00:00:00
[Music] Andre McDonald had a very very strict regimen she followed it daily nice drop it that a girl she would
00:00:20
be at the gym at 5:30 in the morning in the office by 8:00 on March 1st they had
00:00:25
no indication she would be late she didn't show up for work this was very significant to her
00:00:32
employees they called the gym and found out she never showed up to the gym which
00:00:37
is like a religion to her after calling Andre repeatedly it's going to voicemail
00:00:44
you know the anxiety starts steading and like I start panicking for anding to be missing is
00:00:51
not possible the biggest issue for me were the fact that her phone was missing her
00:00:59
purse was still there her keys were on the counter and her Vehicles were still there if her vehicle's there her purse
00:01:05
is there her keys are there if she's missing is there a concern of an Abduction the deputies obviously didn't
00:01:14
know what to think at this point they were just beginning the investigation what we did learn is Andre
00:01:23
McDonald a beautiful Jamaican woman was brought to the United States by Andre her
00:01:31
husband as a major in the Air Force and had top secret security clearance they began a assisted living
00:01:40
business where they in short order became millionaires the picture of the American
00:01:48
dream she's not boastful or anything like that she's just that humble person andreen had a great reputation in not
00:01:59
only the assisted living community here in San Antonio and we're on the side of the street this morning and we're giving
00:02:05
out food for those less fortunate she was very very generous with her wealth and her time God bless you kind of a a
00:02:15
rising star of the of San Antonio absolutely a very much so a rising star they were always laughing together
00:02:25
they were always joking around the home seem to be in terrible disarray no furniture was knocked over
00:02:34
or anything was broken I found there was blood on the wall in an area that was kind of odd
00:02:43
there was blood and hair on a light switch we assumed that something happened there it was a crime scene of
00:02:50
some sort I was on social media and I saw that initial poster that came out with
00:02:59
her face and then it says missing on the top and is not the person to go take off
00:03:04
somewhere no one knows where she is supporters for Andre McDonald renewed their search efforts when the months
00:03:12
went by and the days went by and they haven't found anything in my mind that's not such a bad
00:03:21
thing because if they're not able to find something that solidifies her being dead I mean she's alive right she's
00:03:30
somewhere [Music] [Music] [Music] in the afternoon of March 1st 2019 after 29-year-old andreen McDonald was
00:04:29
reported reported missing by her mother Moren a bear county sheriff's deputy arrived at the McDonald home in an
00:04:36
upscale gated community in San Antonio within minutes Sheriff javar Salazar says his Deputy made a disturbing
00:04:45
Discovery one of my deputies had seen what they believed to be Blood on the wall and possibly
00:04:51
hair and in the backyard normally beautifully landscaped another troubling clue a random burn
00:05:01
pile right here I saw the burn pile we found a zipper from Andre's blouse it was Andre's blouse
00:05:13
mhm Andre's husband Andre Andy McDonald told the deputy that when he woke up he got their daughter Elena to school
00:05:22
before reporting to laan Air Force Base where he served as a cyber warfare analyst once he learned andreen was
00:05:30
missing Andre rushed back home but he quickly headed out the door again to act on a hunch that andreen who suffered
00:05:39
from migraines might have gone to a nearby hospital for treatment Andre's arrival to the
00:05:46
hospital was captured by surveillance cameras lead investigator Frank stubs on that tape he comes in you can see him
00:05:55
asking for McDonald and they tell him there's somebody in room 3 named McDonald he arrives back to the house
00:06:05
what does he tell them he tells them that she's in the hospital but when the deputy called the hospital he discovered
00:06:11
that the McDonald who had checked in was not andreen McDonald Andre told deputies that he
00:06:19
rushed back home before seeing his wife because he had left his cell phone at home and wanted to let Moren know he had
00:06:26
found andreen there was some indication to him that she was there and injured to
00:06:31
some extent unfortunately the Major's hunch turned out to be wrong when I heard I was oh God I was so upset I was
00:06:42
just thinking that she's some place that we can find her and for andrene's mother-in-law Jackie who lived in
00:06:49
Florida there was uncertainty I had called andrene's phone about a thousand times already saying
00:06:57
andreen whatever it is please please just called me back what concerned everyone was the fact andreen would
00:07:04
never just disappear she was known for her sense of responsibility and dedication to her family and
00:07:14
business how would you describe and dream she knows what she wants and she will never stop until she
00:07:24
get it I did coming before he did right andrene did defeat me and she is so excited andreen created an assisted
00:07:36
living business in San Antonio called Starlight homes when she was just 22 and according to Andre's close friend Andrew
00:07:45
Russell in order to start the business Andre he liquidated his 401k Andre bankrolled her dreams and he sold the
00:07:55
BMW that he owned they were doing so well they were doing everything that would make any mother
00:08:04
proud Starlight homes thrived and under Andre's watch the tiny homebased business transformed into a
00:08:13
multi-million dollar Enterprise in just seven years when I started my assistant living I only started with three
00:08:22
residents today STL hes the living we have two locations in the San Antonio area
00:08:29
childhood friend Mandy says Andre's success was born out of humble beginnings growing up in Portland
00:08:37
Jamaica we didn't have a lot and so we figured if we wanted to get somewhere in life it would be in America that's where
00:08:46
the dream was Andre's dream of coming to America came true at 19 when she met Andre he was also a native of Jamaica
00:08:56
who at the time was a captain in the US Air Force Force Andre had returned home to Port Antonio in May of 2009 to attend
00:09:06
a funeral where he met andreen who was 10 years younger was there an attraction right from the beginning she was excited
00:09:14
when she met him excited about the captain in the Air Force they both decide for her to come
00:09:23
to America they married that July was happy to know he had met somebody that he could have a life with that life
