A porch light remained on Saturday afternoon at the Frogtown home where St. Paul police said they made a “gut-wrenching discovery” the night before: A woman without a pulse at the bottom of the basement stairs; her two young children found nearby but unharmed.

Officers were called to check on the woman after she failed to pick up her third child from day care.

Police made a quick arrest Saturday in connection with her death — the city’s 13th homicide of the year. Shakee Shabazz Miller-Brantley, who was reportedly dating the victim, was charged Monday with second-degree murder, according to the criminal complaint filed against him in Ramsey County District Court.

UPDATE: Bloody trail led police to woman’s lifeless body in St. Paul home. Her boyfriend fatally shot her during argument, charges say.

Police received the initial call about 9:25 p.m. Friday. After no one answered the door at the home in the 500 block of Charles Avenue, they entered and saw blood in the house. Police then found the woman, who was pronounced dead by St. Paul Fire Department medics.

The two children — a boy and girl — were found in a separate room.

Linders said the three children range in age between 4 and 12 years old.

“For our officers who came upon the scene,” Linders said, “on one hand, they were mortified on what they found. On the other hand, they were thankful that no harm — no physical harm — was done to the kids. It touched the officers and moved them, and they were thankful they could be there for the kids.”

The three children are with someone who is close to the family, Linders said.

Miller-Brantley was arrested without incident about 10 a.m. Saturday in the 300 block of Arundel Street, about a half-mile from the woman’s home.

Miller-Brantley, who turns 28 on Sunday, has previous convictions for domestic assault, aggravated robbery and assaulting an officer, all in Hennepin County, according to state court records.

He initially denied any involvement in his girlfriend’s murder, but later admitted to police that he’d shot her as the two were arguing because she “broke his heart” and he thought she had a gun on her, court documents say.

John Tolo, who lives a half-block down the street from the deceased woman, said she kept to herself. She has had verbal altercations with a neighbor in the past, he said, but “it’s been super quiet over there recently.”

Tolo is the executive director of the neighborhood nonprofit SafeCity Project, which connects residents with initiatives and events through outreach. Volunteers have reached out to the woman several times in the past, asking if she needed anything, but she declined, Tolo said.

“We heard there was some domestic stuff — some issues — going on and so we stopped by and talked to her,” Tolo said. “She wasn’t interested.”