New York, Aug 18 (IANS/EFE): The boyfriend of actor Morgan Freeman's step-granddaughter was arrested here for the murder of 33-year-old E'Dena Hines, US media outlets said.

Lamar Davenport, 30, is suspected of stabbing Hines 16 times outside her apartment building in New York's Washington Heights neighbourhood, police officials said on Monday.

According to media accounts citing witnesses, Davenport killed Hines in an exorcism ritual while shouting "Get out, devils!"

Though first reports said that Hines was the actor's goddaughter, police confirmed that she was the granddaughter of Freeman's first wife, Jeanette Adair Bradshaw.

Witnesses told the New York Post that Davenport was extremely deranged, presumably from a drug-induced psychosis.

According to a police official cited by the newspaper, when Davenport was arrested at the crime scene he kept moving his arm as if he were still doing the stabbing, though the knife he had used was stuck in the victim's chest.

Hines, whose mother was Freeman's adopted daughter, had studied acting and played small parts on the stage, in movies and on television.

"The world will never know her artistry and talent, and how much she had to offer," Freeman said in a statement.