00:09:33
would soon include a baby girl Elena Elena was at the center of Andre's World which made her disappearance so
00:09:42
perplexing says Jackie I don't think and would just get up and walk away and leave
00:09:50
Elena and nobody hear from her that evening a forensic crime unit examined those stains in the bathroom
00:10:01
and confirmed the initial belief that they were blood while you were going through the house was Andre there yes he
00:10:08
was did you see any signs of bruising on his body any signs of of any injuries that perhaps he'd been in a struggle
00:10:16
nothing that we could that we could determine investigators were hoping Andre had some answers but he said the
00:10:24
last time he had seen his wife was the night before and they said what Andre described raised more questions than
00:10:33
answers he had told them they had come home from the tax preparers office and that that they had argued
00:10:39
over um uh the business and he went up the road got some gas and just cooled off we were able to obtain video
00:10:50
evidence of him going to the Shell station Andre said when he returned home he and andreen went to separate bedrooms
00:10:59
but according to investigators what Andre didn't mention was the text exchange that happened at the gas
00:11:14
[Music] station for investigators the text messages found on Andre's phone revealed
00:11:27
a marriage in turmoil in including allegations of betrayal accusations of unfaithfulness in these text messages
00:11:35
correct that's correct we have uh a printed copy would you mind reading these from his phone
00:11:43
andreen responds if you bring up aubit again I will divorce you myself auin Hall a businessman living in Port
00:11:51
Antonio Jamaica who according to investigators was andrene's ex-boyfriend and potentially her current lover in
00:12:00
response to Andre's thread of divorce Andre texts I don't care if you get a divorce you brought auin into our life
00:12:10
auin dated andreen when she was a teenager say investigators andrene's close friend Mandy says the two
00:12:17
rekindled their romance in 2017 during one of her philanthropic trips to the island auin has always been
00:12:26
that first love it wasn't something think andin got over emotionally Mandy says They carried on their Affair in
00:12:34
secret until the summer of 2018 when andreen got two new tattoos an initial a tattooed on her hand and a date tattooed
00:12:46
on her wrist Andy was definitely suspicious of what it meant with a Suspicious Mind Mandy says Andre went to
00:12:54
work to solve this tattoo mystery he went and he did own digging it was on social media where Andre discovered an
00:13:04
interesting photograph of auin branded with the same exact tattoo that was also on andrene's hand and those numbers
00:13:15
14376 their ain's birthday day month and year she told me that she impulsively got the tattoo she knew it was something
00:13:24
stupid to do enraged Mandy says Andre threatened divorce unless andring cut off contact with auin covered up her
00:13:33
tattoos and promised to never travel to Jamaica without him she did cover up the
00:13:39
tattoos she didn't want to lose half of everything she worked hard for at Andre's 40th birthday party Mandy
00:13:50
says by all outward appearances the McDonald's seemed to be getting along but just 13 days later on March 1st
00:13:59
2019 that's when andrein disappeared the once festive home had transformed into a crime scene as
00:14:10
investigators worked the McDonald residence until 2 the next morning when they couldn't locate Andre's cell phone
00:14:17
investigators checked to see if her credit cards or passport had been used all dead ends we came up dry on on on
00:14:28
all of these inquiries at this point all we had was a missing person within hours of his wife's
00:14:34
disappearance Andre McDonald was a person of interest he stopped answering questions and lawyered up at 2: p.m. the
00:14:43
next day an undercover investigator assigned to watch the McDonald's house noticed that the garage had been damaged
00:14:51
and Andre was backing out of the driveway the investigator followed him to a nearby gun shop where a additional
00:14:59
investigators who were called to the scene observed Andre purchasing a 9mm handgun and
00:15:07
ammunition we were under the assumption that he was purchasing a gun to probably
00:15:12
harm himself when Andre walked back to his car investigators confronted him their
00:15:19
violent takedown may be disturbing to viewers investigators moved to detain the Air Force Major and turned him over
00:15:28
to military authorities for a mental evaluation meanwhile investigators returned to the house with a search
00:15:37
warrant and checked Andre's car while there some objects caught their eye there was a shovel there was an axe an
00:15:46
axe uh there was a like a hatchet kind of Mall there was trash bags there were gloves and a couple of gas cans and
00:15:57
there was more inside the garbage can in the house was a receipt from Lowe's that had
00:16:05
been torn up detectives were able to obtain surveillance footage from the hardware store items that were purchased
00:16:14
the day after andreen went missing this is Andre McDonald coming into the Lowe's
00:16:20
he's going to purchase several items you can see him with a basket here you can see there's a shovel in the basket now
00:16:26
he comes up here there's two gas cans there's a a mall or a hatchet here's that axe what's at play
00:16:35
here it appeared to us that now that his wife is missing um it pointed to the disposal of her
00:16:43
body look at that cart full of ill will right yes and in the corner of the garage investigators would uncover what
00:16:53
they say was the most damning evidence of all we found a hammer and clothing in the garbage the clothing that we found
00:17:01
appeared to be Andre's clothing investigators say they found traces of Blood on the pocket of these genes
00:17:10
what's on the claw hammer that's of Interest the lab determined that there was the presence of blood on the hammer
00:17:17
and the DNA that they obtained from that that blood sample was from entering we concluded that that hammer was probably
00:17:27
used as the weapon this is significant very [Music] significant 48 hours into the
00:17:49
investigation detective stubs believed he had discovered key evidence that implicated Major Andre McDonald in his
00:17:57
wife's disappearance investigators located those items stained with Andre's blood inside the
00:18:05
family's trash can this missing person's case had become much more Sinister and it's pointing toward
00:18:14
what the evidence was pointing towards a murder but there was a problem none of the evidence collected proved that a
