Hours before Oklahoma pastor David Charles Evans was fatally shot in his bed on Monday morning, the 50-year-old warned his parishioners that the devil would seek to “destroy and kill them” for witnessing God’s power.
“Sometimes, I just stop and think. If the devil is not attacking you with everything he’s got in trying to destroy and kill you, maybe [it’s] because you’re not the reason anybody is believing in Jesus. And as a pastor and just as a Christian, what a waste,” he said in a sermon at the Harmony Free Will Baptist Church last Sunday, delivered shortly after he returned from a mission trip to Mexico.
“And what a challenge to us because who’s coming to Christ because of us? Who’s believing in Jesus because of us? And if we’re doing anything in that direction, expect for the enemy to come to destroy you. So don’t be shocked and start whining and crying. Expect it. Be prepared for it. If the devil is not attacking you, there is a reason. If the devil is attacking you, there is a reason.”
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But police say something sinister was closer to home for Evans. The following day, his wife had her lover shoot Evans in the head, even after an affair that, at one point, involved the pastor, police allege.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation on Friday said Kristie Dawnell Evans, 47, had been arrested and charged with first-degree murder after confessing her role in her husband’s murder. Her lover, Kahlil Deamie Square, 26, was also arrested on Thursday on the same charge.
Authorities say that Kristie Evans asked Square to kill her husband in a sinister plot the two hatched while the pastor was away in Mexico. According to an affidavit, obtained by The Daily Beast, the mother-of-three later told police her husband “was verbally abusive and controlling of her” and “called her names like ‘slut, fat, ugly, and whore.’”
“Kristie gave David’s gun and a box of bullets to Kahlil,” the affidavit says, based on interviews Evans had with investigators. “Kristie and Kahlil agreed upon an approximate time Kahlil would come to the Evans’ residence to kill David. Kristie left the backdoor unlocked so Kahlil could make entry to the resident.”
In a bizarre twist, the pastor’s wife told investigators that she and Square “had a sexual relationship that also included David at one point as well.”
“Kristie and David first met Kahlil months ago at a Super 8 Motel,” the affidavit states. The trio had sex at the Super 8 Motel on more than one occasion. One time, “Kristie secretly dropped her phone number on the floor for Kahlil. Kristine continued to communicate by phone daily with Kahlil without David’s knowledge,” the affidavit continues.
Evans admitted that Square stayed over for three nights while her husband was in Mexico, too. She told Square that her husband was verbally abusive, that he mistreated her, and that “it would be nice to have more freedom.” “Kahlil simply responded with, ‘damn,’” the affidavit says.
Then, at around 1 a.m. on March 22, Evans called 911 to report that “someone had shot her husband” inside their home in Ada, about an hour outside of Oklahoma City. When officers arrived, David Evans was “lying in bed, bleeding from the nose and mouth” with a gunshot wound to the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Initially, Kristie Evans told police that a few hours after the couple had gone to bed, she was “awakened by a ‘pop’ noise” and smelled smoke. She noticed her husband was bleeding from his nose and mouth—but was still alive and making a “gasping noise.” Before calling 911 she said she ran outside the house to look for any cars or intruders.
But, the affidavit states, as authorities began to interview friends and neighbors, her story began to unravel. In one interview with a neighbor, authorities learned that a white Ford Mustang had been at the house several days prior to the pastor’s death.
The neighbor also provided video surveillance footage of the same Mustang in front of the house on March 22. Evans later admitted that the car belonged to Square, with whom she was having an affair.
The affidavit states that authorities received a text message on Thursday from Evans’ daughter, saying Evans was coming in to confess. She had allegedly told her daughter that she “begged Kahlil to kill David and that Kahlil shot and killed David with David’s gun.”
Evans later explained to police that, when she heard Square arrive at the house Monday night, she went to the living room to find him “crouched down” and was “concerned he was making too much noise.” She said she urged him to “proceed with the plan” and stayed in the living room while Square went to the bedroom and shot the pastor.
After Square “ran out the backdoor,” Evans said she saw her husband lying in bed with a gunshot wound, then sat on the side of the bed and called 911.
Evans is being held in the Pontotoc County Jail and Square is in the Cleveland County Jail. It is not immediately clear if either has a lawyer. Harmony Free Will Baptist Church did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.
