By Barry Carter STAFF WRITER

Diana Ahiahornu came to Newark from Ghana two years ago to be closer to her mother, with whom she shared an apartment in a high-rise building at Georgia King Village.

In that time, Ahiahornu got a job as a security guard at the Newark Museum, using the money to pay for tuition at Essex County College. She enrolled last spring to pursue a career in nursing and was getting straight A's.

Family members say Ahiahornu was a quiet, deeply spiritual woman liked by co-workers and residents at the apartment complex on Littleton Avenue. Her family can't understand why someone would murder her as she was coming home from church Sunday.

Sgt. Amilkar Velez, a Newark police spokesman, said police have not determined a motive for the killing. He said Ahiahornu had parked her 1987 Toyota in the lot of the complex when she was attacked. Police responded to the development when they received calls around 11 p.m. about a woman screaming for help.

Velez said the preliminary investigation showed she was repeatedly struck in the head. She was taken to University Hospital in Newark and was pronounced dead at 4:40 a.m.

Authorities from the Essex County Prosecutor's Office are also investigating the murder, which stunned family and friends members who gathered yesterday at her mother's apartment.

''Everybody who knows her, liked her," said her mother, Martina Tamakloe. "She was somebody you wanted to be with. She carried herself with dignity."

Tamakloe said Ahiahornu, her only child, was "very religious," and was always reading the Bible. She said her daughter loved to attend church services and had been going regularly to the Love of Jesus Family Church on Highland Avenue in Orange.

''She was a very intelligent girl," said Inno Bradley, a close family friend from Woodbridge. "She was a lovely person that you wanted to be around. This tragedy happened for no reason. We can't believe it."

The Newark Museum, where she worked as a security guard, also was affected by her death. In a statement, officials said, "The Newark Museum expresses great sadness upon learning of the untimely death of its employee, Diana Ahiahornu. Ms. Ahiahornu joined the staff of the Museum in 1999 and was well liked by all those who worked with her."

Family members said they are willing to put up a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect. Funeral arrangements have not been finalized. They are being handled by Perry's Funeral Home.

Barry Carter covers Newark. He can be reached at bcarter@starledger.com or (973) 565-0158.