LAKE CITY, Fla. – A 23-year-old woman was found dead in her apartment Sunday afternoon in Lake City, police said, and investigators are still searching for her killer.
Police responded to Kharah Asia Norman's apartment on Southwest Church Avenue Sunday, finding her dead.
Police are working to determine a cause of death and identify who was responsible for her death. A forensics team from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is assisting the LCPD Crime Scene Investigation team.
"Our investigative team is working hard to get to the bottom of this incident," Lake City Police Chief Argatha Gilmore said. "Once forensic analysis of evidence collected at the scene is complete, we will have a better picture of what happened. In the meantime, I ask anyone with information about the victim or this case, please contact us."
Lake City Police aren't releasing many details just yet, but loved ones are saying they know exactly what happened as they try to deal with their loss.
"We will never get back what was taken from us, never. And it's something that don't nobody should have to go through, the way that she died," Shayla Norman, Kharah Norman's sister, said.
Police still aren't releasing the cause of death for Kharah Norman, but family, friends and neighbors said she was stabbed to death.
With tears running down her face, Shayla Norman said the last time anyone heard from her sister was Friday night.
"She was on the phone with a friend, somebody knocked on the door and she heard my sister scream," Shayla Norman said.
The victim's family said Kharah Norman was loved by everyone she met, making her murder unimaginable.
"I don't think (they) realize what (they) took from our family, because she can't be replaced. She was so important to us. She was everything. Her personality, her smile, everything about her was beautiful, inside and out," Alvia Lee, Kharah Norman's cousin, said.
Investigators are ramping up an intensive search, and Kharah Norman's family is trying to figure out where to go from here.
"At this point we really don't know how we're going to move forward. All we know right now is that we just need prayers. We're just asking anybody that knows Jesus just to pray for our family and keep us lifted in prayer," Lee said.
Anyone with information on the case is urged to contact Investigator David Greear at 386-752-4343.
Tips may be submitted anonymously to the Lake City Police Department by email at: tips@lcflapd.com or call anonymously on the TIP line at (386) 719-2068.