Inset: McKenzie Renee Eary (Port Neches Police Dept.). Background: The apartment where Eary allegedly killed her boyfriend (KBMT).
A 20-year-old woman in Texas is accused of killing her boyfriend, allegedly claiming she “blacked out” and awoke covered in blood while the victim was stabbed in the neck and beaten to death with a baseball bat.
McKenzie Renee Eary was taken into custody on Friday evening and charged with one count of murder in the horrific slaying of 24-year-old Gregory Mandle Bobenouax II, authorities announced.
According to a news release from the Port Neches Police Department, officers at about 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 18, 2024, responded to a 911 emergency call from The Palms apartment complex in the 800 block of Ridgewood Drive, which is about 250 miles east of Austin. While en route to the address, officers were advised that one person involved in the incident was already at the Medical Center of Southeast Texas while the other was “possibly deceased in an apartment at the complex.”
Upon arriving at the scene, first responders said they entered the apartment and discovered an adult male victim — later identified as Bobenouax — lying dead on the living room floor covered in blood.
“Based on evidence observed at the scene, it appeared the male had been stabbed and beaten with a baseball bat,” the affidavit states.
A probable cause affidavit obtained by Beaumont ABC and NBC affiliate KBMT states that Bobenouax appeared to have suffered “massive blunt force trauma to his head and neck” along with a “deep puncture” to one side of his neck
Officers at the apartment complex collected evidence and spoke to witnesses while other officers responded to the hospital to speak with Eary, who was getting treatment after claiming that she had been the victim of an assault.
In an interview with police, Eary said that after she arrived home from work that evening, she got into a fight with Bobenouax, whom she described as her live-in boyfriend and the father of her child, Beaumont CBS, The CW, and Fox affiliate KFDM reported. At some point during the argument, Eary claimed that Bobenouax punched her in the back of the head with a closed fist and then choked her so violently that she “blacked out.”
Eary reportedly claimed that when she awoke from the blackout, she was covered in blood. She then phoned a family member to come get her and her child. The family member then transported Eary to the hospital.
In police interviews, several neighbors told investigators that they could hear the couple fighting in their apartment. At some point after the fight seemed to have ended, an elderly woman was said to have arrived at the couple’s home. Several neighbors reportedly said they remembered hearing the older woman yelling, “how, how, how, how.”
Authorities took Eary into custody at the hospital and transported her to Jefferson County Jail where she was charged with murder. She is currently being held on $100,000 bond, records show.
KFDM reported that Eary has outstanding warrants in Indiana for disorderly conduct, failing to appear, public intoxication, and minor consumption.
Authorities emphasized that the investigation into the incident remains ongoing.
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