Rock Hill woman found dead in her home

More than four years ago, 22-year-old Amber Schiavone was found dead in a hallway of her apartment complex in Rock Hill.

She had been shot, police said.

Carlos Luis Pinales-Mejia, Schiavone's boyfriend, was a suspect in her slaying, but police said he had disappeared.

More than three years later, U.S. Marshals tracked him down in the Dominican Republic and held him there from last spring until this week.

"I kind of felt like police would never catch this guy, because he escaped so easily," said Stephanie Schiavone, the victim's sister.

Amber Schiavone's uncle Robert helped raise her and was devastated following her death and was angry that Pinales-Mejia had been able to leave the country so easily.

"Carlos goes to the airport, buys a ticket, one way, not carrying any luggage, then just leaves the country," he said. "His name should've come up in some kind of database."

In court Friday, Pinales-Mejia, told the judge he didn't even remember where he lived in Rock Hill at the time of the slaying.

"Somewhere off Cherry Road, I think," he said.

The slaying happened at the Cherry Street Apartments on Hearn Street.

Family members told Channel 9 that if he's convicted, they don't want to see Pinales-Mejia get the death penalty.

I would like to see him get life without the possibility of parole," Stephanie Schiavone said. "i "I want him to serve every day for the rest of his life."

Bond was denied for Pinales-Mejia Friday afternoon, because only a circuit court judge can set bond in a murder case.

Pinales-Mejia told the judge he had no money, car or job, and the judge qualified him for a court-appointed lawyer.

For Schiavone's family, there is finally some peace of mind. Stephanie said the many days since Amber's death have never gotten any easier.

"I think about her as much now, every day, as I did when she was still here with us," she said.