Morgan Freeman’s Granddaughter, E’Dena Hines, Stabbed To Death In New York

In a tragic scene on the streets of New York, which continues to unfold, the step-granddaughter of Morgan Freeman, E’Dena Hines, was found stabbed to death early Sunday morning.

According to the New York Post, police responded to the scene outside a building in a neighborhood in New York’s Washington Heights around 3:00 in the morning and found E’Dena Hines, 33, unconscious and down on the sidewalk with apparent stab wounds to her body.

Standing above the wounded and unconscious body of Hines was a man believed to be her ex-boyfriend who was reportedly screaming manically into the night according to witnesses.

Emergency personnel rushed Hines to a Harlem Hospital but she succumbed to her wounds and was pronounced dead.

The screaming ex-boyfriend who was standing over Hines is believed to have have murdered her and was arrested before being checked into Columbia Presbyterian Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

Morgan Freeman is the step-grandfather of E’Dena Hines, via Freeman’s first wife, Jeanette Adair Bradshaw, who is Hines’s grandmother. Hines has also been referred to as Freeman’s goddaughter, along with step-granddaughter, reports the Daily Mail.

As for any specific charges that Hines’s alleged killer may be facing, police are not positive that any are even forthcoming, likely because of his mental condition, police also noting that they don’t know what may have made him “snap.”

In a statement, the obviously grieving Morgan Freeman highlighted his granddaughter’s talents and the magnitude of her devastating loss.

“The world will never know her artistry in talent, and how much she had to offer. 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.”

E’Dena Hines was reportedly an aspiring actor, writer, and New Yorker. She went to school at New York University’s Graduate Acting Program and also taught disadvantaged kids in her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.

Landing a role in the film Landing Up brought Hines back to New York this past Spring, an accomplishment Hines reflected on in a July 7 entry in 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.”

Rumors in 2012 that Morgan Freeman and Hines were going to get married after a 10-year romantic relationship dogged the legendary grandfather-actor and his step-granddaughter.

But the two shot down the rumors, Freeman saying they were nothing more than “fabrications” created by misguided tabloids.

“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.”

For E’Dena Hines, the rumors that she and Morgan Freeman had a romantic relationship were equally ridiculous, the aspiring actress saying at the time, “These stories about me and my grandfather are not only untrue, they are also hurtful to me and my family.”

The investigation into the apparent murder of E’Dena Hines is ongoing.

[Image by Stephen Lovekin, Getty Images]