SANTA BARBARA, Calif.- The day Alexandra Tang was stabbed to death, her family says she told them she was going to a barbeque at her boyfriend's house and that's the last they heard from her. They say they never thought something like this would happen to her.
"I mean I remember the day she was born so vividly I was jumping up and down off furniture," says Candice Tang Nyholt, victim's sister.
Candice Tang Nyholt says being seven years older than her 24-year-old sister Alexandra didn't matter, they were best friends.
"It was like sister, confidant, but I also felt responsible for her," says Nyholt.
On September 1st, Nyholt got a call from her mother that changed her and her family's lives forever.
"I think she said Candice, we lost Sandra she's gone," recalls Nyholt.
Nyholt found out Tang was allegedly stabbed to death by her boyfriend 24-year-old Derek Pinski at his Laguna Hills home.
"He knew my family, he's met us, and we've been kind to him, so I think I would want to know how could you do something like this, how could you take her away from us," says Nyholt.
Tang met Pinski at UCSB and the two had been dating for about a year. After graduating, Tang moved down to Orange County for a job helping autistic children.
"It all comes back to me every morning that this is real," says Nyholt.
The Orange County Sheriff's Department says Pinksi left the state after Tang was found, but authorities were able to catch up with him and arrest him in Arizona. Nine days since Tang's death, Pinski remains in Arizona, waiting to be extradited back to Orange County where he will be charged.
A funeral service for Tang is being held Friday, September 14th at 10:00am at Saint Raphael Catholic Church located at 5444 Hollister Avenue in Santa Barbara.