00:18:26
murder had actually occurred turning a missing person's case into a homicide case is very
00:18:36
difficult on March 3rd 2019 the Air Force concluded its evaluation of Andre and released him Civil Authorities
00:18:45
quickly moved in and placed him under arrest my daughter my family what do you have to say about this entire
00:18:52
investigation but it wasn't for murder Major Andre McDonald was arrested for tampering with evidence
00:18:59
based upon that torn receipt found at the house listing the items he had purchased from the hardware
00:19:06
store Andre's arrest left his mother Jackie in a State of Shock and disbelief I saw that Andre was taken
00:19:16
into custody and I just collapsed I know he loved andreen why would he harm her and for Andre's mother Andre's
00:19:30
arrest left her head spinning oh God Andre could not H andreen that's what I was saying but who
00:19:41
else adding to everyone's sense of shock confusion and suspicion was Andre's decision to stop cooperating with
00:19:52
detectives Andre's face told us there was no way in hell we were going to break him and make him tell us what that
00:19:59
happened Sheriff Salazar went on local TV asking for help we are asking anybody with any information on her whereabouts
00:20:07
to give us a call at 210 335 soon after the community of San Antonio along with family and friends
00:20:16
came out in droves to look for and dream including a volunteer search Party formed by former Air Force Airman Bobby
00:20:25
green Bobby took us out to one of the areas where he searched for and dream right now we're behind a hospital we
00:20:34
thought he might have taken her here to a wooded area as you walk through here what are you looking for you would look
00:20:41
at tree branches that have been pushed away something that was cut fresh uh tire tracks how many miles did you cover
00:20:50
it was hundreds of miles as search efforts continued Andre McDonald was released from jail on where is Andre
00:20:58
with his wife absent Andre took over management of Starlight homes search efforts continued although investigators
00:21:06
say Andre didn't take part days would eventually turn into months of dead ends as the search for andreen went on
00:21:17
investigators dug further into the couple's relationship learning that they had business problems as well as
00:21:24
romantic ones in WhatsApp messages she shared with friends there are arguments over
00:21:31
who really was the brains behind their successful business in one andreen tells Andre
00:21:38
Starlight Holmes is my idea my dream and would not have happened without my drive
00:21:46
back then friends like Andrew Russell became worried about the potential for violence and I have text message from
00:21:55
andreen that's saying someone is going to snap Andrew told investigators that the couple's war of words turned
00:22:02
physical the night before a Christmas party at their home in 2018 where the McDonald's got into a physical
00:22:11
altercation so when I went into the kitchen Andy and andrene were grappling on the floor the next morning they were
00:22:18
laughing about it I did feel uncomfortable after that I thought the the situation had become
00:22:25
toxic just over 2 months later and Dre's blood was spilled in her home and she vanished finally on the evening of July
00:22:35
11th 2019 133 days after andren had gone missing there was a break in the case about 7:30
00:22:44
this evening uh the bar County Sheriff's Office patrol deputies were dispatched to this location for a report of the
00:22:50
human remains that were found skeletal remains were located in a farmer's field just 6 miles from the McDonald home this
00:23:00
man Clifton kabundi made the discovery Clifton had taken out his tractor to retrieve a cow skull that had been
00:23:08
spotted right along the tree line of the property I saw the what appeared to be a
00:23:14
human skull in front of the cow skull that must have been a shock a shock yes officials determined that the human
00:23:23
skeletal remains belong to andreen McDonald her sister Cindy Johnson I was at a church praying for
00:23:34
andrein I couldn't do anything I broke down it hit us like a storm cuz we still wasn't thinking like
00:23:48
that never I never saw this coming less than 48 hours later Andre McDonald would be arrested and charged
00:24:03
with his wife's murder see more evidence from the case at 48 hours.com Andre's family had waited for
00:24:22
justice for 4 years it hurts every night before I go to my bed I think about her be County
00:24:33
assistant District Attorneys Steven spear Lauren Scott and Ryan groomer would prosecute McDonald for the murder
00:24:41
of his wife and dream but the prosecution would face an uphill battle despite the evidence found at the
00:24:48
McDonald home the hammer and the blood the prosecution could not say for sure how andreen died because Andre's body
00:24:58
was out in the elements in that field for all of those days medical examiner's office was unable to specify what
00:25:05
exactly caused Andre's death and does that Stephen complicate your preparation no it absolutely does we say he caused
00:25:13
her death however we don't know how if Andre murdered his wife what do you believe was his motive I believe it was
00:25:22
largely because he felt emasculated she was such a rising star had control of these businesses and I think he was
00:25:28
jealous of that McDonald who pleaded not guilty was represented by some of the top defense lawyers in San Antonio John
00:25:37
conver Zoe Russell and John Hunter how would you respond to the notion that what caused all this was his
00:25:47
Envy of his wife's success I I don't see any evidence of that Andre is a major in
00:25:53
the Air Force I mean he's incredibly successful on his own right Major Andre re McDonald had been
00:25:59
under house arrest since April of 2021 but days before his trial was set to begin January 17th
00:26:08
2023 McDonald who had remained silent about his wife's death began telling an extraordinary story beginning with his
00:26:18
own mother Jackie says her son told her Andre's death was an accident he looked at me and he said
00:26:28
said Mom I'm going to tell you the truth and he started to cry McDonald then called Andre's mother and sister Cindy
00:26:38
who put the call on speaker phone he gave the family for the first time details of what happened according to
00:26:46
him according to him yes it was a phone call that stunned his defense team was it shocking to you that he had done this
00:26:55
shocking is a good word for it yeah the entire context of the case changed his best thought would be to tell a story in
00:27:05
