E. Setauket woman killed in crash mourned

As friends, former teammates and classmates of an East Setauket resident gathered at Brown University Sunday to mourn her death, Connecticut police said they were still investigating the car crash that took her life on Interstate 95.

Laura Kavazanjian, 27, was killed early Saturday, police said, when the car driven by her fiance, David Reidy, left the interstate in Groton, Conn., and rolled onto its roof. Kavazanjian, a 2006 Brown graduate and field hockey player, was thrown from the car, police said.

Reidy, of Newport, R.I., was transferred to Lawrence and Memorial Hospital in New London, Conn., for injuries that were not life-threatening, police said. He was later released.

Kavazanjian, who was in the backseat at the time of the crash, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Kavazanjian and Reidy, who also graduated from Brown in 2006, were headed to Long Island for a wedding after attending their five-year class reunion.

University Chaplain Janet Cooper Nelson led Sunday's candlelight service, which was for Kavazanjian and Reidy, said Brown spokeswoman Sarah Kidwell, adding that about 100 people attended.

The group gathered early in the morning in a tent on campus "to mourn their loss, share their grief, and to extend prayers and sympathy to Laura, David and their families during this most difficult of times," Kidwell said.

Reidy was not able to attend the service, said his mother, Susan Reidy. She said her son is devastated by the loss of his fiancee and declined to comment further.

Connecticut State Police said they were still attempting to determine what caused the accident and whether Kavazanjian was wearing a seat belt. A police report about the accident says the car "came to final rest on its roof" after clipping a wire rope guardrail and continuing sideways off the shoulder of the road.

Kavazanjian, a 2002 graduate of Ward Melville High School, had recently completed a master's degree in international education policy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

A memorial service will be held 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Setauket Presbyterian Church. Visitation will be at the church on Friday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m.