Date of Birth
September 23, 1992
Date of Death
May 14, 2016
Location
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Cause of Death
Homicide
Who She Was
Her Story
HER NAME MEANS LOVE
Lyuba was born on Sept. 23, in Valga, Estonia. Katane, who is four years older than his sister, said he remembered meeting her for the first time and discussing with his parents what to name her. They decided on Lyubov, which means love. Lyuba changed Katane’s life and she always tagged along with him. “From a young age you’d always see me and my little sister tagging along because my parents made me her official babysitter,” he recalled.
Lyuba was a student in the Eden Prairie School District from kindergarten through fourth grade, attending Eden Lake and Cedar Ridge elementary schools. Her family later moved to Chaska and she graduated from Chaska High School in 2011.
Katane said Lyuba was hilarious and began making his family laugh from a young age. One time their grandmother pretended to cry and said she would die if they didn’t listen to her. Lyuba looked up and asked her grandmother, “How soon?”
A favorite childhood game was to take turns seeing who could make the other laugh in the least amount of time. On one occasion to make Katane laugh, Lyuba ran across the living room and hit the wall at full speed. “She started to cry but when she saw me laughing she started to laugh as well. I think she won that round,” Katane said.
During high school Lyuba and a friend decided they wanted to have their photograph included with others at the school that showed students in after-school activities. They found out the exact dimensions and the model of the frames used and hung a photo of them posing with big sunglasses and big boom boxes with the others. The photo stayed there for the rest of the year, Katane said.
Katane said his sister was also very smart. She attended the University of Minnesota at age 16 and did her homework on the bus rides to and from the U of M so she could help take care of her younger sister and brother.
She moved back to Eden Prairie in 2015 and bought a home. She had been working for Keller Williams Elite in Eden Prairie for about four months, Katane said.
CARING MOTHER
She was a natural-born caretaker and frequently helped care for her younger siblings until she had her own two children, ages 3 and 4, Katane said. He added that she flourished as a parent and was motivated by the hard work of raising two children.
Katane said Lyuba had a difficult marriage. He began to notice marital issues early on and the problems continued to build over time. His family, law enforcement and her churches in Illinois and Minnesota stepped in at different times to help remove her from “her toxic environment.” However, when she tried to leave, her husband “would spiral out of control” to keep her in the relationship, he said. “When life was hell at home, one of the ways she found refuge was taking care of her children,” Katane said.
Katane said he was amazed by all of the ways Lyuba tried to enrich her children’s lives through taking them to different sporting activities, crafting get-togethers or play dates. She also offered advice to him and his wife before their son was born.
“She was always able to challenge her kids by teaching them how to read and to start to write. She was always challenging and at the same time encouraging,” he said.
Katane said his wife and Lyuba spent long evenings talking about their kids growing up together.
“She never missed an opportunity to express how excited she was to hold her son, Ellis,” he said.
“Now we have to take over and make sure these children reach these goals,” he said.
Katane said the family is planning to create a memorial website that would tell Lyuba’s life story, provide updates on her children and projects they plan to pursue in Lyuba’s memory and disclose how the funds are being used. One of the projects the family is interested in pursuing to remember Lyuba is to build a playground in a local community. “She would always be going to different playgrounds with her kids,” Katane said. The family also plans to celebrate Lyuba’s life with a big party each year on her birthday.
Katane noted as one of her friends said during the funeral, “Lyuba’s legacy doesn’t end here … it continues with us.”