OAKLAND — Bernard Parker II’s 2-year previous daughter, Jhenea-Marae, wakes up a number of occasions an evening crying and saying “I need my daddy.”
However that reunion won’t ever occur.
The 27-year-old Parker, a house well being care supplier and half time warehouseman, was fatally stabbed June 17 after stepping into an argument with one other man within the space of 14th and Madison streets, close to a bar the place he preferred to hang around and play pool. authorities mentioned.
Parker had moved to Oakland on the finish of March along with his fiancee, Rashanda Charles, their daughter and her 6- and 7-year-old sons.
The 27-year-old Charles, who nonetheless calls Parker “my husband,” mentioned he “didn’t need to die the way in which he died.”
She mentioned they’d been finest pals since they have been 15 and dwelling in Charlotte, North Carolina. That they had been collectively 5 years and lived in San Leandro earlier than shifting to Oakland.
Charles mentioned it took her a couple of days to inform Jhenea-Marae that her father wouldn’t be coming house. Till that point, the little woman had stood by the entrance door of their house, crying and ready for him to seem.
“I attempted to elucidate it to her one of the simplest ways I may. I say he’s within the sky. She remains to be confused and understands the most effective she will. However she wakes up quite a few occasions an evening crying and saying, ‘I need my daddy.’ ”
Her sons, Ayden, 7, and Tristan, who simply turned 6, are conscious and already miss him terribly. He was “the one father they knew,” and “it’s simply been so onerous for them,” she mentioned
She mentioned Parker was “my life companion” and finest pal. “He was only a nice individual. He would stroll in a room and light-weight it up, make pals with everybody. He was only a pleasure to be round.”
She mentioned she would keep in mind him “for his stunning vibrant spirit, how he cherished journey and simply cherished life,” and for a way a lot he loved being a father.
“He was simply a tremendous dad. He cherished each a part of being a dad,” she mentioned.
He additionally realized the significance of offering for his household. She mentioned she just lately misplaced her job in customer support and he had turn out to be the household’s essential supplier, a job “he cherished to tackle,” she mentioned.
She hopes the killer might be caught quickly and when it occurs, “If I may see him head to head, I’d inform him ‘I’m not mad, I’m not offended. I simply need to ask them why. I need justice and I need to clarify what occurred to my youngsters. I simply need justice. It’s not honest, he was only a loving individual.”
As to her and the youngsters’s future, Charles is unsure. “I actually don’t know,” she mentioned. “I’m simply taking it daily.”
Since she has no household regionally, she has thought of shifting again to North Carolina however wish to wait till the killer is caught. Till then, she mentioned, “I’ll be shifting within the course that God guides me.”
Charles has arrange a GoFundMe account to assist with funeral and dwelling bills for the household. These wishing to donate can entry the account at https://www.gofundme.com/f/bernard-parker-funeral-and-arrangements. As of Thursday morning it had raised $3,271 towards a $30,000 aim.
Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are providing as much as $10,000 in reward cash for data resulting in the arrest of the killer. Anybody with data could name police at 510-239-3821 or 510-238-7950 or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572.
