Otto Warmbier's college girlfriend has mourned her soulmate who she said helped helped her 'become a better human being'.

Alex Vagonis spoke lovingly about him at a candlelight vigil Tuesday night at the University of Virginia campus that was attended by other students and university faculty.

Vagonis, who was the Ohio man's girlfriend at the time of his detention in North Korea in January 2016, said the couple first met at a party at his apartment.

She said she noticed his 'insane' tie collection, which he became known for on campus.

'I'm talking an entire plastic bin filled to the brim with designer ties acquired from various thrift and consignment shops,' Vagonis told the vigil crowd.

Alex Vagonis spoke about her boyfriend Otto at a candlelight vigil Tuesday evening on the University of Virginia campus that was attended by other students and university faculty

Otto Warmbier's college girlfriend says he was her soul mate who helped her 'become a better human being.' She was the Ohio man's girlfriend at the time of his detention in North Korea that began in January 2016, and said everyone knew him on campus for his 'insane tie collection'

'He was my soul mate on so many levels and I truly believe that he helped me become a better human being, the person that I am today,' Vagonis said.

'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.

Warmbier was returned to his family in Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 13 after spending 17 months in North Korea where he was arrested as a student for stealing a propaganda poster in January 2016.

He returned in a vegetative state, unable to communicate with his family and with devastating brain loss.

North Korean authorities dubiously blamed his condition on a bout of food poisoning which they said he suffered while imprisoned and released him on 'humanitarian grounds'.

Vagonis, pictured left hugging Warmbier, finds some peace knowing he made it back to Ohio and with his family before he died Monday. Since his death, different groups have remembered their friend as a good person

In March 2016, he wept as he was led away by North Korean police after being sentenced to 15 years hard labour. He was arrested in January of 2016 for allegedly attempting to steal a North Korean propaganda photo at a hotel

His family announced his death on Monday, laying the blame for it squarely with Kim Jong Un and his regime.

The Hamilton County coroner is still trying to determine the manner and cause of his death Monday, less than a week after his return.

Since his death, different groups have remembered their friend as a good person, and last photos of him during the North Korea trip show a carefree and joyful man, gleefully throwing snowballs and sampling local delicacies.

On January 2, Warmbier was arrested as he tried to make his way home for stealing a poster at a hotel.

Grainy surveillance footage appeared to show him ripping it down. North Korean authorities say he stole it and likened it to a hostile act on the country and jailed Otto mercilessly for it.

His friends on the trip say he never removed the poster from the hotel and say he was in bed on the night of the alleged theft with an early flight to catch the next day and no reason to risk his freedom

His friends on the trip say he never removed the poster from the hotel and say he was in bed on the night of the alleged theft with an early flight to catch the next day and no reason to risk his freedom.

'He was in bed the night in question, and the next morning we had an early departure from the airport. He was in a good mood that morning.

'The poster story didn't arise until a few weeks later. The footage North Korea released was grainy, and only showed someone taking it down, and not even leaving with it,' said one member of the group who wished to remain anonymous.

'Irregardless the punishment never fit the crime, and now it is even more so. The cruel, harsh and barbaric North Korean regime murdered an innocent 22-year old American student, and more importantly our dear friend,' they added.

They remembered Otto by his 'laugh, his infectious smile, and his ability to love everyone.'

In the final photographs of Otto Warmbier before he was imprisoned by North Korean officials and brutalized into a coma, the 22-year-old is seen laughing with his new friends during their tour and enjoying the culture which would later cost him his life

Gleefully, he tosses snowballs and poses for a selfie with one of his new friends at the restaurant while enjoying their meal

Another snowball fight, this time with local children who joined Otto and his friends to pose for the camera

Danny Gratton, Otto's roommate in the hotel, was with him when he was unceremoniously arrested at Pyongyang Airport.

He told The Washington Post on Monday two guards tapped his friend on the shoulder and marched him away without explanation.

'No words were spoken. Two guards just come over and simply tapped Otto on the shoulder and led him away. I just said kind of quite nervously, 'Well, that's the last we'll see of you.' There's a great irony in those words,' he said.

Otto's death has sent shockwaves through Washington D.C. and has added a sobering, human dimension to the US's bubbling tension with North Korea.

President Trump, Vice President Pence, John McCain and others at all levels of government have admonished Kim Jong Un - and the Obama administration - for the student's disturbing fate.

Otto returned to Cincinnati last week on a private medical plane. He was almost vegetative, unable to speak or communicate with family and was taken straight to the hospital where he died on Tuesday

As his family announced his death on Monday, they didn't reserve any diplomacy either.

'The awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today,' Cindy and Fred Warmbier said in a statement.

'When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13th, he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands.

Fred Warmbier (pictured) and his wife Cindy have requested that a coroner does not perform an autopsy on their son's body and have organized a public funeral for him at his old high school

'He looked very uncomfortable - almost anguished. Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance on his face changed - he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that.'

Doctors said he suffered extreme brain loss during his imprisonment, and was almost vegetative when he finally made it home to Ohio.

None offered speculation on what may have caused his condition but they undermined North Korea's dubious story that it was the result of botulism, a form of severe food poisoning. They claim he contracted it while in their custody and that a sleeping pill they gave him sent him into a coma.

North Korean doctors claimed the student had been this way since the day after he was sentenced to 15 years hard labor in 2016.

The American doctors who reviewed MRI scans that were sent back on a private medical plane with him say they saw no evidence of botulism.

They suggested his condition was more likely the result of a heart attack but would not speculate on what may have caused such a trauma in a young, otherwise healthy man.

Otto's family has planned a public funeral for their son which will take place on Thursday at his old high school in the town of Wyoming, Ohio. Pictured are the preparations

On Tuesday, a coroner in Cincinnati granted the Warmbier family's request not to have an autopsy performed on Otto's body. The family has not offered any explanation for the decision.

They have however planned a public funeral for their son which will take place on Thursday at his old high school in the town of Wyoming, Ohio.

While the service is open to the public, news media will be kept outside the school and outside the cemetery afterward in designated areas. The family plans to release photos afterward.