Help For Mom Whose Daughter, 18, Died In Crash: 'I Will Miss You'

EAST END, NY — A devastated Long Island mother is mourning her daughter, who died in a crash Monday on the Long Island Expressway.

The East End community is coming together to help Violeta Sajbin, whose daughter Katherine died in the crash: 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 and also cannot work.

"We are all in shock," family members told Patch. "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."

Katherine was killed and three others were injured in a crash on the Long Island Expressway Monday afternoon, 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 Katherine Perez Sajbin, who was sitting in the back seat, and her mother, Violeta, 40, who was in the front passenger seat, were ejected from the Jeep. Katherine 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.