Five children are adjusting to their new normal after their mother’s murder.
Sharmaine Forpahl, a 32-year-old single mother of five, was stabbed multiple times on July 10 in Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood and died from her injuries, according to Cleveland 19 News. According to the Ohio outlet, police discovered her body near her home’s front door.
According to Cleveland 19 News, Forpahl’s children, the youngest of whom is seven years old, were present at the crime scene. The mother of five was “stabbed to death in front of” them, according to a GoFundMe fundraiser started by the late mother’s best friend, Ciara Drake, on behalf of her children.
“Her body was found just a few steps from her front door, leaving her children devastated and without their mother,” Drake said.
According to Cleveland 19 News, Charles F. Barkley was arrested and charged with murder for the fatal stabbing, which Drake described as a “domestic dispute”. Barkley, 44, and Forpahl had a brief romantic relationship, according to the outlet.
The Cleveland Division of Police did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Saturday, July 19.
Forpahl was “a devoted single mother” to her children, Harlem, 7, Honesty, 9, Anastasia, 11, Nikiah, 12, and Theodis Jr., 15, according to Drake’s GoFundMe page for the grieving siblings.
“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,” Drake wrote about her best friend in the GoFundMe message, which concluded: “Rest in Peace, Sharmaine. “You will always be loved and missed.”
Drake’s fundraiser, which has raised more than $8,000 of its $10,000 goal as of July 19, aims to provide “a financial foundation” for Forpahl’s children’s “education and well-being.” She also wants to help them remember their mother, she told Cleveland 19 News.
“I’m concerned about keeping her memory alive for her younger children,” Drake told the outlet. “Because when you lose someone that young, eventually memories start to fade.”
Forpahl’s youngest child, 7-year-old Harlem, “doesn’t really understand that his mom is gone yet,” her sister, Sky Harmon, told the Ohio outlet. “And it’s just so sad they have to go through that at a young age.”
“I understand you’re playing… Harmon teared up as she told Cleveland 19 News, “This has to be a dream.” “It hurts because I’ll never hear from her.”
Harmon also stated that since the fatal stabbing on July 10, she has been scrolling through old text conversations with her sister, who was always available to help her.
“When I need something, that’s who I’m FaceTiming,” she said. “I can’t do it anymore. It’s like, ‘Who do I got?'”
Forpahl’s obituary states that her funeral will take place on July 26.
