill her if he gets out. Thirteen days later, my coworker messaged me a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story. Police were looking for the ex-boyfriend of a slain Pitt student. It was Alina. He had gone back to her apartment and beaten her to death. Her father found her. I said he would kill her. I warned them. I asked them not to release him. I documented the warning. We released him anyway. The money was more important. Alina Sheykhet was just starting her life. We helped facilitate Matthew Darby ending it. @ColinDunlap @ZitoSalena @JeremyShafferPA @RepGaydos @RepMihalek @SenRobinsonPA

They saw the scene in Mt. Lebanon last night and still had to finish the shift. First responders are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty. They carry thousands of scenes the rest of us never see. The wound doesn’t get time to heal. When one of them dies by suicide, the silence is deafening. They deserve the same grief and the same compassion. @1sthelporg @COPLINE__ @bluelivesmtr @PghPolice @1stresponderctr

When you’ve been shouting into the void for nine years, and then four people — @JeremyShafferPA, @RepMihalek, @RepGaydos, and @SenRobinsonPA — finally step forward, wrap your hands, help you put on the gloves, and get you into the ring. You don’t back down. You go in fighting. Dad, you did this. ❤️ You were there with me. My heart was racing. My knees were weak. I was scared. But you raised a fighter. And the fight continues.

I graduated from a CACREP-accredited counseling program. I was repeatedly shocked by the unethical behavior I witnessed among faculty and students. Ideological litmus tests, boundary violations, and political priorities too often overshadowed the clinical training we were there to receive. That experience matters when I hear people suggest that counseling could have prevented what happened in Mt. Lebanon. A father threw his 8-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter from a parking garage before jumping himself. Their mother has described him as a good father who needed counseling and reportedly had an appointment scheduled for the following day. But therapy is not a one-time appointment or a guaranteed cure. And mental health struggles do not erase personal responsibility. I think about the first responders who performed CPR on three lifeless bodies. The classmates who lost their friends. The families and community now grieving two little children. When graduate counseling programs prioritize activism, identity politics, and ideological conformity over rigorous clinical training in trauma, risk assessment, and severe mental illness, they produce fewer adequately prepared clinicians. That shrinks the pool of competent professionals available to help people in crisis. One scheduled counseling appointment does not erase what those children experienced in their final moments or what the people who tried to save them will carry for years. The victims’ lives come first. @DailyCaller @WashTimes @CityJournal

I’m pinning this. I’ve been trying to get Alina’s story heard for years. The support on this post has been overwhelming, and I want it to stay at the top of my profile so people keep seeing her face and the truth about what happened. She was 20. I warned them he would kill her. They released him anyway. This is the case that drives everything I do.

Having an open discussion about a tragedy like this is so necessary. Too often, people shy away from these conversations. Bravo, @colin_dunlap, for having the courage to take this on. I also hope this reminds people of the horrors our first responders witness every day. They don’t have time to process one tragedy before they’re thrown into the next. It’s a wound that keeps getting torn open before it can heal. And when we lose one of them to suicide, where is the same outpouring of grief? They deserve that compassion, too. 💔

Seeing the number of shares, likes, and comments next to Alina’s photo is surreal. I’ve been fighting for years to tell her story. To tell the truth about what happened to her. I think about Alina every single day. I think about her family and everything they’ve endured. I’m overwhelmed by the support and the comments from all of you. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart. Please, just look at her picture. Look at her beautiful face. Google my former bosses. Ask questions. Become outraged. This has to stop. It should have stopped years ago.

This is the case note I entered on 9/26/2017. “OVERRIDE TO NO RELEASE ON ROR OR NON MON DECLINED BY SUPERVISOR CLS.” Thirteen days later Alina Sheykhet was murdered. @libsoftiktok @JackPosobiec @EndWokeness

The moment I found out: Thirteen days later, on a holiday Monday, a coworker walked in. Her boyfriend, a police officer, had told her there had been a brutal homicide of a Pitt student in Oakland. It was bad. She went on to say we had just done a case on “her ex-boyfriend.” My heart began racing. My stomach dropped. I froze. I knew. When she pulled up his name, my entire body went numb. She looked at me and said, “Kelly, you did his case.” I fell into my chair. I couldn’t speak. Then I packed my things and walked out. But I went back. I wanted them to see what had happened. I wanted them to understand that a young woman was dead and I had warned them. I called the director. Left her a voice mail. They were at the casino. The director didn’t call me herself. She had the supervisor who denied my override call me instead. We had an aggressive conversation. We hung up on each other. Thirteen days earlier, I had said, “If he gets out, he will kill her.” Now Alina was dead. I had done everything I could think of to keep Darby behind bars. I had gone around my own supervisor because I was terrified of what he would do to her. And when the very thing I warned them about happened, I couldn’t even get the director to face me herself. Alina was 20 years old. She had her entire life ahead of her. I will carry that phone call, that warning, and the moment I learned she was dead for the rest of my life. 💔

What I did that night: That night, I called the arraignment court supervisor myself. I told him to burn the assessment and bury the ashes. Under no circumstances was this man to be released. He told me the magistrate always followed our assessments and offered to let me speak to her directly. I declined. I told him, “If Colleen finds out I went over her head, she will attack.” He called me back and told me the magistrate had set bond at $10,000. “That’s as high as she’ll go,” he said. During that phone call, I said the words I will never forget: “If he gets out, he will kill her.”