court McDonald would get to tell his story but not before the prosecution laid out its case in opening
00:27:15
statement inside the trash B in the garage a hammer that hammer has blood on it it is the victim's
00:27:25
blood the defense contended that and dream's death was an accident this is not a murder case it is
00:27:35
a case about the degree and level of responsibility with evidence of accident a mutual
00:27:47
fire all of which happens in the blink of an eye the prosecution also called forensic pathologist Dr James fig who
00:27:56
testified that andreen skeletal remains had severe injuries consistent with being struck by a blunt object she had a
00:28:05
fractured spinal cord a broken rib and a split jaw but the pathologist could not
00:28:11
determine what exactly had caused andrene's death so the way that I have phrased her cause
00:28:22
of death is homicidal violence including blunt force trauma after 6 days of testimony and 33
00:28:32
Witnesses the prosecution rested the defense had only one witness defense calls Major Andre McDonald McDonald
00:28:42
described the evening of February 28th 2019 while at the tax preparers office with his wife he discovered that andren
00:28:50
had started a new business a year earlier without his knowledge what did that signify to
00:28:58
basically all that meant to me pretty much that she was robbing me after a heated argument that evening McDonald
00:29:06
says he left the house to cool off at that gas station McDonald says they continued their argument over text and
00:29:15
when he returned home he raised the possibility of divorce and splitting their business in half she became
00:29:23
extremely irate at the thought of splitting the business charges in into the room to confront me so when she
00:29:30
comes into the room you know I turn around and she comes like right up in my face so at that moment he spits in my
00:29:39
face so at that point I grabbed her cuz she's like right in front of me so I grabbed her head I think we had like a a
00:29:46
clash of heads and I think it opened up like a cut somewhere on her face McDonald said andreen ran into the
00:29:53
bathroom and turned on the lights when andreen saw her bloody face in the mirror McDonald claims she attacked
00:30:02
him his testimony may be disturbing to some viewers when she comes she's like throwing like some punches so I'm trying
00:30:09
to like duck down and like keep my head my face from getting hit with the blows I remember like grabbing her like
00:30:15
tripping her and then she like Falls and that's when I kick her like twice but the second
00:30:20
kick I think I heard like some type of weing and then also like in the background I could hear like some
00:30:28
footsteps the footsteps of their young daughter Elena McDonald said he left to put Elena back to bed and when he
00:30:36
returned about 30 minutes later his wife was dead I became like pretty frany at that
00:30:43
point because you know she's dead on the floor you never thought I need to call in cross-examination prosecutor spear
00:30:51
asked if McDonald had thought about calling 911 I never thought about calling anybody to revive a dead person my
00:30:59
purpose at that point was simply to get her out of the house so that my seven-year-old daughter wouldn't see her
00:31:04
mother laying on the floor dead after putting Elena back to bed McDonald said he dumped Andre's body in this field
00:31:13
stripped her naked and returned home to burn her clothing which left that burn patch in the backyard but what about
00:31:21
Andre's Blood on the yellow hammer on the face of it the evidence doesn't square with McDonald's account of an
00:31:30
accident McDonald had an explanation for that he testified that when investigators finished searching his
00:31:37
home he went back to the field Before Dawn angry and armed with the yellow Hammer a can of gasoline and a
00:31:48
plan my plan was to hit the person that caused this whole circumstance and you felt it was her fault right it's
00:31:55
absolutely her fault what did you do with gasoline I poured it on her and then I
00:32:01
used the the lighter and set it on fire McDonald said when the flame subsided that's when he attacked his wife's
00:32:09
corpse with the yellow Hammer I hit her in the face the neck and I just like hit
00:32:15
her again as I was walking away why that last blow as I was walking away yes I guess I was still angry when I was
00:32:24
walking away after that gruesome testimony the defense shifted gears and tried to refocus the jury on their
00:32:32
theory of the crime and for the first time the defense brought up why McDonald acted the way he did that night have you
00:32:42
always believed you acted in s defense yes I've always believed that from the very beginning thank the defense played
00:32:48
videos showing andreen giving her husband a piggyback ride and working out would you describe andreen as very
00:32:58
strong powerful woman yes I would straight up according to McDonald his wife could lift up to 300 lb yes
00:33:10
maam when she attacked you were you in fear yes I was in fear of you know being harmed during that that whole
00:33:18
situation they want you to forget and disregard about all his actions closing arguments defense Council said that this
00:33:26
is self-defense folks this is not self-defense it's time to hold this man responsible for what he did and it's
00:33:34
time to find him guilty M Andre McDonald did not intentionally or knowly murder Andre McDonald he acted in
00:33:45
self-defense and your duty and your obligation is to say not guil thank you after 6 days of testimony
00:33:56
the jury got the case all right the jury approximately 11 hours into their deliberation the jury sent a note to the
00:34:05
judge that says we're hopelessly deadlock what do you make of Andre McDonald's claim of self-defense chat
00:34:16
now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and X [Music] after almost 11 hours of deliberating
00:34:35
the jury was deadlocked unable to decide if Andre McDonald was guilty of murder manslaughter or Not Guilty by
00:34:44
self-defense everything was said in the courtroom all the evidence were were there e confessed on the stand what he
00:34:52
did they saw his demeanor I don't know what was um the problem for jurors Brandon meden I voted for
00:35:01
murder and I saw that we were six and six and Rudy Ruiz at no point did any juror think that he was innocent or that
00:35:10
it was self-defense the problem was wording because people really picked apart the definitions of murder and
00:35:18
recklessness the jury of Six Women and six men spent hours discussing whether McDonald Had intentionally murdered
00:35:26
andreen or if he had recklessly killed her making it manslaughter murder carries a life
00:35:34
