A Long Island teen has been indicted for the “execution-style” murder of his 18-year-old ex-girlfriend at his Nesconset home, prosecutors said Friday.
Austin Lynch, 18, is accused of using his family’s shotgun to shoot Emily Finn in the back of the head at point-blank range on the morning of Nov. 26, one day before Thanksgiving, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
The two teenagers, who began dating when they were both 14, had recently ended their nearly three-and-a-half-year relationship, investigators said.
Earlier this fall, Finn began her freshman year of college at SUNY Oneonta studying early childhood education, while Lynch remained on Long Island.
About two weeks before Thanksgiving, she broke off the relationship, after which Lynch allegedly became “obsessive, calling and texting Finn non-stop,” prosecutors said.
Despite receiving no replies to his calls and Finn ultimately blocking his number, Lynch allegedly began using a family member’s phone and bombarding her with messages on social media, according to the investigation.
Witnesses said Lynch was upset and had allegedly mentioned suicide on several occasions.
On Nov. 26, while Finn was back on Long Island for the Thanksgiving break, she went to see Lynch at his Shenandoah Blvd. home to drop off some of his belongings.
As she prepared to leave, just before 10 a.m., he allegedly shot her before turning the gun on himself, “severely injuring his face,” prosecutors said.
After hearing the gunshots, Lynch’s parents ran into the house from the backyard area, and his father called 911.
Suffolk County police arrived and found Finn with her car keys still in her hand, her purse beside her body and her coat on, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said, calling the incident “tragic.”
“Emily Finn should still be alive and back at college. Instead, the defendant allegedly robbed her of that experience and her future,” he said.
Lynch, who turned 18 the day after the shooting, was bleeding heavily from his face and was taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for multiple injuries, including facial fractures and a cranial leak.
He appeared in Suffolk County Court Thursday and pleaded not guilty to one count of second-degree murder, online court records show.
Lynch was ordered held without bail and faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted, officials said. He is due back in court Dec. 8.
