LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- When Pleasure Ridge Park High School holds its graduation for the Class of 2023 this week, there will be two empty seats in the front row.

Almost two years, Nylah Linear was walking from her home around the corner to a cookout at her aunt's house. The 16-year-old girl was killed in front of her younger sisters in a drive-by shooting. Nylah wasn't the target of the shooting, but less than 30 minutes after leaving her home for the four-block walk in the Shawnee neighborhood, the PRP student was dead.

Candy Linear, Nylah's mother, rushed to where her daughter was shot, finding her on the ground and police on scene.

NYLAH LINEAR GRADUATION OPEN SEAT

Artwork of Nylah Linear.

"In that moment, it was just me and her," Candy said. "She was gone. I couldn't understand it because it really happened."

On July 21, 2021, an innocent child was murdered in Louisville, and mother's life was forever changed.

"It hurts," Candy said. "I haven't even got to anger because I'm in so much pain of losing my baby."

Candy had watched her daughter blossom from a quiet child into a teenage girl.

"Nylah was perfect to me. I'm grateful to be her mom," Candy said. "She was a great kid, very ambitious, helpful. She always made sure I was okay, even though she was younger."

PRP will remember Linear and Jordan Owen, who also died at 16 years old, by placing two gowns on two chairs at the graduation ceremony to symbolize two young lives cut short.

"The students talk about their classmates and friends all the time, so when it came time for graduation it just seemed necessary and fitting to honor these two students," said Kristen Shipman, PRP counselor.

Nylah had completed her sophomore year months before she was killed. She would have been participating in the graduation ceremonies that her classmates will go through at Freedom Hall on Saturday.

PRP class of 2023

Pleasure Ridge Park High School honors Class of 2023 graduates.

"It's all about remembrance because I feel like I don't want to forget her," Candy said. "People still remember her, they still honor her. That's important as a mother. That lets me know she really was as good as I feel like she was."

The two students remembered at the ceremony were beloved by their classmates and teachers alike.

"When Nylah walked down the hallway she always had a smile on her face, lit up the room," Shipman said. "Jordan Owen always helped anyone in need."

Candy admitted to having some anxiety about the graduation ceremony because her daughter should be there. She is comforted that Nylah will have the accomplishment of graduating.

"When you lose your child, everything else ends. The fact that they are giving her her diploma, it speaks volumes," Candy said. "I'm very honored because I thought that was something that was no more."

Candy said the murder investigation was reassigned in April to a new LMPD detective following a retirement. She still hasn't spoken with the new detective taking on the case.

Police still have no suspects. Anyone with information about Linear's case is asked to call LMPD's anonymous crime tip line at (502) 574-LMPD (5673). Tips can also be submitted anonymously through the department's online crime tip portal by clicking here.

Candy Linear puts purpose behind her pain having created a foundation in her daughter's name. T-shirts were sold at the walk as part of a fundraiser for the Nylah Linear Foundation. The foundation serves as an outreach to families who lose a child to gun violence, providing everything from warm meals to helping cover funeral expenses. 

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