sentence manslaughter up to 20 years and I think most of us could agree that whatever
00:35:42
happened it was Reckless he left her on the ground and he did not render Aid now the
00:35:51
trick was to try and convince the other jurors that it was murder but as the deliberations
00:35:58
continued some of the jurors had been swayed with nine now for manslaughter meí says the biggest factor in swaying
00:36:07
the vote was Andre McDonald's testimony there was so little evidence and so a lot of people believe because we don't
00:36:16
know anything else other than what he has told us that we have to take what he told us and he was actually able to
00:36:23
convince a lot of the jurors we had that one juror that he said well I've kicked someone I never
00:36:30
intended to kill them medine Ruiz and a third juror were the staunch holdouts for murder no one was going to change
00:36:39
anyone's mind the judge then invoked what's called an Allen charge urging the holdout jurors to reconsider the
00:36:46
evidence and reach a unanimous decision after another hour of deliberations a verdict here Mr McDonald
00:36:54
please stand with your counsel to the count of murder charging the indictment the jury finds the defendant
00:37:04
not guilty of the offense of murder as charged in the indictment and guilty guilty of the offense of
00:37:12
manslaughter Andre McDonald was found not guilty of murder but guilty of the Lesser charge
00:37:21
manslaughter Andre's sister Cindy was in disbelief the man slaughter after he spoke with no
00:37:31
remorse no love nothing at all and use Hammer strip her clothes throw gasoline on her burnt her and they gave him
00:37:42
manslaughter that's crazy I I am going to struggle with this thought until the day I
00:37:51
die the prosecution had a mixed reaction to the verdict I was disappointed however the jury rejected his
00:37:59
self-defense argument and held him accountable for at least something for the defense Andre McDonald may not have
00:38:05
walked out a free man but this is a win despite how I believe that this is a self-defense case I do respect the
00:38:15
outcome and Dre's best friend Mandy Hall he's there to tell his story he's there
00:38:22
to make up whatever he wants to make up she she doesn't she can't do that because he took that away from
00:38:29
her Cindy now sees that phone call from McDonald before the trial in a whole new
00:38:35
light as a calculated ploy to deflect blame it's four years it took him four years for him to recognize that he did
00:38:46
what he did and then all of a sudden he's um reaching out to us to let us think that
00:38:52
he's been responsible he didn't mean anything he is lying all alive it's all a lie after the verdict Sheriff Salazar
00:39:02
reached out to andrene's Father a retired member of the Jamaican army with an unusual
00:39:09
offering I did present Mr Anderson with a gift uh I asked my Deputy to remove the handcuffs from from Andre as they
00:39:16
put him back into the um cell and I gave I presented those cuffs to to Mr Anderson I wanted them to feel some sort
00:39:25
of connection to at least sending him away to to prison I want to tell you that we really appreciate it thank you
00:39:33
very much God bless you for Andre's mother nothing about this tragedy makes sense her daughter
00:39:43
and the Beautiful Life she had created are gone andreen McDonald who came to America became a successful entrepreneur
00:39:52
and found her purpose in serving others sadly the business she created is now closed I miss her very
00:40:05
much most times when I think about her I just it's like I feel like giving up and
00:40:12
in those times marine and Cindy lean on one another we're blessed to have each other to take us through this sad
00:40:21
Journey um when I'm weak my mom is strong when my mom is weak I am strong we have to be strong for
00:40:32
Elena Elena now 12 years old is the glue that binds this fractured family a family that still includes Andre's
00:40:41
mother Jackie though she is mainly left with the memories and the pain of what once
00:40:48
was I think I heard for ala more than I heard for everyone no child should ever have to go through what she went
00:41:00
Moren and Cindy are now raising Elena it's bitter sweet cuz we have Elena Elena reminds us so much of andreen can
00:41:11
Mommy get kiss love you [Music] a young wife and mother found with a strange mix of drugs at her system hey
00:41:31
there's a needle right here it makes you stop breathing if you have too much was
00:41:35
it murder investigators turned to her journals for answers how crucial were those journals very 48 hours Saturday on
00:41:43
CBS streaming on Paramount Plus [Music] I'm anarie green and we are back for another episode of 48 Hours postmortem
00:42:04
and I'm joined today by two incredible producers on the show Marie hegwood and Lauren white to discuss their latest
00:42:11
episode about the killing of andreen McDonald and we've actually never done this before on postmortem but for
00:42:17
today's episode we're going to hear audio from The Trial that did not make it into the hour so thank you so much
00:42:24
for joining us great to be here yeah thank thank you this was a case that left viewers with a lot of questions
00:42:30
especially when it came to the verdict but this was also a particularly violent case before we get to our postmortem
00:42:38
let's listen to an overview of this week's episode 29-year-old andreen McDonald a businesswoman wife and mother
00:42:46
who had turned her Assisted Living health care business into a million dooll Enterprise had seemingly vanished
00:42:53
from her home her purse was still there her keys were on on the counter and her Vehicles were still there investigator
00:43:01
Frank stubs saw something startling in the bathroom there was blood on the wall there was blood and hair on a light
00:43:09
switch Andre's husband of 10 years Air Force Major Andre McDonald told investigators the last time he had seen
00:43:18
his wife was the night before but the next day investigators discovered items inside Andre's car that were not there
00:43:27
there during their initial search including a shovel and in a trash can some clothing that appeared to be
00:43:35
Andre's we found Blood on the pocket of the jeans although investigators had suspicions about Andre without a body
00:43:43
none of the evidence collected proved that a murder had occurred law enforcement along with volunteer search
00:43:51
teams came out to search for Andre their search ended when a local farmer made a
00:43:58
shocking Discovery I saw what appeared to be a human skull that must have been a shock a shock yes McDonald was
00:44:06
arrested and charged with his wife's murder but he would plead not guilty raising an unusual
