Kristie Evans: Life Sentence for Pastor Husband’s Murder

Kristie Evans is serving a life sentence in Oklahoma for arranging the murder of her husband, David Evans, a Baptist pastor in Ada. She pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in April 2022 after admitting she recruited her lover, Kahlil Square, to shoot David in his sleep, and Pontotoc County District Judge Steven Kessinger sentenced her in August 2022 to life in prison with the possibility of parole.¹

The Murder

David Evans, 50, was pastor of Harmony Free Will Baptist Church and had led the congregation for more than five years. In the early hours of March 22, 2021, he was shot in the head with his own 9-millimeter pistol while sleeping in the couple’s home on Northcrest Drive.²

Kristie called 911 at 1:11 a.m. and reported that an intruder had killed her husband. Investigators found no forced entry and nothing stolen.³ Ada Police called in the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, and OSBI Special Agent Justin Brown interviewed Kristie repeatedly.

How the Plot Was Uncovered

Kristie denied involvement in her first four interviews. On the morning of March 25, 2021, after speaking with her daughter, she walked into the Ada Police Department and confessed.⁴

She told investigators she had given her husband’s pistol and ammunition to Kahlil Square, a 26-year-old man she was sexually involved with, and left the back door unlocked so he could enter.⁵ The two had planned the killing while David was on a mission trip to Mexico, and Square visited the house on March 17, 18, and 19 to coordinate. Both were arrested on March 25 and charged with first-degree murder in Pontotoc County.⁶

The Double Life Behind the Case

Court testimony exposed a hidden side of the couple’s life. Assistant District Attorney Tara Portillo described the Evanses as “what people would refer to as swingers” who met partners through Craigslist at hotels around Oklahoma City.³¹ Kristie met Square in January 2021 at a threesome David had arranged at a Super 8 motel in Moore, Oklahoma. She and Square then began a separate relationship.⁶

The couple had filed for bankruptcy in October 2020. Prosecutors argued that a $250,000 life insurance policy on David was Kristie’s real motive.¹

The Abuse Defense

Kristie’s attorney, Joi Miskel, argued for a four-year sentence and told the court her client had endured 30 years of domestic abuse. Kristie testified that David had forced her into sexual encounters with between 50 and 100 men during the marriage, that he physically and verbally abused her and their three children, and that she was a “slave to her husband’s sexual wants.”¹

She said she did not leave because she believed David would kill her parents, kill her, and then take his own life, and because she needed her job’s health insurance for kidney and thyroid conditions. She described an incident about a month before the murder in which David held a .357 revolver to his own chin during a phone call with their daughter about divorce.⁷ Private Facebook messages introduced as evidence showed David demanding she perform sexual acts with other men and calling her a “frigid bitch” when she resisted. Prosecutor Portillo herself called David a “sexual deviant” and a “dark, dark individual.”¹

Their son Anakin Evans corroborated parts of the account, testifying that his father used a tracking app on the family, had a “hot temper,” and inflicted physical abuse including concussions.³ Agent Brown, however, testified he was not “100% sure” Kristie had been coerced into the sexual encounters and said the evidence sent conflicting signals.¹

Why the Judge Imposed Life

Prosecutors presented letters Kristie had written from jail to Square and other men, in which she bragged about her “sexual prowess” and wrote, “I’m so good in bed, that any man would have killed my husband.” Another letter read, “I guess I should have paid more attention to Dateline episodes.”³ Miskel argued the letters were a product of conditioning, saying Kristie had been trained over 30 years to seek positive reinforcement through sexual performance.

Portillo told the court Kristie “had options” and “chose the worst one.” Kristie testified, “I held his hand and told him I was sorry,” and described herself as “desperate” and wanting to “be free.”¹

Judge Kessinger said he had considered her testimony about abuse but “could not discount that she had orchestrated his murder.” He called the killing “cold-blooded,” noted she had previously described her husband as an “obstacle to be removed,” and cited the jail letters as evidence she lacked genuine remorse. He imposed life with the possibility of parole. Under Oklahoma’s 85-percent rule, Kristie must serve most of a 45-year term, making her first eligible for parole in 2060 at age 87.⁸

Kahlil Square’s Sentence

Square, 27, entered a blind guilty plea to first-degree murder on September 22, 2022, with no negotiated deal.⁹ At his November 15, 2022 sentencing, defense attorney Tony Coleman asked for 25 years, calling Square “low-functioning” and saying he had fallen under the “clutches of a master manipulator.” Coleman told the court that Square initially could not go through with the shooting and that Kristie “pulls him up on his feet and says, ‘Go do it! Now!'”³ Prosecutors noted Square had prior convictions for assault and battery. Portillo argued that “Kristie played him like a fiddle, but he was there dancing to the music.”¹⁰

Judge Kessinger again called the killing “cold-blooded” and told Square he had “several chances to back out and call authorities.” He sentenced Square to life in prison with the possibility of parole. At the hearing, the defense disclosed a letter Kristie had sent Square after their convictions that read in part, “I obviously did not ever love you. What a joke you are. … I’m sorry you were ever conceived.”²

1
The Oklahoman. Oklahoma Murder: Kristie Evans Sentence Life in Prison
2
The Oklahoman. In Sordid Swinger Case, Oklahoma Pastor David Evans Murderer Kahlil Square Gets Life in Prison
3
Oxygen. Kristie Evans Used Boyfriend Khalil Square to Kill Husband
4
KXII. Ada Pastor’s Wife and Accomplice Arrested in His Murder
5
New Haven Register. A Pastor Was Murdered a Year Ago. Now His Wife Has Pleaded Guilty
6
The Oklahoman. Kahlil Square Admitted Killing Ada Pastor David Evans
7
NBC News. Oklahoma Woman Admits Asking Lover to Murder Pastor Husband
8
KXII. Sentencing Nears End for Ada Woman Accused of Murdering Husband
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NBC News. Oklahoma Man Admits Killing Pastor Whose Wife Also Pleaded Guilty
10
KFOR. Gunman Sentenced for Ada Pastor’s Murder