Why I didn’t name the supervisor: I haven’t named the supervisor who denied my override request in Alina’s case because of the environment inside that office. She is now the Deputy Director of Allegheny County Pretrial Services. Her name and photograph are publicly available. These were not people you could simply disagree with. They yelled, screamed, intimidated, threatened, and spread lies to discredit anyone who challenged them. I spent 14 and a half years working in that office. I know what I witnessed, and I know what happened when someone spoke up. I was scared. I had every reason to be. And that fear was real.

This sweet boy can’t stop hoping someone will finally notice him. 😢💔 He’s been sitting alone in the kennel, looking up every time the door opens… and watching it close again. No hearts. No follows. Just another day waiting. Please share this so he has a real chance at a home. One repost could change everything. 🐶❤️ #AdoptDontShop #RescueDog #ShelterDog #PitBullLove #FosterOrAdopt

🐾115 lb beauty, 4-y/o Haribo fka Ghost is back. At ACC 3 years ago, owner reclaimed & now back again after owner recently rehomed him, he was later dropped of at a police station & brought in. Sweet, social w/ staff, asks for attn, neutral w/ dogs. Loves toys. Caught kennel cough. Needs a foster offer by 11/03: nycacc.app/#/browse/267618

Haribo needs a foster/adopter NOW! Are there any peeps out in the NE 🇺🇸 who like your pups big? Well this gentle giant needs you now…He’s 1️⃣1️⃣5️⃣ Pounds of Pibble perfection👌 He was in the pound 3️⃣ years ago and he knows where he is….it won’t take him long to shut down and be listed 😔☹️ He’s already 🛟 only because he jumps, is a bit mouthy but how much do you want to believe its because he wants those treats the handlers carry in those belt satchels 🤔 This boy’s middle name is food 💞 ✅ Pledges to get him w/ a 🛟 ✅ Foster or adopter through 🛟 ✅ DM @notthesameone2 to apply for this big lovable stuffie carrying boy 🤞🏻💞🤞🏻💞

Jafar Brooks, 15, a Central Catholic freshman football player, was shot and killed on December 15, 2020, outside the Leechburg Garden Apartments in Penn Hills. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The teen charged in his killing, Timothy Whitfield, was already free on ROR (non-monetary) bonds from multiple pending juvenile cases, including possession of a firearm by a minor. Pretrial recommended those releases. He was out when Jafar was killed. Jafar never made it home. @ColinDunlap @SelenaZito @RudyGiuliani @meganheat

Allegheny County Pretrial, February 2022: Evan Hillard was arrested on new possession with intent to deliver and possession charges while already out on non-monetary release for a pending homicide by vehicle and driving under the influence case. He had multiple prior felony possession with intent to deliver convictions and 14 adult arrests on his record. The recommendation: non-monetary bond ($0) and “report in person.” And if someone doesn’t actually “report” to the people in the main office? Nothing happens. This is what “bail reform” looked like in practice. Public records.

Happy Halloween from my little pumpkin patch! Halloween has always been my absolute favorite time of year. This is the first year in my entire life I didn't decorate. Not a single pumpkin. I took a little hit this year, but I'll be back. I'm usually going hard at something or someone. Fighting for something, speaking up about something, always feeling like there's something else I need to do. But sometimes life has a way of reminding you that the most important things are right in front of you. These two have been beside me through some of the hardest days of my life. They don't know anything about the battles I'm fighting or the things that keep me up at night. They just know I'm their person, and they're mine. They're my kids, my therapists, and my best buds. And as much as I wish I could slow down time, I can't. So I'm going to hold onto every silly costume, every gray hair, and every moment I get with them. (Don't worry. They're handsomely rewarded for putting up with the costumes.)

"They told me he probably wouldn't get adopted if she left without him. I went to the shelter to adopt one dog. Diesel — a young pit bull with a wiggle-your-whole-body kind of joy. I'd already pictured him in my car. Then I saw her. Daisy, curled quietly beside him, eyes only on him. When he stood, she stood. When he rested, she leaned into him like she needed his heartbeat to feel okay. A volunteer said they'd been found together on the back roads, starving, no owner ever showing up. Staff tried separating them once. Diesel cried for hours. Daisy stopped eating. They never tried again. People wanted Diesel. Nobody asked about Daisy. And "maybe we just split them up" kept coming up quietly — not because anyone wanted it, but because two pit bulls together is a hard sell. Then Diesel walked over, touched his nose to hers, and led her to me. Like he was telling her it was safe. She sat beside him and leaned in. This wasn't two dogs. It was one heart, two bodies. "If you still want Diesel, we'll start the paperwork," the volunteer said. "I need paperwork for both," I told her. She teared up. "You're serious?" They'd already chosen each other. Who was I to undo that? An hour later, we left as a family. Diesel rode proud at the window. Daisy curled against him and slept the deepest sleep — the kind that only comes when fear finally lets go. That was two years ago. Diesel still steals blankets and treats every day like the best one yet. Daisy runs the yard now, greets guests, demands belly rubs. People think Diesel protects her. Really, they protect each other. Happy Gotcha Day, Diesel and Daisy. Sometimes the best choice isn't picking one dog — it's refusing to break a bond that was never meant to be broken. ❤️

A Pittsburgh pediatrician is dead. The man charged with stabbing him to death in his own bed was free on a non-monetary (cashless) bond despite a lengthy violent criminal history. I spent 14.5 years inside Allegheny County Pretrial Services. After the grant money started flowing, release became the priority. This is what that looks like. House Democrats refused to even take up HB 2856, legislation intended to strengthen the bail process. I am praying, writing, and fighting to break this corruption wide open, hold my former office accountable, and most importantly, put a stop to this. I am willing to work with any legislator willing to get this issue heard. @PAHouseGOP @meganheat This was policy. Not a one-off.