Karen Fink, a Santa Clarita woman, friend and wife to a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy, was honored Monday afternoon with a procession by LASD deputies after the 36-year-old died while pregnant with the couple’s first child.

A Santa Clarita native, Karen was married to John Fink, a deputy with the LASD Training Bureau. He also served as a detective with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station’s Juvenile Intervention Team, now known as the JAG Team.

Karen is remembered as a close friend, genuine and authentic, always there for the ones she knew and loved, according to her close friend Arlene Ayala.

When Ayala first started dating her now-husband, she was introduced to John and Karen Fink.

From that day on, the Ayalas and Finks stayed together, becoming lifelong friends and even finding homes close together in a community where they both wanted to plant roots and raise their families.

“Karen Fink has been my friend for the past 15 years, but I would say within the past maybe 10 years we’ve gotten really, really close. These last five years, I would say we grew a stronger bond – more so like sisters,” Ayala said. “We were both househunting at the same time, and we actually ended up choosing houses within less than a mile radius from each other.”

Karen was Ayala’s secret-keeper, learning she was pregnant and the gender of the baby before anyone else – besides Ayala’s husband.

Karen worked in Santa Clarita as a therapist, which made for a great friend to talk to when things were good or tough.

“She always made the ones that truly matter to her feel very valued, seen, and heard, and she would express that in the way that she spoke to you,” Ayala recalled. “Karen was a therapist as well, so her listening to us just came so naturally, but the way she truly talked to us is what made the difference. Most friends will tell you ‘I’m  so sorry you’re going through that’, ‘I’m here for you.’ Karen wasn’t that girl. Karen was the one that just opened up her heart and felt what you were feeling. Always had those right words to tell you to either keep motivating you to do what you’re doing or try to help you change your perspective in regards to why things are happening the way they are.”

Karen’s kind spirit and genuine love for her friends showed.

“She’s just an extraordinary woman day and day out,” Ayala said. “She is probably one of the most loyal people I’ve ever met. She is a girl that maintained her friendships. She’s 36 years old and to this day, some of her best friends are still girls that she met when she was 7 years  old.”

Karen loved being a loyal wife, her job, and exercising, but always found time to be with her friends on all their different occasions.

After a “long battle,” Karen and John finally conceived a son, to be named John Fink IV, who was due in June.

However, on Feb. 17, 2025, Karen died from a medical emergency not related to her pregnancy.

“Our hearts are broken and shattered, knowing that the love story that John and Karen carried came to an end,” Ayala said. “We feel that John was robbed from his moment of fatherhood, but I know up in heaven, Karen and Baby JJ are having the best time being together. She is enjoying that motherhood life and moment up in heaven.”

On Monday, Fink was honored with a procession and LASD honor guard that passed through Santa Clarita as it took Karen and JJ to their final resting place in Newhall.

“Our hearts are heavy as we stand with our brother, Deputy John Fink, during his unimaginable loss,” Deputy Robert Jensen, spokesperson for the SCV Sheriff’s Station said. “A dedicated member of our LASD family, John has served as a Field Training Officer, Juvenile Crimes Detective, and recently left SCV Station to be a Weapons Training Instructor at Pitchess Detention Center.”

Karen was not just our partner’s wife, but she was our neighbor, and our friend.  Not a shift went by where John didn’t talk about his wife. We were all so excited to see such a deserving man become a father, and this loss is deeply felt within the SCV Sheriff’s Station family.

We ask the community to keep John and his loved ones in their thoughts and prayers during this incredibly difficult time.

A donation drive has been started for the Fink family through the Association of Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputies.

Donations are expected to be open until March 22, and 100 percent of all proceeds will go back to the Fink Family.

“To know her is to love her, but to be her friend was more like having a sister,” Fink concluded.

To donate to support John Fink in the wake of his loss, click here.

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