The murder of a Temple student and the subsequent arrest of a Wharton senior has sent shockwaves through the communities of both schools and left a void in the lives of the victim's family.
After the Dec. 23 murder of Temple student Irina Zlotnikov, her friends and family were left with nothing but memories of the young woman they described as "radiant and ambitious."
The 24-year-old Zlotnikov, originally from Belarus, was due to graduate this May with a Ph.D. in pharmacology.
"She was weighing her options" for after graduation, said Eileen Lichtenstein, who is the Temple University School of Pharmacy director of student services.
Zlotnikov's family remembered her for her love and warmth.
She loved "her family [and] her friends," said her brother Alex.
Eryn Jelesiewicz -- a spokeswoman for Temple University's Health Sciences Center -- said that the Temple community is "extremely saddened by the death of Irina Zlotnikov. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends."
Zlotnikov was brutally murdered in New Castle Delaware, at her boyfriend's house. Police have charged 21-year-old Irina Malinovskaya with bludgeoning Zlotnikov to death with a "blunt object" in the early afternoon on the day before Christmas.
Zlotnikov was dating 32-year-old Robert Bondar, a Widener law student and ex-boyfriend of Malinovskaya.
As the Temple community and the Zlotnikov family grieve, the future of Malinovskaya -- a native of Rostov-on-Don, Russia -- hangs in the balance.
She currently is in detention at the Baylor Women's Correctional Institution -- a detention facility in New Castle.
Malinovskaya has been charged with first-degree murder. Her trial is not expected to begin until much later this year.
Malinovskaya was concentrating in finance and management, and though she was scheduled to graduate in December, she did not complete the necessary courses.
