David Evans was murdered by his wife’s boyfriend, but the impetus behind the crime is far scarier.
David Evans and his family via Brittney Long on NBC News
After 30 years of marriage, David Evans and his wife Kristie still seemed very much in love. To outsiders, the pastor of the small Baptist church in Oklahoma was living the dream, but behind closed doors, it was all but perfect.
The couple met at high school in a small town just outside Arkansas in 1991. They married a few months later and went on to have three children. David wasn’t religious at the outset, but over the years, he became more involved in religion and eventually stepped into the role of the pastor of Harmony Free Will Baptist Church.
When news spread that 50-year-old David had been shot, the community was stunned. Kristie had awoken to find him struggling to breathe and called emergency services, telling them an intruder had broken into their house while they slept.
“Someone shot my husband,” she told the 911 operator. “He’s in a pool of blood and I heard a loud pop.”
David died at the scene, and an investigation into his murder began, but it was short-lived as Kristie quickly confessed and told Ada Police Department about another accomplice.
Kristie, David and Kahlil via OSBI
“A couple of months ago is when the three of them first met up,” said Captain Beth Green from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. The three she refers to are Kristie and David Evans and a third person, Kahlil Square — the 26-year-old man they were in a love triangle with.
“The three of them, Kristie, Kahlil and David, had a sexual relationship. Kristie and Kahlil also had a separate sexual relationship, just the two of them,” Green confirmed.
The relationship was secretive and messy, with David unaware of the sex between Kristie and Kahlil. While in the Super 8 motel, she’d slipped Kahlil her phone number while David wasn’t looking, so the pair could continue their rendezvous privately.
As their relationship grew, 47-year-old Kristie saw Kahlil more often, and he eventually began sleeping over when David was away on church business. However, it was in March 2021 that the murder plot began to take shape.
While Kahlil was staying at the couple’s home, he and Kristie started talking about getting rid of David once and for all. According to the arrest affidavit, Kristie begged Kahlil to kill her husband.
“The plan was for Kahlil to come into the house in the middle of the night and shoot David with the gun and ammunition that actually belonged to David that Kristie had given Kahlil,” said Captain Green in her statement.
They stuck to the plan they’d concocted, and Kahlil came into the house through the door Kristie left unlocked and shot David. According to reports, Kristie waited downstairs in the living room while the deed was done, then went back upstairs and got into bed next to her dying husband.
Kahlil was quickly tracked down using surveillance footage from the Evans’ neighbours and nearby stores, and was arrested shortly after Kristie.
The pair are now in custody, charged with first-degree murder and awaiting trial, but there is much more to their story that doesn’t make it so straightforward.
To his friends and congregation, David Evans was a genuinely funny individual who’d crack hilarious jokes and spend hours talking to church members.
David Evans via Instagram
He bought Kristie gifts and gushed on social media about the love he had for his wife of 30 years. Just days before his murder, Kristie wrote on her Facebook page, “So, every day I opened a card and was reminded of how blessed, loved and lucky I am! I love you so much, David!!!!”
However, their home life was very different, and it had started years before.
Kristie’s father, Ed, remembered in the ’90s David ripping up letters from Kristie’s friends, saying he was the only friend she needed. The 68-year-old claimed this behaviour continued for the next three decades.
According to the sermon David gave that Sunday before his death, he spoke about being a witness for God.
“Who’s believing in Jesus because of us?” David asked his congregation. “And if we’re doing anything in that direction, except 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.”
David’s abuse of his family varied. When they were younger, David made his children stay up all night, cleaning until their fingers bled from scouring cloths. Once they’d finished their chores, he’d create more mess, so they’d have to start all over again. Their daughter remembers being lifted by her hair and her head slammed against her brother’s, with David shouting and swearing at them as he did.
The daughter told NBC how Kristie would secretly take her and her siblings for fast food, ensuring the car was completely devoid of wrappers, in case dad saw. Kristie also revealed that David would physically abuse her as well as the children.
The mental and physical abuse of his family continued for years and eventually compounded into a sexual frustration that he needed to fulfil.
According to Facebook messages provided by their grown-up daughter, David constantly complained about his sex life, wishing it was more ‘fun’ and ‘exciting’ for them. According to Kristie, David eventually threatened to kill himself if she didn’t partake in the sexual endeavours he craved, which included bringing a co-worker home for sex.
The pair went to nudist parks and sex clubs, much to Kristie’s alleged distaste. David would eventually post adverts on Craigslist, looking for people to have sex with him and his wife.
Just a month before David’s death, he messaged his children, telling them that he and their mother were getting divorced. Trying to find out what was going on, their daughter tried calling Kristie, who eventually picked up the phone several hours later but kept her answers short. Kristie told her daughter afterwards that David was sat on a bench holding a gun under his chin, ready to shoot himself.
According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, the threat of suicide is abuse in itself.
“First, understand that this is a form of emotional abuse: your partner is trying to manipulate you by playing on your feelings of love and fear for them. You might get angry when this happens, but you also might feel like you have to give in to them in order to avoid a potential tragedy.”
The allegations of abuse will undoubtedly play a part in Kristie’s defence during the trial, but will they keep her out of prison and quash the murder charge? Kristie’s hearing is currently scheduled for the 8th of July.
Her family stands by her, with support coming from her father, Ed.
“She seized an opportunity to escape from her personal hell,” the 68-year-old told the press.
Should Kristie go to prison for the murder of her husband?