Student & singer Amara Marluke, 19, ‘killed by football star boyfriend after they broke up multiple times’, family says

Harpole, 20, is said to have turned himself in to cops after Amara's body was found near the university's dorms in the early hours of Monday.

Freshman Harpole - the former running back for Portland State’s football squad - now faces charges including second-degree murder.

He was also charged with unlawful use of a weapon and domestic violence charges, police said. He remains jailed without bond as of Wednesday.

Amara's parents told The Sun that she was so much more than just a victim of domestic violence: she was a singer, an activist, a martial artist, and a driven student.

"She was the brightest light in the room," Amy Marluke said. "You couldn't help but fall in love with her."

Her mourning adoptive parents said that the singer faced "so many challenges" growing up, as she was put into foster care at age six before joining their family three years later.

"She had a bad rap and some bad grades in school," Amy explained. "But she fought and caught up. She worked tirelessly to overcome her rough start."

Her father, Bradley, recalled how Amara's passion for activism sparked her to serve on her high school's Black Student Union before becoming the co-president of PSU's Black Student Union as a first-year student.

"She led a march in the pouring rain as sleet was coming down sideways, and thousands still showed up to march," Bradley said of a rally that Amara led for justice for George Floyd in the summer of 2020.