Malik Murphy’s parents share his battle with mental illness

Wednesday marks one year since the parents of Noah and Sophia Murphy woke up to the screams of their children.

Malik Murphy is accused of stabbing his two siblings to death.

For Vincent and Melissa Murphy, October 17th is a grim reminder of just how much they’ve lost in the last 365 days.

On Monday, Malik announced he is pleading not guilty by reason of insanity.

His parents spoke out for the first time since that court appearance. They said not a day goes by that the Murphys don’t stop by the cemetery to visit their two youngest children, 5-year-old Sophia and 7-year-old Noah.

“Shortly after 1 a.m. I awoke to the sound of Sophia’s voice saying, “No, Malik no,'” Vincent said.

As soon as he got to the doorway, he recalls Malik looking at him face to face.

“Then his hand went up he had a knife down in my neck,” Vincent said.

The Murphys say they stood by Malik in his battles with mental illness for years, even when he made threats to the family.

“He had done what we feared he would do,” Vincent said.

The memory of that night has stuck with the Murphys for the past year.

“I heard my mom yell Sophia’s been stabbed. I ran inside; I left and I didn’t know they were upstairs so I ran down to her to find her, and I found Noah first. I knew he was gone. I knew he was gone,” said Melissa Murphy, their mother.

The couple says they’ve visited Malik in jail several times now, and it never gets easy.

“Well my hope and prayer honestly for him is salvation. It’s for salvation,” Melissa said.

“There are a lot of things that we want in the flesh. We want answers. We want to feel closure,” said Vincent.

The family says forgiveness is a long-term battle.

“We don’t have to spend our time hating Malik because God is going to vindicate us. And his love will endure forever,” Melissa says, as she reads through her journal.

But they’re hoping it’s something they can work toward.

The arrest papers say Malik bought the knife he used in the killing months before, with the plan of murdering his entire family and burying their bodies in the backyard.

Malik was the oldest of five children, while Noah and Sophia were the youngest.