SIMI VALLEY : Slain Teen-Ager Is Remembered

Emily Ann Christensen, a 15-year-old Simi Valley girl who was slain by her mother moments before her mother killed herself, was remembered Monday as a happy, energetic youth who cared deeply about others.

“One of the most important things in her life was her friends,” Charles Warnick, Emily Ann’s legal guardian for the past three years, said during a memorial service for the girl attended by more than 400 people.

Dozens of Emily Ann’s classmates and teachers at Sinaloa Junior High School were among those who attended the service at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Erringer Road.

Emily Ann was shot to death last Wednesday--the day of her graduation from junior high school--by her mother, Karen Christensen, who then took her own life.

The slayings occurred at the home of Charles and Janet Warnick, with whom Emily Ann had lived for the past three years and who had become her legal guardians. Karen Christensen lived in Tarzana.

Monday, Charles Warnick remembered the teen-ager as one who loved to sing and play sports. He said she had recently gotten a job at a sandwich shop and planned to buy a car with the money she earned.

“If I had to give a description of Emily, the words would be energetic, fun-loving . . . giant smile,” Warnick said, his voice quivering. “I think that energy and enthusiasm can be an example for all of us.”

Tom Muenzer, a school counselor, also paid tribute to the teen-ager.

“She had a unique kind of energy,” Muenzer said. “It was always there. She was capable of finding something to laugh at all the time.”

Meanwhile, police said they have not established a motive for the slayings.

But authorities have said that Karen Christensen, 45, had a history of mental problems. Christensen was sentenced recently to three years’ probation for setting fire to her Simi Valley house last year.

Friends and family said she had been having difficulty coping with her divorce three years ago from JDee Christensen, Emily Ann’s father.

Funeral services for Karen Christensen will be held at 11 a.m. today at the church at 1276 Erringer Road in Simi Valley. Burial will follow at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood.