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FORT WORTH, Texas - Fort Worth police have arrested the man they believe shot and killed a woman in front of her children last Friday morning.
Jarvis Franklin, 36, was taken into custody and charged with murder for the death of Karen Finney.
Police said Finney, 32, was shot multiple times early Friday in her home on McKaskle Drive in east Fort Worth. One of her children reportedly called 911 to say that a man shot her mother.
Three of Finney’s four children – ages 12, 11 and 7 – were home inside at the time. Family members said her 14-year-old was not home and the others were getting ready for school. The children were not hurt and are now with relatives.
Harmonie Soule is grieving the loss of her younger sister.
“She loved family, she loved children, so often times I'd call her and she'd have a house full of kids. It'd just be her and the kids,” Soule said. “She just loved being around children.”
Police said Franklin, also known as 'Twista', and Finney were in a dating relationship. They described the case as a domestic abuse situation.
Her family says Finney began seeing Franklin shortly after his release from prison in January 2018. FOX4 has learned Franklin served seven years on a manslaughter conviction. He was also convicted of aggravated assault.
Soule described a time the two of them stopped by her mother's home.
"I asked her who was in the car. She called him by the street name he has, Twista, Twister? She said he's in the car. I said, ‘He's not going to get out?’ She said, 'No it's okay we're going to leave.’ It was just weird, that's not how she's ever been,” Soule said.
Soule said family suspected the relationship was rocky and they are now devastated.
"She hid it, she hid it. We didn't know at all. Some people at her job say they saw bruises on her neck, on her arm. People would ask her and she'd say, ‘Oh I fell’ or ‘Oh, but we had no clue.’ She kept us in the dark with that,” Soule said.
Franklin is being held in the Tarrant County jail on a bond of $500,000.