Inset: Alonzo McDaniel. Background: The Missouri home where Alonzo McDaniel was allegedly stabbed to death by his wife Evelyn McDaniel (KSDK/YouTube).
A "gentle" Missouri man was stabbed to death by his "abusive" wife after he spent years "tolerating" her constant threats and cruelty, his family and cops allege.
Alonzo McDaniel's family and friends say the 65-year-old endured years of abuse before his wife Evelyn McDaniel, 65, finally took his life in north St. Louis last month, according to court documents.
"We tried to tell him to leave because we knew something was gonna happen," said McDaniel's sister, Tina-Marie McDaniel, in an interview with local NBC affiliate KSDK.
"She's been abusive," Tina-Marie McDaniel said. "He's been tolerating her for a very long time. She's threatened him. She said what she was gonna do, and she finally acted on it."
One of Alonzo McDaniel's close friends, James Moton, says he heard Alonzo McDaniel being yelled at by Evelyn McDaniel while Moton was on the phone with him right before the slaying allegedly happened. According to a probable cause affidavit, Evelyn McDaniel "admitted to stabbing" Alonzo in the chest on April 23.
"All of a sudden I heard an altercation," Moton recounted. "I heard him scream, 'Ah, why you just stabbed me?! You stabbed me!' Me being on the phone and hearing that and him taking his last breath or screaming and then it goes silent. It's just, I'm lost. That's like a brother to me."
Tina-Marie McDaniel told local CBS affiliate KMOV that her brother was 6-foot-3 and Evelyn McDaniel was about 4-foot-7, but he refused to defend himself physically whenever Evelyn McDaniel would allegedly abuse him.
"He would not hit her. He would not fight her," Tina-Marie McDaniel said. "If he wanted to really stop her, he could have. With physical force. But I believe she took advantage of that and just went for what she knew and just took my brother's life."
Tina-Marie McDaniel alleged that Evelyn McDaniel had been "really irate all day" and had been out "drinking." The couple allegedly began arguing after they got back home.
"At that point, from what I was told, because I wasn't here, she started trying to stab him," Tina-Marie McDaniel told KMOV. "And he was like, 'What are you doing?' He said stop. And then they heard him scream."
According to KSDK, neighbors and friends described Alonzo McDaniel as a truck driver who was known in the community for being a protector and provider. He reportedly mowed lawns for free, checked on elderly residents after storms, bought groceries for people in need, and mentored neighborhood teenagers.
"My brother is so gentle," Tina-Marie McDaniel told KMOV. "The whole block loved him. He was caring. He was supportive. He would come and do anything for anybody."
Referencing Evelyn McDaniel and the charges she is facing, the grieving sister told KSDK, "I'm depending on the justice system to do what they're supposed to do. Not let this slide and not let her walk away."
Evelyn McDaniel is charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action. She is being held without bond, with no court date yet scheduled.
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