Authorities in Cleveland have charged a 44-year-old man with murder after he fatally stabbed a woman in front of her five young children. Per WOIO, the fatal July 10 incident occurred in Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood.
A GoFundMe set up for the deceased victim Sharmaine Magan Forpahl’s children states that the incident was a domestic dispute, and she was fatally stabbed in front of “all five of her children.” Her children are aged 15, 12, 11, 9, and 7.
The suspect, identified as Charles F. Barkley, is said to have stabbed Forpahl, 32, multiple times. “Her body was found just a few steps from her front door, leaving her children devastated and without their mother,” the GoFundMe states.
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“It hurts, because I’ll never hear from her,” Forpahl’s sister, Sky Harmon, told the news outlet. Forpahl’s best friend, Ciara Drake, also revealed that she and the deceased victim had spoken not too long before she was killed.
“I was in disbelief because I had just gotten off the phone with Sharmaine and her son…so I couldn’t really believe what I was hearing,” Drake said.
The fundraiser said Forpahl was a “devoted single mother to her five children,” adding that she “recently moved into a peaceful single-family home in a quiet neighborhood, where she enjoyed spending quality time with her children and creating a loving, safe environment for them.”
“This heartbreaking loss has left her children in urgent need of support for expenses and their future stability,” the GoFundMe adds. “We are reaching out to our community and beyond to help us give Sharmaine the respectful farewell she deserves and to assist her children during this difficult time.”
Forpahl’s funeral will take place on July 26, WOIO reported. “I’m worried about making sure her memory stays alive for her younger children,” Drake said. “Because when you lose someone that young, eventually memories start to fade.”
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