Columbus police Sgt. Rich Weiner said officers found the three victims Friday afternoon and a man still alive with stab wounds. Authorities took the man to a local hospital, where he was in critical condition.
Police wouldn't say whether the man was a suspect. But authorities said they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the killings.
Tia Hendricks' aunt, Anita Hayes, said the man is her niece's live-in boyfriend and the boy's father. She said they had lived at the Columbus apartment since September.
"It just seems so unreal. You read about this stuff in the paper, but you don't expect it to happen in your own family," Hayes said.
Hendricks worked as a financial collector for years and grew close with friend and colleague Monique Robinson.
"We talked, like, literally every day," Robinson said. She called Hendricks twice Wednesday night with no answer and a few times on Thanksgiving to wish her a happy holiday. By Friday, when Hendricks didn't show up to work and hadn't returned a single phone call, Robinson sensed something wasn't right.
She called Hendricks' mother and they went to her apartment complex with a few relatives. They knocked on her door, and after no one answered, a maintenance worker took them to a rental office and an employee called police. Authorities found the bodies inside.
Outside the apartment complex Friday, Hendricks' older sister, Kelly Hendricks, cried and her father hugged her. Robinson held her camera and clicked through photos of Hendricks smiling at parties.
Tia Hendricks had just taken on a second job as a cashier at Burlington Coat Factory to earn extra money for Tahlia and Tyron.
"She said, 'I want the kids to have a good Christmas,"' Robinson said.
