The boyfriend of Edena Hines, the granddaughter of Morgan Freeman’s first wife, has been arrested on suspicion of murder after she was fatally stabbed in New York.

Hines, 33, was killed early on Sunday morning (local time) in the Harlem area of the city.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Lamar Davenport had reportedly been taken into custody on scene at about 3am Sunday and was arrested Monday on suspicion of murder, the Associated Press reported.

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Police sources told the Daily Beast that he had been held for a day for psychiatric evaluation.

Police cars patrol the area outside Edena Hines’ apartment building in Washington Heights. Photo: Getty

Hines, an actress, was stabbed on the street near their apartment building and later was declared dead at a hospital.

A witness to the attack told the New York Post that “Hines’ attacker was yelling things that sounded like he was trying to purge demons from the 33-year-old woman”.

Law enforcement sources separately told the paper, which painted the attack as very violent, that Davenport, 30, appeared to be in a drug-induced psychosis at the time he was taken into custody.

Ray Rosario, a friend of Davenport’s who’d been out to dinner with the couple and others on Saturday night, told the Daily Beast that he’d never seen Hines as “ecstatic” as she was that night.

“I’m still trying to come to grips with what happened,” Rosario told the website.

“I’m caught between the hate I have for him, my love for him being my brother, and my heart breaking for her.”

According to TMZ, Davenport is wanted in California in connection with a July 2014 cocaine bust after he didn’t show up in court for a February progress report. A law enforcement source told the Post he had six prior arrests for drugs and petty larceny.

“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 Monday on Facebook.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”