Kristie Evans, my mother,  is serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole for the March 22, 2021 first degree murder of David Evans, my father. I, Brittney Long, am the oldest child and only daughter of David and Kristie Evans. 

My father was a well-liked, charismatic pastor. He was also an abusive, narcissistic monster. 

Few know the inner workings of my parents’ relationship like I do. I lived with the two of them for 18 years. I saw only a small part of the abuse my mother faced at the hands and words of my father. While I knew things were bad, I did not know the full extent. Now I know and I cannot be silent while my mom withers away in a prison cell. 

I’m not trying to protect my dad’s reputation. Not only was he abusive to my mother, he was abusive to us kids as well. I owe him nothing. I was trained to keep silent, but I’m done with that. 

When I went to a counselor in Jr. High to share bruises my dad had left on my body the night prior, the counselor did his job as a mandated reporter and reported my dad to Child Protection Services. What did they do? They called my dad and questioned him. He lied his way out of it and then “taught me a lesson” with his fists that night about what would be done if I sought help again. 

Easter of 2010, as my dad served communion to his church, my brothers and I went to the police with details of his abuse. My brothers were removed from the home. I had just turned 18, so I chose to leave on my own. Within weeks, the state put my brothers back into that home. The church ignored the allegations of abuse and my dad remained employed as a pastor on staff.

As my mom tells me, the abuse started slowly and subtly until my dad controlled every aspect of her life. It started with him telling her what clothes were “appropriate” for her to wear, him tearing off the head of a teddy bear she had received from an ex-boyfriend, and ripping up letters from friends because he “was the only friend she needed.” My mom was 17 and naive. She could not predict the abuse that the next three decades would bring. 

My dad abused my mom mentally. He established rules and dominance from the beginning. It was his way and his words were final. He would gaslight and manipulate until my mom had a hard time determining truth from fiction. My dad had very strict rules and the tiniest of things could set off his rage. He was always a ticking time bomb. 

My dad abused my mom verbally. For 30 years, my dad berated my mom and diminished her self worth. Daily. He would say kind things about her in front of others and then turn around and take it all back behind closed doors.  There was no limit to the kind of hate he could spew when he was enraged. 

My dad abused my mom economically. She was not allowed to make a single purchase without showing my dad the receipt. She could not buy a coffee or a cupcake without his approval. As children, we were taught to hide receipts and throw away evidence of purchases, even for the smallest of things such as a soda, so that my dad would not retaliate.

My dad abused my mom physically. My mom has always claimed to be an easy bruiser, but she often had bruises that she couldn’t explain. She would brush them off as being clumsy or less than graceful, but now we know where they really came from. My dad was much larger than my mom. He stood 6’3’’ and my mom is a petite 4’11’’. My mom has detailed how my dad would grab her by the face and force her down onto furniture. She has detailed how he would straddle her while he smothered her with a pillow while she tried to get away. I did not see any of these instances, but I believe her. I believe her because he was physically abusive to each of his children. However, he was very careful to not leave too much evidence of his physical abuse. 

My dad abused my mom sexually. He forced her into sexual situations that she was not comfortable with and had explicitly stated that she wanted nothing to do with. Time and time again, she stated that she wanted their marriage and sex life to be between the two of them. After years of “no”s, he coerced her to do things she had no desire to do. He constantly pushed the boundaries and forced her into increasingly dangerous situations. He made her go with him on his trips to swinger clubs, where he would force her to have sex with the people he found there. He made her have sex with somewhere between 50-100 men during their time in Ada, Oklahoma. He set every single one of these meetings up.

My dad abused my mom.

She saw no way out. 

My dad befriended those who were in positions of power, those who could help us if they only knew. Members of the police force sat in his congregation, other pastors and staff members were his friends and confidants. He carefully dictated who my mom could be friends with and sabotaged previous connections so that he could control the narrative if she tried seeking help. He made sure we had nowhere to turn. He made sure nobody would believe us. 

Here is the deal. I truly believe my mom saw no other way out. After hours and hours of conversations over the past few years, she still struggles to see how she could have done things differently aside from ending her own life. She truly believed with all of her heart that it was either her life or his. Not only that, she believed that my dad would hurt her family, specifically her parents, as he had explicitly detailed ways he intended to harm them. The truth is that my mom was abused and scared for not only her own life, but the lives of people she cared deeply about. 

My mom tried leaving my dad multiple times. As a pastor, a divorce would have destroyed my dad’s career. As things continued to worsen in that home, my mom sought a way out. I have messages from her coworkers detailing her seeking a place to stay and indicating that she did not feel safe. My mom’s last attempt to leave was February 15, 2021, just a month before my dad was killed. My dad brought us children into the conversation that day, something he had never done before. He tried to portray my mom as mentally unstable and attempted to use us children to convince her to stay with him. For hours that day and into the night, us children feared for my mom’s safety. I went back and forth on whether or not I should call the police and do a wellness check, but I feared I would ultimately escalate the situation. Once we finally were able to reach my mom, her responses were robotic. She later detailed that my dad held a pistol to his own head and coached her to answer us and reassure us that she was safe. He drove her to work the next day and left her without transportation to make it clear that she could not leave him. 

I cannot make this clearer. My mom saw no other way out. 

Currently, my mom is sentenced to life with the possibility of parole for her role in my dad’s murder  

With her current sentence, she will not be eligible for parole until 2060. 

If you believe survivors…

If you want to take a stand against domestic violence…

If you want to see Mercy for Kristie… 

I ask you to sign this petition and call on Governor Kevin Stitt to commute her sentence.