The rapper boyfriend of Morgan Freeman's step-granddaughter has been arrested after she was stabbed to death on a Manhattan sidewalk in an apparent cocaine-fuelled exorcism.
Lamar Davenport, 30, allegedly killed E'Dena Hines, 33, near her New York home in Washington Heights on Sunday morning.
George Hudacko, 65, who saw the 3am attack from his window and called 911 said Davenport was stabbing her and screaming: 'Get out, devils. In the name of Jesus Christ, I cast you out’.
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| KILLER - LAMAR |
Davenport, an aspiring actor with a history of drug abuse and a criminal record, was said to be reciting bible verses before being dragged from her body, which had 16 stab wounds.
He has been taken to the New York's Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center to undergo psychological testing before being questioned by police.
Miss Hines, who is the granddaughter of Morgan Freeman's first wife Jeanette Adair Bradshaw, was a regular on the red carpet with her grandfather and also appeared in a number of movies herself.
The heartbroken star, 78, who was once forced to deny a romantic relationship with her, said last night: 'The world will never know her artistry in talent. Her star will continue to shine bright in our hearts, thoughts and prayers. May she rest in peace.'
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| LATE E'DENA HINES |
He added: 'I want to acknowledge the tremendous outpouring of love and support my family has received regarding the tragic and senseless passing of my granddaughter E'Dena Hines. Thank you from the bottom of my heart'.
Miss Hines, who was known to be very close to the Oscar winning actor, played the part of a receptionist in '5 Flights Up', which came out in May.
Witness Brydon Tarafa, 28, told Dailymail.com that he was in his apartment when he heard a man maniacally shouting 'Jesus Christ is born', shortly after a woman screamed.
According to Davenport's Facebook, he used to work for an Auto Parts shop and studied English Literature at New York University.
He was trying to become a rapper, performing under the nickname Lyric.
One witness to the murder described the demented scene which unfolded around 3am.
'Get out, devils! I cast you out, devils! In the name of Jesus Christ, I cast you out!,' the boyfriend screamed, said George Hudacko, 65, who saw the attack from his window in Washington Heights and called 911.
Witnesses told The New York Post that the man continued to stab Hines' lifeless body until police arrested him. When officers arrived he was reportedly still making the stabbing motion while the knife was stuck in her chest - and he didn't have anything in his fist.
A law enforcement source also told the newspaper he may have been high on cocaine at the time.
They added that he has six past arrests for crimes including marijuana possession and petit larceny, and has two children.
Ray Roasrio, who claims to be Davenport's best friend, says he went out for dinner with the couple and some friends late on Saturday night, and it was the happiest he had seen Hines for a long time.
He told The Daily Beast: 'I’m still trying to come to grips with what happened. I’m caught between the hate I have for him, my love for him being my brother, and my heart breaking for her.'
Rosario added the pair were 'ecstatic' just hours before the brutal death.
Tarafa said he didn’t think much of the screaming at first because there’s a church across the street and ‘sometimes there's people yelling and kids running around’.
He soon realized that it was too late for kids to be outside playing, so he ran to his window to see what was happening.
‘I go to my window and I see some people standing in the street watching something. And right then two police cars come in and I notice there's someone over here right in front of my doorway, and the guy gets off of the girl, and the police go and put him in handcuffs,’ he said.
Tarafa, who lived in the building above where the incident occurred, said that he had ‘never seen that kind of violence happen so close to home’ and that it was ‘very scary’, and that he’s ‘definitely reconsidering’ his safety in the neighborhood.
He didn’t know Hines, but said that he wished he could have done something to save her life.
‘Maybe if I had gone to the window sooner and thought it was more of an emergency situation sooner, then maybe I could have called and the police could have gotten here faster,’ Tarafa said.
Hines is the granddaughter of Freeman's first wife Jeanette Adair Bradshaw. She is sometimes referred as Freeman's goddaughter in addition to his step-granddaughter.
E'Dena Hines was pronounced dead at Harlem Hospital shortly after the stabbing.
Police have not yet said if the man is facing any charges nor do they know what made him ‘snap’.
Academy Award-winning actor Freeman, who was once forced to deny having had a relationship with Miss Hines, paid tribute to her in a statement.
‘The world will never know her artistry in talent, and how much she had to offer,’ he said.
‘Her friends and family were fortunate enough to have known what she meant as a person. Her star will continue to shine bright in our hearts, thoughts and prayers. May she rest in peace.’
According to Hines' personal website she was an actor and writer living in New York City where she studied at New York University's Graduate Acting Program.
They released a statement on Sunday confirming a scholarship would be dedicated in her name.
They wrote on Facebook: 'Our community lost one of its own today. E'dena Hines ('11) was an unendingly loyal, fiercely talented, truly fierce woman.
'Those who knew her best knew the depths of her feeling and the intensity for her passion for life and her friends.
'Those who knew her at all knew her light. As this news has taken Facebook this is the common refrain: she was a light. In her smile. In her laughter. In her convictions. In her soul. She was. She is. She is all around us now.
'In the coming weeks there will be information about the E'dena Hines Scholarship. For now we grieve with her friends and family.'
In addition to being an aspiring actress in New York, she also taught under-exposed youth in her native Memphis, Tennessee, where she moved after she failed to land gigs and felt 'unfulfilled’.
She called New York home again last April after being cast in a small indie film called Landing Up which began shooting in June. She spoke of her excitement about the career changing role on her blog.
'My dream has come true and its just beginning. Life can make you want to give up or walk away; sometimes it gives you the strength to appreciate when you do get your happy ending,' she wrote in a blog post on July 7.
According to her IMDB she also played the receptionist in a Morgan Freeman film called Five Flights Up, a yoga student in the TV series A Minority Report, and a maid in the film Moll of Flanders also starring Morgan Freeman.
An investigation into Hines' death is ongoing.
In 2012, Freeman was forced to dispel rumors that he planned on marrying the actress and that they were in a romantic relationship for ten years prior.
'The recent reports of any pending marriage or romantic relationship of me to anyone are defamatory fabrications from the tabloid media designed to sell papers.
'What is even more alarming is that these fabrications are now being picked up by the legitimate press as well,' the actor said in 2012.
The father-of-four's stance was backed up by Hines, who issued a statement of her own after the rumors surfaced.
She said: 'These stories about me and my grandfather are not only untrue, they are also hurtful to me and my family.'
Morgan was married to Jeanette Adair Bradshaw from 1967 until 1979.
He then married costume designer Myrna Colley-Lee on June 16, 1984, and it was in 2009 during their messy divorce that the allegations emerged.
If the rumors had been true the relationship would have shared eerie similarities to the one between Woody Allen and his now wife Soon-Yi Previn.
She was the adopted daughter of the director's long-time partner Mia Farrow, who he was with from 1980, until she learned they had became lovers in 1992.
It led to a storm of publicity about their relationship, though they later got married in 1997.
DailyMail
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