00:44:15
defense I I'll actually just say a little something about myself so my background is Jamaican so listening to
00:44:21
the mothers in particular it reminded me of my own mother you know um so I want to talk about the families here because
00:44:28
viewers might not realize that you know this is much bigger than just Andre and andreen for sure for sure he say much
00:44:35
bigger well I guess because you know the family is very close now they all grew up together the two families the two
00:44:40
families both Andre and Andre's family that was something I I realized I'd never really seen before of the the
00:44:47
close uh the closeness of the two families and here they are this trial they haven't seen each other in a really
00:44:52
long time it was almost like a family reunion before an awful reason you know um and so even though they're there
00:44:59
because they you know one side thinks the other side is um guilty of murder they were still hugging each other and
00:45:06
being kind to each other and I did not expect that interesting did they speak to each other not frequently but yeah
00:45:12
they did yeah they did especially because you know they had the the thing is that they they deeply loved each
00:45:18
other this family and so now they had the like CH sides they were forced to do that in the courtroom and so that's the
00:45:25
thing about it and you could see on the defense side them looking over to Andre's mother and sister who was his
00:45:33
sister was there also then looking at them and and you could tell that they loved each other as we know from the
00:45:39
episode um Andre is arrested and he is charged with andrene's murder and he hires then this incredibly talented
00:45:46
defense team who they have been working on his defense for years at this point and then 3 days before the trial is set
00:45:53
to begin Andre makes a phone call and he turns the case in completely different direction I mean when I heard about the
00:46:00
phone call Andre's mother and sister called me and said you know he's called us and he's confessed confessed to what
00:46:07
confessed well he said he did it and I was like okay um and they were just floored and so and he told us how he did
00:46:14
it and I just thought okay so this is it he's going to jail it's all over with this is the end of it but no yes so that
00:46:22
that was shocking to me he didn't say anything leading up to the trial and then a few days days before he he came
00:46:28
clean it was interesting to see cuz I think everybody was scrambling try to figure out what to do next so much like
00:46:36
the jury this episode asked viewers to figure out who and what they believed Marie Lauren you both attended the full
00:46:43
trial yes it has so many jawdropping moments um you know the I mean even from the beginning with the uh Prosecutor's
00:46:51
opening you know he starts by listing all of these things that Andre had um been looking up online so it's just like
00:46:59
okay the searches don't matter at this point because he's already coping to it he'd already said I did it oh yeah in a
00:47:05
way the prosecution was like almost proving the wrong thing and then after all that the defense comes on and their
00:47:12
uh opening was only 3 minutes long this is not a murder case this is not murder but it is a case about the degree
00:47:27
and level of responsibility it's a responsibility case the degree and level of the
00:47:37
responsibility Major Andre McDonald for the death of andreen McDon I imagine the
00:47:46
jury was like well why are we here then if it's not a murder case it was the shortest it was the shortest opening
00:47:51
I've ever heard right okay so let's talk about the prosecution the prosecution brings forth some uh some of the
00:47:55
evidence I want to start with that shocking moment when Andre tells Andre's friends and family that he goes to the
00:48:03
hospital to check up on her cuz she suffers from really bad migraines and I guess it's was normal for her to go to
00:48:08
the hospital periodically I think he was in a precarious situation because when he was there at the house and he decided
00:48:14
to go to the hospital was because all these people I mean her co-workers were there her mother was there asking where
00:48:20
Andre was the police were on their way so like the walls were closing in on that basis yeah because he's being
00:48:27
cornered by the police and family members asking where she's at and what does he do what does he say yeah and to
00:48:34
his surprise there's a McDonald already there yes and it was a woman as well and
00:48:39
so the um the hospital attendant the front desk guy uh he he was he testified and he said you know I let Andre in I
00:48:48
buzzed him in to go in and Andre just looked down the hall and turned around and walked away cuz he wasn't expecting
00:48:54
that he wasn't expecting it he was in the hospital for a little less than a minute in and out the excuse that he
00:49:00
didn't bring his cell phone didn't make any sense at all because if you had a sick relative in the hospital the first
00:49:04
thing you would do is check on them and then leave and I think there's a moment too if you look in the surveillance
00:49:11
footage right at the top right corner as he's walking to his car it's kind of distant but he kind of does this gesture
00:49:17
that I guess the way to describe is almost like a like a Shucks you know like with your shoulders and your hand
00:49:22
um and you know kind of frustrated um I don't know what that is is that him saying like oh my goodness you know I'm
00:49:28
in it now I don't know but it was kind of crazy to see that reaction from him wow I want to talk about
00:49:36
auin Andre's exboyfriend lover uh you know you can understand why a husband would get upset of course when
00:49:49
his wife turns up with two tattoos that I mean the birthdaye of her lover it was Beyond a tattoo they were
00:49:58
making plans of her being with au and I mean they were oh this was serious this was serious yeah and her husband never
00:50:05
knew until he saw those tattoos and even then he was kind of like was a matter of
00:50:10
fact about it like he was he initially was file he filed for a divorce um and they ended up getting back together and
00:50:16
so those tattoos even though people might have thought that that was a motive his motive that was a year before
00:50:23
right and she had covered them up yeah he told her to cover them up at his Quest the defense really tried to make
00:50:29
Aubin almost I guess in a way of um making andreen look bad they kind of made auin they kept talking about how
00:50:36
auin was you know this gangster and you know this big bad drug dealer they showed the jury kind of like a scary
