Daughter Lost In Crash 'Had So Many Dreams': Heartbroken Mom

RIVERHEAD, NY — A broken-hearted mother who lost her daughter in a crash on the Long Island Expressway recently is readying to lay her beautiful girl to rest.

Visitation for Katerin Joanna Perez Sajbin will be held Thursday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Alexander Rothwell Funeral Home, located at 6447 Route 25A in Wading River. A service will be held Saturday at 9 a.m. at Iglesia Evangelica, located at 200 Flanders Road in Riverhead.

Remembering her daughter, known as Katy, Violeta Sajbin said she was "a very happy girl who did not discriminate against anyone because of gender or religion," values she instilled in her child from a young age.

Katherine loved music, and she loved to dance, she said. She loved soccer, football, and volleyball, she added.

Her daughter, she told Patch, had a heart of gold. "If she took a bite of food, she'd want to give the rest to others," she said. Once, she saw a person in need and asked her mother for money to help them, she said. "I did not know what she was asking for; she wanted to give it to the needy person," she said. "I always told her that we had to help the needy."

Violeta said she and her children emigrated to the United States from Guatemala to escape gang violence in their native country. She first arrived with her son Eyvin Noe Perez Sajbin, and in 2018, Katy followed, she said.

"She was very devoted to her studies," she said. "She said that she wanted to study nursing and then criminology, to help people as much as she could. She had many so plans and dreams, something that she could not fulfill."

Violeta said she was so filled with joy at her daughter's goals and dreams for a future that will now never come to pass. "Now I will not see her graduate from her last year of high school," she said.

Last, Monday, Violeta, Katerin, her younger daughter Edith and her nephew Franklin Eduardo Sajbin had gone to New York City to the Guatemalan consulate to get passports for Katerin and Edith.

"Not knowing that with minutes of getting home, tragedy would happen to us," Violeta said.

Katerin, she said, always thought about her siblings, even offering to study virtually from home so that she could help with her little sister Geraldine. Katerin would feed the younger children before she got home from work, Violeta said.

"She always waited for me with a smile — something that I won't see anymore," she said. "She always told me that she'd already had dinner and then she served me so that I could eat something and rest."

Katerin wanted to buy a house for her mother, so she would no longer have to "struggle with the rent," Violeta said. "She had plans to help so many people. Now I will not be able to see all those plans, all the dreams she had come true."

In her darkest hour, the East End community is coming together to help Violeta: Landscape Details in East Hampton, the company where Sajbin works, created a GoFundMe page.

"Violeta Sajbin lost her beloved daughter Katherine Sajbin at the age of 18," the page said. "Words cannot describe how difficult this must be for the family. We are currently asking for donations to help their family pay for the funeral expenses. Please consider donating if you are able. We are very grateful for every donation during this difficult time."

Another fundraiser, "Donations for Katherine," was organized by family members on Facebook: "Violeta Sajbin is a single mother; she can't afford the cost for the funeral," the page said. "Violeta has the support from others; however, it still not enough. It's hard to accept that Katherine is not with us anymore — and from the bottom of our hearts, we ask for your help."

Sajbin, the page said, has three other children to care for.

"We are all in shock," family members told Patch in a written statement. "Katherine was a brave person, full of goals — and a person that never gave up."

Sajbin posted a video on her Facebook page dedicated to her daughter. The words of the song, "I Will Miss You," written in Spanish, are laced with heartache: "I will miss you. . .I wish I could turn back time. . .To see you again. . .To give you a hug. . . And never let you go."

Katerin was killed and three others were injured in a crash on the Long Island Expressway on Jan. 25, police said.

According to Suffolk Police, 22-year-old Franklin Eduardo Sajbin was driving a 2004 Jeep east on the LIE near Exit 66 in Yaphank when he struck a 2018 Alfa Romeo at about 2:20 p.m. The Jeep then hit the guardrail and flipped over the embankment and landed on the LIE service road, police said.

Both Katerin, who was sitting in the back seat, and her mother, Violeta, 40, who was in the front passenger seat, were ejected from the Jeep. Katerin was taken to Long Island Community Hospital in East Patchogue where she was pronounced dead.

Franklin Eduardo Sajbin, his aunt Violeta, and a third passenger, Violeta Sajbin's 12-year-old daughter Edith Sajbin, all of Riverhead, were taken to Stony Brook University Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The driver of the Alfa Romeo, a 55-year-old Old Bethpage man, was not injured.

Katerin leaves behind her mother Violeta Sajbin,and siblings Eyvin Noe, Edith, Geraldine Anifer.