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UNION COUNTY, N.C.,None — The man who was accused of killing a childhood friend and fellow hockey player was released from jail Friday after serving two years in jail.

Around 11 a.m. Friday, Bogdan Rudenko was released from the Union County jail after charges were dropped against the former Charlotte Checkers hockey player. He had been accused of killing 32-year-old Yuriy Anatolevich Kharitonov more than two years ago.

Kharitonov's body was found behind Alexis Automotive in Stallings.

Moments after he walked out of the Union County jail for the first time in two years, Rudenko still seemed to be trying to comprehend it all.
       
"(I'm) still in shock. I can't believe it!" he said.

But even after two years in jail, Rudenko said he never gave up hope. "I always knew I was innocent and there was no way I was going to give up hope," he said.

Rudenko's ex-wife, Amanda, and her two small dogs were there to meet him and she said she had always known he was innocent.

"I always believed in him and stood by him--I knew him better than that," she said.

Asked if he was bitter about his arrest and time in jail, Rudenko offered a quick answer. "It's a waste of time being angry and bitter -- I've got to get on with my life, start over," he said.

According to a released from the District Attorney's office, a woman identifying herself as Rudenko's girlfriend called police and told them the hockey player had confessed to killing Kharitonov. She also said Rudenko was staying with her in Colorado.

With the help of Colorado police, Rudenko was arrested.

When Rudenko was arrested, he refused to give police a statement and information they had gathered at the time of the arrest corroborated the ex-girlfriend's story. However, in the years since Rudenko's arrest, police have not been able to link any physical evidence to Rudenko.

Investigators were also unable to find another person to corroborate the ex-girlfriend's story, police said.

While preparing for Rudenko's trial, prosecutors learned that Rudenko's ex-girlfriend had been involved in a fraud case in another state. Investigators also learned that while Rudenko and the ex-girlfriend shared a child together, he had married someone else. That fact created a great deal of resentment and bitterness toward Rudenko, police said.

Her family also said she was not credible, police said.

When police reached out to her again, her attorney said she would not willfully return to North Carolina to testify against Rudenko and would instead invoke her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, the statement from police reads. Prosecutors also said that, if she was offered immunity, she would testify that Rudenko had never confided the murder in her.

In light of that information, police and the district attorney's office dropped charges against Rudenko.

The District Attorney's office filed paperwork Friday morning that officially dismissed the murder charges against Rudenko. That paperwork was faxed to the Union County jail and an hour later, Rudenko was released.

After being released, he spent some time with his wife and their two small dogs and seemed remarkably calm for a man who had been in jail for murdering his long-time friend.

He only learned hours before his release that the charges had been dropped.

WSOC

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