Morgan Freeman's granddaughter stabbed to death near Harlem

Morgan Freeman and E&#039;Dena Hines, murdered Sunday

(Image credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

published 17 August 2015

Early Sunday morning, E'Dena Hines, Morgan Freeman's 33-year-old granddaughter, was found with multiple stab wounds on a sidewalk near her apartment in the Washington Heights neighborhood of upper Manhattan, police say. She was taken to Harlem Hospital Center and pronounced dead. Police took a 30-year-old man into custody and committed him for psychological evaluation at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. They have not released his name or relationship to Hines, but the New York Post says he was her boyfriend, Lamar Davenport, and that he apparently stabbed her in a drug-induced attempt at an "exorcism."

Hines was an actor and acting teacher, and was technically Freeman's step-granddaughter — her grandmother was Freeman's first wife. But Freeman had adopted Hines' mother and considered Hines his granddaughter, his publicist tells Reuters. "I want to acknowledge the tremendous outpouring of love and support my family has received regarding the tragic and senseless passing of my granddaughter Edena Hines," Freeman said on his Facebook page Sunday night. "Thank you from the bottom of my heart."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.