00:50:43
picture of him with all these tats and stuff and this big muscular with no shirt on I think if auin would have had
00:50:47
a suit on and it would have been like more love affair but this was like he was just unclothed with all these tats
00:50:54
this is who she went to she left her husband for this man so there was another expert who testified who didn't
00:51:01
actually make it into the broadcast but whose information could have led to Andre's conviction for murder so both of
00:51:08
you felt very strongly about this expert's testimony why so it's a potentially damning piece of evidence
00:51:14
that would seem to poke H's and Andre McDonald's claim that he had hit Andre's body with the hammer the night after her
00:51:21
death we don't know if he didn't hit her and and and do this damage to her in the
00:51:26
house and then take her to the field he could have hit her in her throat or her jaw
00:51:31
you know we don't really know what we we're just going by what he's saying you know so I think we don't really know for
00:51:36
sure how she died so Dr Harold Gil King is the former director of forensic anthropology at the center for human
00:51:43
identification he came to share his findings about the injuries on Andre on andreen McDonald's skeletal Remains the
00:51:50
doctor testifies outside of the presence of the jury at like 9:00 a.m. to see if
00:51:55
his testimony should be admitted you noted that there were exhibitions of param morm blunt force injuries to the
00:52:02
mandible that's correct it is difficult to conceive how such a fracture would have
00:52:09
occurred or why it would have occurred following death okay but but you'd agree with me that that's a a
00:52:17
question for the imagination more than something you'd be able to scientifically include or exclude is a
00:52:23
possibility I would say that in my 46- year experience fractures such as the one you
00:52:34
mention uh occur at the time of death or slightly before he made it very clear what they
00:52:42
were talking about in terms of the injuries and when they might have occurred and I think I don't I don't
00:52:47
know what happened in terms of that motion and why he was excluded because he was very key um to this whole
00:52:52
testimony in terms of when the injuries happened he was not you know wavering I think some of the other experts kind of
00:52:59
waver like we believe we think right but I think it's really interesting too that
00:53:04
you know when Dr Gil King is giving this testimony you know Andre he's doing this
00:53:09
before Andre testifies he testifies the doctor testifies outside of the presence
00:53:13
of the jury at like 9:00 a.m. and then Andre takes the stand at 100 p.m. and he explains it all
00:53:20
away when we get back who takes the stand Andre himself so we're going to hear from him about his fear of his wife
00:53:29
he said he was afraid of her and the one moment during the trial that made Andre
00:53:34
emotional we'll be right back welcome back you know perhaps the most disturbing part of this trial in
00:53:46
Andre's testimony is when he explains what he does after andren dies he say um when the police came and are examining
00:53:56
the house house he's sitting there thinking just filled with the rage and getting really angry and then once they
00:54:01
leave he grabs a hammer and some gasoline and goes out there to to hit her body I think everyone else um at
00:54:08
least on the prosecution side thought no he's going there to destroy evidence let's hear him questioned during the
00:54:14
trial at first I hit her in the face with the with the like the hammer front and then I used the claw and like hit
00:54:23
her in the neck area and I remember the the the claw got stuck in like her neck and then that's when I like I was like
00:54:30
ripping the the hammer out and then at that point I think I thought I was done but that's I'm like s like walk away I
00:54:40
give it like one more whack somewhere in body I'm not sure where that landed you
00:54:44
know listening to his testimony about what he did to the body was just so brutal and detailed you know he talks
00:54:52
about the claw of the hammer getting stuck in her neck he kept using the word rip it was just it was it was terrible
00:54:59
it was terrible it was and I think the thing about is that we have to remember this is his point of this is his story
00:55:05
this is we have nothing else to go on because her body had been left out in the in the open and maybe that was a
00:55:10
plan too is to leave her out there that we don't really go have anything to go on but what he's saying did he
00:55:17
testify about how he determined that she was dead did he say you know I checked her pulse I checked to see if she's
00:55:23
breathing I he didn't do anything he didn't he didn't try try to resuscitate her even when the prosecution said why
00:55:28
didn't you try to resuscitate her he said something to the effect of why would I try and resuscitate a dead body
00:55:35
yeah yeah why would I call 911 for a dead body yes the thing about it is that he didn't get pressured for that the
00:55:40
prosecution didn't push him on that they never really took him to task they just
00:55:44
let him explain it keep on explaining himself so watching him testify I didn't know how to interpret his demeanor I
00:55:53
didn't know if this was a man who was just not emotional when talking about this horrendous horrific thing that
00:56:02
happened in his life or if this was a man that was highly disciplined because he was a trained military guy how did
00:56:09
you guys feel watching him testify I definitely felt that he was in control even just his whole Aura and his
00:56:19
Vibe and I think the way the testimony when he was on the standing and way he talked about what he did to her and the
00:56:25
way that he did it and how he did it just kind of matter of fact not only did he speak about her flippantly but he
00:56:32
rarely said her name he usually said he rarely said her name he usually said the
00:56:37
body or her or it and that that you know that's just another layer of dehumanization right so when he's on the
00:56:44
sand though he says something that certainly surprised me I don't know if it surprised the jury he actually turns
00:56:49
this whole thing on andreen and talks about me being in fear of her you see a video of andreen with Andre on her back
00:56:59
and they're running around the house and they're laughing and it's happy times and and then that was used against her
00:57:06
um to show wow she's so strong she can carry Andre on on her back um and then they showed the videos of her power
00:57:12
lifting and Andre talked about how andreen could lift about 300 lounds and and he was about 180 pounds at the time
