An unhinged Long Island teen charged with killing his ex-girlfriend in a botched murder-suicide was furious when she went off to college – and flew into a rage when she dumped him, Suffolk County prosecutors said Thursday.
“I have set my mind on leaving this place before my 18th birthday,” accused killer Austin Lynch wrote in a chilling manifesto on his phone after 18-year-old Emily Finn ended their three-year high school relationship.
“I f–king hate her.”
The disturbing new details came as Lynch, who survived a self-inflicted gunshot to the face during the Nov. 26 incident, wore green scrubs and bandages over much of his face as he was arraigned on a second-degree murder charge.
Assistant District Attorney Dena Rizopoulos said Lynch went from obsessive to downright scary after Finn left for SUNY Oneonta then dumped him two weeks before the murder.
“The victim’s friend described the two-week point when the defendant shifted to anger,” Rizopoulos told the judge. “In a conversation the weekend before the murder, this defendant told this friend that he would be dead by Wednesday.”
Finn, a bubbly freshman and talented ballet dancer, was home for Thanksgiving break when she was confronted by Lynch.
Both graduated from Sayville High School in June after dating for three years, but things began to go sour when Finn left for school, and Lynch stayed home to enlist in the Marine Cops.
“While the victim was away at school, the relationship began to break down,” Rizopoulos told Judge Philip Golglas. “Multiple friends of the victim, who also knew the defendant, described the defendant as becoming possessive, accusatory and overbearing.”
Lynch made at least two trips to see Finn at her school, most recently on Halloween, with the pair bickering fiercely.
Finally, Finn had had enough and broke it off by phone, blocking her jilted ex on her phone and online accounts, Rizopoulos said.
On Nov. 21, a tearful Lynch had a nasty spat with Lynch in a late-night phone call, with Lynch calling her “whore and other derogatory names,” the prosecutors said.
“The victim came home for the Thanksgiving holiday and made plans to speak with the defendant on Wednesday, Nov. 26, to return some personal items and have a face-to-face conversation for closure,” Rizopoulos said.
Outside, Lynch’s parents were cleaning out their hot tub when they heard a gunshot from inside and rushed in to find Finn dead with a shotgun wound to the head and their son on the ground bleeding — and called 911.
“The defendant was lying on the ground bleeding from his face,” the prosecutor said. “A portion of his nose appeared to be missing. A shotgun was found on the kitchen island.”
Rizopoulos said Finn died clutching her car keys.
Police later found the accused killer’s iPhone in his bedroom, where his deranged ramblings were found.
A coroner’s report determined she died from a close-contact wound at the base of her skull.
More than a thousand mourners packed the Raynor & D’Andrea Funeral Home in West Sayville for her wake last week, many wearing pink – Finn’s favorite color – to honor her memory.
Suffolk County prosecutors had been waiting for Lynch to recover enough to be arraigned on murder charges in the cowardly slaying.
In court Thursday, the slain teen’s mother, Cliantha Finn, sobbed during the proceedings, sitting between her son and husband in a pink sweater.
The accused killer was ordered held without bail.
