PALMDALE, Calif.—A quiet, friendly neighborhood turned into a horror scene on Sunday, March 27, as police investigated a murder on the 3900 block of Desert Holly Lane, where Andrea Perry, 41, a single mother of six, was found stabbed to death in her home.

On Monday, the victim’s boyfriend, Kenneth Roger Griffin, walked into the Palmdale Sheriff’s station and turned himself in.

Perry’s body was reportedly discovered by two of her teen-age daughters. The children range in age from 1 to 14.

Carolyn Evans, a distraught neighbor, said the whole neighborhood was in shock.

“She was always a very sweet young lady, a single mother of four,” said Evans. “She was raising her sister’s kids and taking care of her mother. I don’t think what happened to her should have happened. My kids would go down there and her kids would play with my kids. Her two oldest go to school with my son.”

 She described Perry as a kind-hearted, church-going woman.

 Perry’s youngest children stayed at Evan’s house during the investigation while the older ones were taken into the sheriff’s station.

“Usually she is up early on Sunday morning getting the kids ready for church, but the kids heard the baby crying. That was unusual,” Evans said of Sunday’s events, adding that Perry’s bedroom door was locked, where the youngest also slept. “The kids were calling her but she was not responding. So they knocked down the door and found her.” The body was discovered at about 9:30 a.m.

Dwayne, another neighbor who would not give his last name, agreed that Perry was a pleasure to be around and was always smiling. However, though he had few interactions with her boyfriend, Dwayne said he seemed unwelcoming.

“He just used to look all crazy, like ‘What the hell are you looking at?’” he said. “I was glad that they arrested him.”

Griffin was charged with Perry’s murder.