00:57:19
this happened she's look taller than him she's tall yeah she's about maybe two inches taller than just a little bit
00:57:23
maybe she was in heels yeah she she always heels she did she wore 4 in stilettos as anytime she could at first
00:57:31
when I first heard the testimony about it I was offended be honest with you I just thought oh my God yeah you know
00:57:37
this is a wife and a mother she's a victim and next thing you know she's this big brute you know this is how
00:57:42
she's being framed I think for them to here you have this beautiful black woman and you're talking about how strong she
00:57:48
is how mean she is how angry she is you know I think it definitely was playing into stereotypes for sure much so and I
00:57:57
think one thing in to add to that is that when we first started hearing about the victim we never saw a picture of her
00:58:03
right I've been to trials where they have a photo of the victim up the whole time you know and you rarely saw photos
00:58:10
of andreen during this trial it's really a shame the defense rested the following
00:58:15
day was supposed to be closing arguments but then what happened so you know we we
00:58:20
live in New York New Jersey area we we're used to freezing rain Texas has not come to find out so here we are in
00:58:27
San Antonio there's a freezing rainstorm coming and not only does it shut down the court the court for that day and the
00:58:35
city of San Antonio but it shut it down for two whole days um and so this was right after Andre's testimony and so
00:58:43
because of this when I spoke to the jurors they told me that they believe that break kind of had a negative effect
00:58:49
on the jury because it it gave some distance from the testimony and from the prosecution's case and so they're just
00:58:57
based off they're just going off of memory from like the week prior that's a really interesting detail so finally
00:59:03
it's up to the jury to decide whether to convict Andre of manslaughter or murder
00:59:08
right it's all in how you sort of Define these two crimes they decide manslaughter what was the reaction like
00:59:15
in the courtroom the family I was sitting behind Andre's family and you could tell I mean they were all just
00:59:20
shocked when you hear not guilty of murder um and then the you know the law enforcement side they all just seemed
00:59:26
really disappointed for sure yeah yeah I think anyone who hears the graphic detail of what he did after according to
00:59:34
him after the fact would think how could you find him not guilty of murder but you know when we spoke to the jurors
00:59:39
they said that surprisingly the ones who were uh Pro manslaughter uh when it came
00:59:45
to discussing you know what he says he did after the fact with the hammer they said we're not here to discuss that H
00:59:52
we're here to focus on what did he do leading up to her death um you know I talked earlier about how
00:59:58
what was really kind of disturbing to me was the way in which he testified it came off as casual which seemed even
01:00:05
worse than unemotional but there was emotion during the sentencing during the victim impact statement vitim that was
01:00:12
the first time you you um you saw emotion in his face because when the father said you're like my son Andre's
01:00:20
father says and's father says that you're like my son you know you where you're going I go with you like he the
01:00:26
way he talked to to Andre is like the father relationship and that's when you knew that that family was a close that
01:00:33
they loved each other deeply loved each other and they just wanted that love to continue you know I want to play a clip
01:00:39
from his statement but I want you to know in spite of everything I forgive you I love
01:00:48
you I when I say I love you that cannot change it's like a part of me is in the Symmetry and a part of
01:00:56
going to jail you know when when Paul Anderson said that you know there wasn't a dry eye in the courtroom with we all
01:01:03
were weeping um it was it was just so emotional and you could just feel we all could feel for Paul who at this point he
01:01:11
had lost andreen he had lost another child whose name was also Andre and now he's speaking to Andre the person who he
01:01:18
believes murdered his daughter and saying I love you and I'm still with you you're still a part of me my goodness
01:01:26
yeah and that's when you saw Andre cuz I think he at that point he knew that he you know ruined his life and ruined the
01:01:33
family that he had the everything that they worked so hard for that American dream was just gone and his daughter
01:01:40
Elena yeah man um so Andre McDonald is sentenced to 20 years he's also appealing his manslaughter conviction
01:01:50
any final thoughts about working this case well I I will say you know as far as yes he was to 20 years but um
01:01:57
according to the judge Frank Castro with time served he could be out in about 6 and a half years from from today's
01:02:04
recording he could be out in about six and a half so that's kind of surprising when you hear that um but you know
01:02:09
overall this case was just it just so sad they're all sad of all of them of course um but you know the family aspect
01:02:16
and you know the the fact that these two people you know found each other built such a wonderful life for their whole
01:02:22
family and it was just all destroyed and I think in within the Jamaican culture I
01:02:27
mean just education is important um success in your career field like that's kind of like the bottom line you know in
01:02:34
terms of coming to America and achieving the things that they did that's that's that's what they were here for that's
01:02:39
what they live for you know and so now you know it's so sad because sometimes I I'll check in with um Andre's mother
01:02:46
I'll check in with Andre's mother Moren and Cindy to see how they doing and and how the daughter's doing and it's just
01:02:52
you know it's it's like night and day when a moment like like that everything's gone thank you so much for
01:02:58
being here thank you for having us yeah thank you so much if you want to you a timeline of
01:03:05
Andre story make sure you check out 48 hours.com the amazing associate producer Morgan KY put this together for us be
01:03:13
sure to join us next Tuesday for another postm and watch 48 hours Saturdays 10 9
01:03:19
Central on CBS and streaming on Paramount plus and if you are liking the show please rate and review 48 hours on
01:03:26
Apple podcast and follow 48 Hours wherever you get your podcast you can also listen at free on the Amazon music
01:03:33
and wonder app or with a 48 Hours Plus subscription on Apple podcasts [Music]