New York Fatality: E’Dena Hines, Actor Morgan Freeman’s Step-Granddaughter And Alleged Ex-lover, Stabbed To Death

New York City was the site of a lurid incident early Sunday morning, when aspiring actress E’Dena Hines, 33, was reportedly stabbed to death by her former boyfriend, rapper wannabe Lamar Davenport, 30, under the influence of drugs. Hines was romantically linked by tabloid rumor mills to her Oscar-winning step-grandfather Morgan Freeman in 2009 while he was divorcing his second wife.

According to New York Post, Washington Heights resident George Hudacko witnessed the 3 a.m. killing from his apartment window and called 911. In what looked like an exorcism, Davenport babbled strangely while stabbing Hines 16 times with a hunting knife, causing her to scream and collapse on the Manhattan sidewalk. Hudacko recalled Davenport’s words.

“Get out, devils! I cast you out, devils! In the name of Jesus Christ, I cast you out!”

When the police arrived and pulled him away from his victim, he continued making stabbing motions with his arm while his knife was stuck in her chest. Hines lay still on the pavement outside her home at the 400 block of West 162nd Street.

According to People, Hines, the granddaughter of Morgan’s first wife, Jeanette Adair Bradshaw, was taken by emergency personnel to Harlem Hospital and pronounced dead from multiple stab wounds to her torso.

Davenport was arrested and taken to the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center for psychiatric evaluation. On Monday, he was charged by police with second degree murder.

Morgan’s marriage with first wife Bradshaw lasted from 1967 until 1979, during which time he adopted Deena, her daughter from a previous relationship. On June 16, 1984, he remarried and together with his second wife, costume-designer Myrna Colley-Lee, raised E’Dena who was Deena’s biological daughter.

It was in 2009 during Morgan’s divorce from Myrna Colley-Lee that the allegations arose about a special relationship between Morgan and his step granddaughter, starting when she was a teenager.

In 2012, when he was 74 and E’Dena was 27, Morgan Freeman said for public record that they’d never had a romantic relationship with each other. He wanted to shoot down rumors of a May-December romance such as Woody Allen had with Soon-Yi Previn, adopted daughter of Allen’s common-law partner Mia Farrow.

New York Post reported that Freeman, 78, issued the following statement honoring E’Dena soon after her death.

“The world will never know her artistry and talent and how much she had to offer. Her star will continue to shine bright in our hearts, thoughts and prayers. May she rest in peace.”

On her blog, E’Dena Hines wrote that she left New York two years ago for Memphis, Tennessee because she was unfulfilled. An opportunity to star in the independent comedy Landing Up got her back to New York this summer.

[Photo by Kevin Winter /Getty Images]