Family and friends of Kayla Green gathered Friday to remember the Mount Vernon cheerleader who was stabbed to death nearly four years ago.

"We have rough days and we have good days but for the most part.. it has been really, really tough but we're hanging in there," says Green's mother Lavern Gordon.

Green died in April 2022. She was 16 when she was stabbed by another cheerleader from a different team following a parade in Mount Vernon. Green died on the way to the hospital, and one of her friends was also badly hurt.

"What happened was very unfortunate, she didn't deserve it. Kayla was an extraordinary child, very happy, always smiling, a leader, very determined," says Mekiyah Knox, who was Green's cheerleading coach.

March 13 marks Green’s birthday. She would have turned 20 this year.

"It's never easy," says Green's father, Marlan Green.

Her family gathers each year at her grave at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, vowing to keep her memory alive.

She is remembered as a great sister and friend who was fun, energetic and loved to dance.

Green’s attacker was 15 at the time. She was sentenced to three to nine years in prison.