Neighbours reel after man charged in deaths of wife, two daughters
Theirs was a whirlwind romance.
Six months after Clara and Jacob Forman first met in January 2005, they started dating. They were engaged by the end of October and married three weeks later, on Nov. 11 at sunset.
After they married, Clara left everything and everyone she knew in Mexico and came to Canada to build a life with the man she called in Facebook posts her best friend, the love of her life and the man who understood her best.
“God blessed our feeble efforts with good jobs, good friends, a great church family and most importantly, 2 of the best little humans a couple of people could ask for. 10 years later you are still the person I want to grow old with,” she wrote on their 10th anniversary.
On Wednesday, Jacob was charged with the second-degree murders of Clara and their two daughters, eight-year-old Karina Anne and seven-year-old Yesinia Kate. The three were found dead in their home on Bolotzky Court in the Rutland area of Kelowna on Tuesday. According to court records, they were killed on Dec. 17.
Jacob, who has been ordered to remain in custody, appeared in provincial court in Kelowna on Thursday, and will be back on Jan. 18.
Kelowna RCMP Const. Lesley Smith, who did not confirm the identities of the deceased, described the event as “an isolated incident.”
Those who knew the family have been left in shock.
Jeff McLeod, a neighbour, told the Kelowna Daily Courier that the family had lived in their home on Bolotzky Court for about a “year or less.”
“They pretty much stuck to their own, never attracted attention, so I never paid them that much attention,” McLeod said.
Jacob Forman’s Facebook page is filled with pictures of him with his wife and two daughters. “You’d see two girls … playing outside once in a while. That’s about it,” McLeod said.
Another neighbour, who lives on the same side of the street as the Forman home and didn’t want his name published, said he didn’t speak to the parents much, but saw the two girls regularly. He said they seemed happy — when he shovelled snow into a pile in the winter they would come out and play, and they rode their bikes on the street in the summer.
“It sort of came out of left field for sure,” he said of the murders.
There had never been any police cars or ambulances at the home before Tuesday evening, McLeod said. “This is a very quiet neighbourhood,” he said. “It’s pretty shocking, what’s happened.”
Forman was employed by Ace Plumbing and Heating in Kelowna. The company’s website listed him as a residential heating, ventilation and air conditioning supervisor. His profile has since been removed.
Clara Forman, who was from Mexicali, Mexico, worked as a group fitness instructor at GoodLife Fitness Kelowna Capri.
Amanda Thomson, general manager of the fitness club, said Clara was a longtime employee who taught a variety of classes. Thomson said she knew Clara personally, calling her a great employee with “the best attitude ever,” and generous with her time, helping with fundraising every year.
“She’ll be dearly missed; her girls will be dearly missed. We all loved them here. We’re all pretty heartbroken about this,” Thomson said. “She was a great mother, so loving with her girls. She was just an awesome human being, so she will be greatly missed.”
Clara Forman’s friends, family and fitness clients have expressed their grief online. Tanya Seibel wrote that she is “shocked and saddened” by the loss of her friends.
“We will never understand why things happen the way they do. The choices people make. My heart breaks for the family of Clara and her precious girls. Such a tragic heartbreaking loss for everyone. Unbearable grief. Immeasurable sadness and the unimaginable reason and the question of ‘why.’”
A person with the screen name Ma Jay Quinn praised Clara Forman’s “positive and balanced energy” and called the girls “amazingly unique.”
“I’m heartbroken for [this] unbelievably devastating news. How in this world can this happen to such a wonderful, loving, and inspiring woman and mother?”