Family of slain girl remembers her life

Posted at: 11/13/2009 10:21 PM | Updated at: 11/13/2009 10:47 PM
By: Antoinette Antonio, Eyewitness News 4; Charlie Pabst, KOB.com

The family of a young Albuquerque woman who was brutally beaten, then burned and buried on the mesa, is getting ready to lay her to rest.

As Brittni Carlini's family prepares for Saturday's funeral, her father has a message he wants all parents to hear.

John Carlini spoke to his daughter Brittni as she was getting off work the night of the murder.

She called to say good night, and tell her dad she loved him— and, as he always did, he told his daughter to be careful.

Carlini said, "Me and my wife, we loved her in so many ways."

Brittni's life was cut short after police say she went to a so-called friend's house to return a snowboard last Thursday, then was beaten to death.

John Carlini says Brittni was a trusting person, and always saw the good in people.

"It was a wonderful trait that she was so trusting, but tragically you'd think she was too trusting that this could, that these guys could get so close to her and have this happen," he said.

Carlini says in the last few years, he and his daughter had grown closer, becoming better friends.

Brittni was Carlini and his wife's only child.

She was a student at CNM, and eventually wanted to go into pharmacy.

He said, "I have to respect that I've had 20 years with her, life was cut so tragically short, which I can't change, but I have to be thankful I had 20 years with her and enjoyed her life." Carlini says he knew most of Brittni's friends, and almost always knew what she was up to.

While he can't change what happened, he hopes other parents can learn from his family's tragedy.

His message to other parents: "Parents, watch your children. We can't protect them everyday, every minute, but it's so hard. My heart is... I'm at a loss but I don't want this to ever happen to anybody else."

Funeral services for Brittni Carlini will be held at the Daniel's Family Funeral Home at 3113 Carlisle—near Candelaria—at 11 a.m., Saturday.

She will be laid to rest at Sandia Memorial Gardens.

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