ST PAUL, Minn. — A St. Paul woman has been charged with the murder of a man she said raped her.
Evonne Tonette Sharkey, 37, has been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter in the death of 65-year-old Steven Dennis Malone.
The medical examiner ruled Malone's manner of death as a homicide by asphyxia.
The incident took place in Malone's apartment on the 600 block of Front Avenue.
According to the complaint, Sharkey told police Malone had groped her, pulled her hair and raped her. She said she met Malone at a park and decided to go to his place because he seemed like a "nice guy."
Another woman also went to Malone's apartment, and they smoked crack together to celebrate the woman's birthday, the complaint states.
Sharkey told police that Malone became increasingly aggressive, which she said eventually led to her being raped in Malone's bathroom, according to the complaint.
The complaint says Sharkey told police she choked out Malone multiple times because he kept regaining consciousness, which prevented her from gathering her belongings and leaving.
Sharkey said she tied up Malone with a curtain rope, duct tape and gagged him with a towel, the complaint states.
When police told Sharkey that Malone had died, the complaint says Sharkey said she "couldn't understand how he died," because he was struggling to get out of the tape when she left, and that she did not intend to hurt him.
Officials interviewed the woman who had been with Malone and Sharkey, and she told police Malone and Sharkey were having sex and she was asked to join but declined and left after taking two hits of crack cocaine, according to the complaint.
The woman went to check up on Malone at 2 a.m. Sunday and told officials she heard voices but no sounds that would signal a struggle, the complaint states.
Sharkey spoke with her husband at 4 a.m. and told him she had been sexually assaulted, and her husband told her to report the incident to the police, the complaint reads.
Prosecutors say Sharkey had marks on her face and small cuts on her left arm indicative of a struggle.
