GAINESVILLE, Ga. — A heartbreaking tragedy unfolded in Gainesville on Saturday. Gainesville Police said they were asked to conduct a welfare check at Spring Valley Apartments on Thompson Bridge Road.
As they entered the apartment, officers said they found the body of Casey Allen. Police confirmed the 32-year-old mother of four was stabbed multiple times.
Her sister, Tiffany Agee, said Allen and her husband Christopher Dean Snow had just celebrated their one-year anniversary the day before on Friday.
Which makes the fact that Snow is charged with murder in her homicide even more gut-wrenching.
Agee said she'll never forget the phone call from her sister's ex-husband and the father of Allen's three oldest children.
"He said, Casey is dead. And I just, I just threw my phone and I started screaming, and I just - I just got into a fetal position... And I just kept screaming. 'No, no, no, no,'" explained Agee.
Agee said her sister and Snow welcomed their first child this past December.
"She was the happiest I had seen her in so, so long," said Agee. "She kept saying how great of a dad he (Snow) is and great of a step-dad he is to her other three kids. I never expected it to be this way."
11Alive's Cody Alcorn asked Agee if there had been any red flags in their relationship. She admitted she believed Snow had been somewhat physical in the past but Allen assure her things were okay and she was okay.
"He (Snow) really did bring out a lot of happiness in her," Agee said.
Allen was a graduate of Cherokee County High School in Canton. Amber Wilson was her best friend; the two met when they were 12-years-old when Allen moved to the area from New York.
"It's such a terrible thing that's happened to such a good person," Wilson said. "We always talked about and wanted have our own families when we got older."
Wilson said Allen was born to be a mom.
"Oh, she was the most incredible mother," she said.
A sentiment shared by so many who spoke Monday about Allen.
Her sister said, "She really was the best mom. She would do anything for her kids."
Even her former co-worker who worked with her at Marriot properties in Gainvesville, where Allen was operations manager, said they saw an amazing mother.
"I I think that's why all of us are hurting the way we are, because of the type of mom she was. Absolutely amazing. Her children were her world, which every mom should be that way, but Casey's children was so world," explained Akeria Lockett-McHenry.
Lockett-McHenry remembers the day Allen hired her for the job at Fairfield Inn.
"...When she hired me, I was like, what? People like this still exist, people this happy, this bubbly?" said Lockett-McHenry.
She said Allen left a mark on the Marriot prosperities she worked at and said, to this day, her name is often mentioned.
"You just don't find people so genuine as her, willing to help. And to give me a shot, you know, in leadership, you just don't find people that wants to help another person get to where they are," Lockett-McHenry said. "But she was that exact same person. Anybody that wanted to learn and eager to learn another position, Casey could go in any area of the hotel and just absolutely just blow it out. Just do everything. I mean, she could do housekeeping, she could do laundry, she could do marketing, she could do sales, every area of the hotel. She was exceptional."
It's still hard for Lockett-McHenry to realize Allen is gone.
"I can't, I can't begin to fathom. Not only the pain that her family (feels), the (questions) of whomever takes her children will have to answer on a daily basis," said McHenry.
It's a pain no parent should ever have to endure, the loss of one of their own children. Allen's mom said she just hopes the world knows what a beautiful soul her daughter had - and the tremendous loss her family is now enduring.
"Parents are not supposed to bury their children. It's just not right," said Allen's mom Alicia Claire.
Claire added: "She was the light in everybody's life that she touched. She's going to be missed by a lot of people."
One thing who spoke with about Allen highlighted is that she absolutely loved her four children and they were her entire world. She leaves behind a 9-year-old, 7-year-old, 3-year-old and 3 1/2-month-old.
Her former co-worker Lockett-McHenry said she hopes her children grow up to know "how beautiful of a person their mother was and the impact that she made on every single body that she came into contact with."
Gainesville Police said Allen's husband was found shortly after her body was discovered in their apartment.
Snow was involved in a "serious crash" on I-85 in Gwinnett County. On Monday, Gainesville PD confirmed Snow remains in the hospital and they're still trying to determine if the crash was accidental or intentional. The agency did confirm there was no pursuit involved prior to the crash being discovered.