‘It’s devastating;’ Mother of Dayton woman police say was murdered while children were home speaks out

DAYTON — Tracie Berry still can’t believe she will have a funeral for her daughter this weekend.

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Her daughter, Shanika Bogan, 31, died last week after Dayton Police said she was murdered while at her Uhrig Ave. apartment, with her two children inside.

The suspect in Bogan’s death, Kendall Beasley, was arrested Thursday morning by Dayton police and the U.S. Marshal’s SOFAST Task Force, according to police. He has been charged with murder and felonious assault, according to court records.

“It’s unbelievable that it really happened,” Berry said Wednesday evening, in an interview with News Center 7′s Sean Cudahy. “Shanika wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Berry said she first became concerned last Friday morning when she did not receive a usual text message from her daughter. She drove over to Bogan’s house, she said, to find her dead inside the apartment, where the children were.

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Dayton Police Lt. Jason Hall declined to give specifics on the circumstances surrounding Bogan’s death, citing the ongoing investigation, but said she was “intentionally” killed between Thursday night and Friday morning, April 29-30. Hall said Bogan and Beasley had known each other a short time, and that Beasley appeared to be pursuing a romantic relationship, unwanted by Bogan.

Berry said her grandson was able to describe some of what happened.

“He told my oldest grandson, ‘I’m going to give your mama a massage,’” Berry said. “I know he went in the bedroom and shut the door … and he came out told my grandson, ‘She’s taking a nap – get (yourself) some cereal to snack on and I’ll be back’ … and left.”

Berry, and her son – Bogan’s brother, William Bogan, called on Beasley to turn himself in.

“He’s the devil,” Berry said.

William Bogan remembers a sister he said could never be mad at anyone.

“She was a sweetheart,” he said. “Like, literally the nicest person you will ever meet.”

As the family plans a funeral and a vigil for later this week, Berry admits, life will never be the same….especially for her grandsons.

“She did everything for those boys,” she said. “It’s devastating. It really is.”

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