More than a thousand mourners filled a Long Island funeral home on Sunday to honor the life of 18-year-old Emily Finn, the beloved Sayville teen whose life was cut short in a devastating and senseless shooting last week.
Inside Raynor & D’Andrea Funeral Home in West Sayville, visitors were met with displays celebrating Emily’s passions and achievements: her pink ballet slippers, a poster showing her smiling with her flute from the high school marching band, and tributes to her academic success.
Dozens of friends, classmates, and community members arrived wearing pink – Emily’s favorite color – a gesture encouraged by her grieving family, the New York Post reports.
Emily’s mother, Cliantha, wore a pink sweater as she greeted mourners who lined up to pay their respects. Pink ribbons, jackets, bows, and bandanas filled the room, creating a sea of color in her memory.
“She just had that special spark,” said Heather, one of Emily’s close friends. “She was full of life. She adored her family, her brother, her grandparents. She just wanted to make the world better – and it was all taken away so fast. I can’t stop crying.”
Emily Finn, 18, was remembered as a talented ballet dancer at her Long Island wake Sunday. Credit: GoFundMe.
Authorities say Emily was shot and killed Wednesday at the Nesconset home of her former boyfriend, 17-year-old Austin Lynch, while she was home for Thanksgiving break from college. Lynch then allegedly turned the gun on himself, shooting himself in the face. He survived and is now facing second-degree murder charges, according to Suffolk County Police.
Emily, a recent graduate of Sayville High School, was a gifted ballet dancer who trained at the American Ballet Studio in Bayport and earned the lead role in last year’s production of The Nutcracker. She had been studying education at SUNY Oneonta with dreams of becoming a teacher.
Her cremated remains were placed in a pink box inside the funeral home, surrounded by flowers, baby photos, and family snapshots. Throughout the afternoon, Emily’s parents, Ryan and Cliantha, and her younger brother, Kyle, embraced tearful friends who arrived to share memories and heartbreak.
“Emily was the best, just the best,” said Hailey, another close friend. “An amazing dancer, an amazing friend, such a family person. Being here with everyone who loved her, I keep imagining her standing among us, smiling. I’m completely crushed.”
Emily Finn, 18, with her accused killer and ex-boyfriend Austin Lynch, 17, who survived a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Credit: Melissa Lynch / Facebook.
According to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, Lynch – who recently enlisted in the Marines – will be arraigned on the murder charge once he is medically stable enough to appear in court.
The community continues to mourn the promising young woman whose life touched so many – and ended far too soon.
A GoFundMe for Emily's funeral expenses has been started, and at the time of writing has reached $88,900 of its $110,000 goal.