Boyfriend ‘was high on drugs when he knifed Morgan’s girl to death’
THE boyfriend of actor Morgan Freeman’s granddaughter was in a druginduced psychosis when he stabbed her to death on a New York street at 3am, it has been claimed. Lamar Davenport, 30, carried on making a stabbing motion with his empty fist after killing aspiring actress E’Dena Hines, according to witnesses.
The 33-year-old was the granddaughter of Freeman’s first wife, Jeanette Adair Bradshaw.
Police sources said Davenport used cocaine and marijuana and had previous convictions for drug possession. His friends speculated that he may have also been using designer drug bath salts, which has been linked to bizarre and erratic behaviour among users.
‘Her star will continue to shine’
Witnesses said Davenport screamed: ‘Get out, devils. In the name of Jesus Christ, I cast you out,’ and recited Bible verses as he repeatedly stabbed Miss Hines in the early hours of Sunday.
A police source told the New York Post that she was stabbed 16 times as her screams woke neighbours in the Washington Heights area of Manhattan.
The source said: ‘He was still making a stabbing motion with his arm, but he had nothing in the fist – the knife was jutting out of her chest.’
Davenport’s best friend Ray Rosario said he had dinner with Miss Hines and Davenport hours before the tragedy and she seemed ‘ecstatic’.
He said: ‘I’ve never seen E’Dena as happy as she was.
‘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.’
Davenport has been charged with murder and will appear in court this week. He is at the New York Presbyterian Hospital for a mental health examination. The father of two, has six previous arrests, and a history of abusing marijuana, alcohol and cocaine, the newspaper reported.
Miss Hines was a graduate of the prestigious NYU school of acting and was so close to her grandfather that he had invited her to appear on the red carpet with him several times.
She played a receptionist in the movie 5 Flights Up, which was released in May and starred Freeman, 78, and Diane Keaton.
On a recent post on her online blog, she wrote that she left New York for Memphis, Tennessee, for two years because she was ‘unfulfilled’. She returned in April and auditioned for a forthcoming independent film called Landing Up as her career looked like it was taking off.
She said: ‘My dream has come true and it’s 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.’
Freeman 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.’
Miss Hines’s last post to her Facebook page was at 1.26am on Sunday, 90 minutes before she was killed.
She had just been to see Straight Outta Compton, the biopic of 90s gangster rap group NWA. It is not clear if Davenport was with her. Miss Hines wrote: ‘Straight outta reality. Another story beautifully told thru [director] F. Gary Gray’s eye. See this film – it is a beautiful story about the transcendence of art and how it can give a voice to your experience.’