'We will miss u': Memorial grows to Castle Shannon teen who died in arson

Lakyn Shelleby lived loudly.

Friends and neighbors adored her, recalling an upbeat, fierce-willed young woman described by her boss as a “ball of energy.”

The 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh, sometimes photographed sporting a nose ring or strands of blue hair, died Sunday, an alleged homicide victim trapped in her burning Castle Shannon home.

Shelleby earned a black belt in karate, scored grades that paved her way to the National Honor Society, played saxophone in her high school marching band, and balanced work and college.

All that, her neighbors said fondly, and attitude to spare.

“She was a spunky young lady — I watched her grow up,” said Annette Fawcett, a mother of four who lived for decades next to the Shelleby family on Corbett Drive. “She was an assertive young lady. And very well-liked.”

“The one word that comes to mind is ‘strong,’ ” interjected her husband, Eric Fawcett, who coached the teen in Tang Soo Do, a Korean form of martial arts, at the South Hills dojo he once ran. “And I don’t mean just physically strong. She really had a strong character.”

One detail stubbornly clung to their son Erik Fawcett’s memory Wednesday as he told stories about the endearingly brassy girl who lived next door to him for years.

“The first thing I remember about her is Lakyn doing cartwheels in the front yard,” the 31-year-old told TribLive.

Police say Shelleby’s father killed her Sunday after he set fire to their house at 845 Corbett Drive following an argument with her mother.

Brian Jeffrey Shelleby, 46, poured much of a 5-gallon can of gasoline throughout the house before it exploded, according to police.

Carly Shelleby was rushed to UPMC Mercy. Her daughter, trapped inside the home, was pronounced dead at the scene.

This week, Brian Shelleby sat in an Allegheny County Jail cell as a memorial to his daughter outside the charred residence grew larger.

Little is known about Brian Shelleby, who waited outside the three-bedroom Cape Cod-style home the family bought in 2005 as it burned. He was quickly arrested when police arrived.

Brian Shelleby now faces homicide, arson and other charges. A judge has denied him bail.

Nobody returned calls this week to cell phones listed for Brian Shelleby or his wife, who remains hospitalized.

‘Special gift’

What’s left of the Shellebys’ fire-ravaged home continued to loom this week over a sloped lawn where people patched together a memorial to the teen out of keepsakes and flowers.

But by Wednesday, the pinkish tulips were dried after three days in the sun, and the votive candles had burned down, their wicks gone, wax melted into tiny mounds of white.

All the bouquets, candles and stuffed animals hardly painted a full picture of Lakyn Shelleby, neighbors and coworkers said.

“Lakyn was a ball of energy who could light up our store with her presence,” said Tiffany Stauffer, a Sheetz manager in Bethel Park who met the ascending high school senior in 2023, when the teen took a job there.

Stauffer told TribLive that each of Lakyn Shelleby’s co-workers used different words to describe her.

Bubbly. Outgoing. Passionate. Funny. Thoughtful.

Lakyn Shelleby made people feel heard, Stauffer said. The teen liked texting and sharing videos to make her co-workers laugh, even when she wasn’t working. When Stauffer needed to fill an open shift, Lakyn Shelleby rarely said no.

“She truly had a special gift of knowing how to make people feel important,” Stauffer said.

The Altoona-based employer is helping to pay for Lakyn Shelleby’s funeral and other family expenses through an employee relief fund, Sheetz spokesman Nick Ruffner told TribLive. The company also is providing counseling services for employees at the store.

Sheetz was not alone.

By Thursday morning, 825 donors had contributed nearly $53,000 to a GoFundMe campaign set up in Lakyn Shelleby’s memory.

At the University of Pittsburgh, Lakyn Shelleby was busy working through general-education classes, neighbors said. At her 600-student alma mater, Keystone Oaks High School, extra counselors were busy this week helping students mourn.

Extra counselors also were on hand at Pitt, university spokesman Jared Stonesifer told TribLive.

A Keystone Oaks union released a statement this week calling the weight of her death “immeasurable.”

The tragedy “has left our hearts heavy and our community deeply shaken,” the Keystone Oaks Education Association wrote on social media. “Lakyn, you were a truly beautiful soul … You had a way of lifting spirits, brightening even the darkest of days, and leaving people better simply for having known you.”

Friends said Lakyn Shelleby attended services at St. Anne’s Church, a Roman Catholic congregation that sat just a block from her home. Parishioners and neighbors gathered there Monday to memorialize the teen.

Missing Lakyn

Three cars remained parked this week behind yellow police tape and a makeshift plastic fence in the Shellebys’ driveway. Each vehicle was adorned with a Pitt bumper sticker.

On the rear windshield of one of the cars — a red Ford sedan with a glittery frame around its Pennsylvania license plate — someone drew a single heart into a layer of dust and ash.

The memorial continues to grow outside the Shelleby home, its windows and front door boarded up, its brick walls blackened by smoke.

At least five votive candles had burned down by Wednesday afternoon. Two, their glass cases each emblazoned with the phrase “In our hearts forever,” continued to flicker.

Under a thatch of red flowers sat a handwritten note. Its message was simple.

“We will miss u.”