Ex-Court Investigator (14.5 yrs) Exposing how the system fails victims @DailyCaller | LET | WaTimes I saw it firsthand. Now you will too.
Pittsburgh, PA
Joined September 2025
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Grateful to @DanaPerino, @BillHemmer, @AmericaNewsroom and @FoxNews for the time this morning.
A Pittsburgh pediatrician is dead. The man charged in his killing was already free on a non-monetary bond in another case when police allege he broke into the doctor’s home, killed him, critically injured his wife, and forced their two small children—who were asleep inside—to flee. (Fox News)
I spent 14.5 years inside Allegheny County Pretrial. I wrote the recommendations. After the grant money came in, release became the mandate.
This was not one bad call.
It was policy.
xitter.gq/gunthereagleman/status…
THEY GOT PAID TO RELEASE HIM.
Elijah Hemingway had a rap sheet that included rape, robbery, battery on law enforcement, and a prior homicide charge. He was still out on a no-cash bond when police say he stabbed Pittsburgh pediatrician Dr. Evans to death in his own bed. His wife was critically wounded, and their kids had to run to a neighbor's house to escape.
Now a retired pretrial investigator says her office took millions in grant money that depended on shrinking the jail population. To get it, they stopped counting prior convictions, missed court dates, and pending cases against defendants. Some violent offenders were back in custody within 45 minutes of walking out.
That isn't criminal justice reform. It's a pay-to-release scheme, and a good doctor is dead because of it. Put violent criminals in prison and keep them there.
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. 💔
At 2p today, to start my show on @KDKARadio — we are going to have a really, really, really difficult discussion about the events in Mt Lebanon last night.
Need lots of honesty.
And want to hear from you.
Be prepared to talk openly.
866.391.1020
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 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
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
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
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
Why I didn’t call her family:
I didn’t have their names or phone numbers.
Her family did everything they could. Alina did everything she could. She broke up with him. She followed the advice of police. She obtained a PFA.
There was nothing more they could have done.
WE failed her.
I blamed myself for years. I replayed every decision, every conversation, every warning, wondering what else I could have done. It took friends in law enforcement to help me understand that I had done everything within my power to protect her.
I think about Alina and her family every single day. I think about the life she should have had and the family who has to live without her.
Alina is the reason I speak out. She is the reason I refuse to be silent.
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.
Kelly Rae Robertson retweeted
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
Kelly Rae Robertson retweeted
🐾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
Kelly Rae Robertson retweeted
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.)
Kelly Rae Robertson retweeted
"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.
The suspect charged in the fatal home invasion stabbing of a Pittsburgh pediatrician had a lengthy criminal history — and was free on a no-cash bond at the time of the attack.
@KellyRaeReports, an investigative journalist, whistleblower, and former Allegheny County bail investigator who spent 14.5 years inside Pennsylvania's criminal justice system, joined our members to advocate for HB 2856, legislation that would strengthen the bail process to protect all Pennsylvanians.
House Democrats refused to take up the legislation.
Kelly Rae Robertson retweeted
If you're not too busy "Saving Them All" @bestfriends can tou please share this angel who will be KILLED in your "No Kill" shelter? The fact that you don't share any dogs who are KILLED in your garbage shelters is shameful.
Everyone please share. This is her last hope. Thank you.
Robert Higginbotham was a landscaper. In the summer of 2021 he was shot and killed while working a job on Mount Carmel Road in Penn Hills.
His fiancée said, “He didn’t even get to meet our son.”
The man charged in his killing, Tracy Carpenter, had a record—including an out-of-state record—and was free on an ROR (non-monetary) bond from a pending firearms case.
Pretrial recommended his release on that earlier case. He was out when he killed Higginbotham.
Higginbotham never made it home. His son will never meet him.
@ColinDunlap @SelenaZito @meganheat
DOJ is reviewing people getting removed from a game over their shirts. Free speech matters.
But this does not come close to the body count from soft-on-crime policies and grant-driven releases that ignored warnings. Agencies got paid. People died.
Lives first. Shirts second. Prioritize better.
@TheJusticeDept @CivilRightsDOJ
14.5 yrs as Bail Investigator, Allegheny County Pretrial Services (Fifth Judicial District Criminal Division).
They didn’t override the assessments.
The tool was built to recommend release for violent criminals with huge records, pending cases & FTAs because grants required lower jail numbers.
NAPSA admits a bad tool creates the “false veneer of being evidence based.”
Clear danger ignored.
People died.
@TuckerCarlson @bennyjohnson @MrsErikaKirk @NancyMace
