Almost a month since Mark Bradley Carver and Neal Leon Cassada Jr. were charged with the May murder of UNCC coed Ira Yarmolenko. Essentially no information has developed on what evidence Gaston County authorities might have in the case. Perhaps no news is truly good news.
But having actually covered criminal courts up close — close enough to watch a 10-year-old girl hide behind a teddy bear as she testified in open court about her stepfather molesting her or a sheriff’s deputy explain how he sold crack cocaine while in uniform — I’ve officially got the heebie-jeebies about this case.
The crucible of the holidays have come and gone without Carver or Cassada confessing to the crime. Given the available known evidence, I don’t see how the prosecution gets a conviction without a plea. You go to trial now, police suggestions that someone other than Yarmolenko drove the car to Gaston County from the University City area become the focal point. Any DNA evidence implicating Carver and/or Cassada must place them in the vehicle when Yarmolenko is alive, otherwise all you have is evidence of fiends and perverts, not murderers.
In short, in six months I don’t want to have a West Memphis 3 situation with a Mt. Holly 2.
