Otto Warmbier’s Girlfriend Speaks Out On The Death Of Her ‘Soulmate’

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Alex Vagonis, the college girlfriend of Otto Warmbier, has spoken out after his death, calling him her ‘soulmate’ who helped her become a better human being.

Speaking at a candlelight vigil held for Warmbier on Tuesday night at the University of Virginia, she said that Otto was her ‘soulmate on so many levels and I truly believe that he helped me become a better human being, the person that I am today,

Vagonis, who was Warmbier’s girlfriend at the time of his detention in North Korea, described how they first met at a party at his apartment.

via Daily Mail:

‘And it wasn’t just my life he made more colorful, but everyone else’s.’

She said it was rare to go somewhere on campus with Warmbier without him running into someone that he knew. Vagonis said moving forward it was okay to feel frustrated and angry about the circumstances surrounding his death.

‘I personally have found some peace in knowing that he was finally able to come home to be with his family who loved him so fiercely, to be back where he belonged before he passed,’ she said.

Vagonis added that it was important to thrive, despite the tragedy.

‘To do otherwise would just be an insult to Otto, knowing that he always wanted to see others fly,’ she said.

Otto Warmbier, the University of Virginia student who was detained in North Korea for nearly a year and a half, died on the afternoon of Monday, June 19.

Warmbier, who was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in a North Korean labor camp for “hostile acts against the DPRK”, was released just over a year into his sentence. North Korean officials originally claimed that Otto had become ill from botulism after his March trial and slipped into a coma after taking a sleeping pill. That claim was quickly disputed by United States doctors.

On Thursday, June 15, doctors at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center said that the 22-year-old Warmbier had extensive loss of brain tissue and was in a state of unresponsive wakefulness.

Warmbier died on June 19 at just 22-year-old.