A Missouri family is grieving after a man they described as gentle, generous, and deeply loved was allegedly stabbed to death by the wife they say had threatened and abused him for years.
Alonzo McDaniel, 65, was killed last month in north St. Louis, and his wife, Evelyn McDaniel, also 65, is now charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action.
According to court documents, Evelyn admitted to stabbing Alonzo in the chest on April 23.
But Alonzo’s family says the violence did not come out of nowhere.
His sister, Tina-Marie McDaniel, told local outlet KSDK that loved ones had begged Alonzo to leave the relationship because they feared something terrible would happen.
“We tried to tell him to leave because we knew something was gonna happen,” she said.
Tina-Marie claimed Evelyn had been abusive for a long time.
“He’s been tolerating her for a very long time,” she said. “She’s threatened him. She said what she was gonna do, and she finally acted on it.”
One of Alonzo’s close friends, James Moton, said he was on the phone with Alonzo moments before the fatal stabbing and heard Evelyn yelling in the background.
Then, he said, he heard the nightmare unfold.
“All of a sudden I heard an altercation,” Moton recalled. “I heard him scream, ‘Ah, why you just stabbed me?! You stabbed me!’”
Moton said the phone then went silent.
“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,” he said. “That’s like a brother to me.”
Tina-Marie told KMOV that Alonzo was 6-foot-3, while Evelyn was about 4-foot-7, but said her brother refused to physically fight back when Evelyn allegedly abused him.
“He would not hit her. He would not fight her,” she said.
She believes Evelyn took advantage of his refusal to defend himself.
“If he wanted to really stop her, he could have. With physical force,” Tina-Marie said. “But I believe she took advantage of that and just went for what she knew and just took my brother’s life.”
Tina-Marie also claimed Evelyn had been “really irate all day” and had been out “drinking” before the couple returned home and began arguing.
“At that point, from what I was told, because I wasn’t here, she started trying to stab him,” Tina-Marie told KMOV. “And he was like, ‘What are you doing?’ He said stop. And then they heard him scream.”
Neighbors and friends described Alonzo as a truck driver and a neighborhood protector who was always helping others.
According to KSDK, he mowed lawns for free, checked on elderly neighbors after storms, bought groceries for people who needed help, and mentored teenagers in the community.
“My brother is so gentle,” Tina-Marie said. “The whole block loved him. He was caring. He was supportive. He would come and do anything for anybody.”
Now, his family is asking the justice system to take the case seriously.
“I’m depending on the justice system to do what they’re supposed to do,” Tina-Marie told KSDK. “Not let this slide and not let her walk away.”
Evelyn McDaniel is being held without bond. A court date has not yet been scheduled.