Family mourning after 5-year-old boy finds mother beaten to death
Posted: Feb 22, 2012 4:17 AM EDT | Updated: Nov 5, 2014 6:29 PM EDT
VALPARAISO, Ind. --A family is mourning after a 5-year-old boy found his young mother brutally beaten to death.
The body of 22-year-old Shawnna Forgus was found inside her family's Valparaiso home at 9:14 a.m. Tuesday morning, just blocks from Valparaiso University. Now the campus and the surrounding community is on high alert.
The Valpariso Police Department has not released many details while detectives continue to investigate the 22-year-old's death, however officials did say foul play is suspected.
Aimee Walker has been best friends with Forgus for 10 years and says she has never had a better friend. "I think Shawnna is an amazing person, she has a big heart, she cares about everybody, she is the best friend anyone could ask for," says Walker.
Walker and other friends that knew Shawnna Forgus well, say she was out at a local bar the night before and was seen leaving the bar with a male friend.
Friends say the 22-year-old was beaten to death in her home while the rest of her family slept, leaving no one more stunned by the news than her loved ones. "I'm still in shock, I'm shocked and it really hasn't hit me yet," says Walker.
Walker says since Forgus had gone out for the night, her family didn't think any of it when they heard, what they thought was Forgus coming home. "Someone heard noises and heard a door open and close a few times, but didn't really acknowledge that something that horrific could be happening right above their heads," says Walker.
Valparaiso police were called to the home that morning when the young mother's 5-year-old son went to wake her up and discovered Forgus cold and lifeless in her bed. Walker says she was beaten so badly she was unrecognizable. "I am just mad that somebody could do that to her..that somebody would even do something like that," says Walker.
Now, Walker is left trying to find peace in the midst of this tragedy. "As soon as they brought her body outside the sun immediately shined right down on her. It was amazing, it was like it was mean to be there for her and it just sent chills through my whole, entire body," says Walker.
Forgus not only leaves behind her 5-year-old son, but also her 2-year-old daughter.