Andreen McDonald: A Rising Star
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To start listening, download the Amazon Music app for free or go to amazon.com slash adfreetruecrime. That's amazon.com slash adfreetruecrime to catch up on the latest episodes without the ads. Case closed. Andrea McDonald had a very, very strict regimen. She followed it daily.

She would be at the gym at 5:30 in the morning in the office by 8:00. On March 1st, they had no indication she would be late. She didn't show up for work. This was very significant to her employees. They called the gym and found out she never showed up to the gym, which is like a religion to her.

After calling Andrean repeatedly, just going to voicemail, you know, the anxiety starts steadying. And like, I start panicking. For Andrean to be missing is not possible. The biggest issue for me were the fact that her phone was missing, her purse was still there, her keys were on the counter, and her vehicles were still there. If her vehicle's there, her purse is there, her keys are there,

If she's missing, is there a concern of an abduction? The deputies obviously didn't know what to think at this point. They were just beginning the investigation. What we did learn is Andrea MacDonald, a beautiful Jamaican woman, was brought to the United States by Andre, her husband, is a major in the Air Force and had top-secret security clearance.

They began an assisted living business where they, in short order, became millionaires. The picture of the American dream.

She's not boastful or anything like that. She's just that humble person. Andreen had a great reputation in not only the assisted living community here in San Antonio. And we're on the side of the street this morning and we're giving out food for those less fortunate. She was very, very generous with her wealth and her time. God bless you.

Kind of a rising star of San Antonio. Absolutely, very much so a rising star. They were always laughing together. They were always joking around. The home didn't seem to be in terrible disarray. No furniture was knocked over or anything was broken. I found there was blood on the wall in an area that was kind of odd. There was blood and hair on a light switch.

We assume that something happened there. It was a crime scene of some sort. I was on social media and I saw that initial poster that came out with her face and then it says "missing on the top." Andrean is not the person to go take off somewhere no one knows where she is. Supporters for Andrean MacDonald renewed their search efforts. When the months went by and the days went by and they haven't found anything, in my mind, that's not such a bad thing.

because if they're not able to find something that solidifies her being dead, I mean, she's alive, right? And she's somewhere. Peter Van Sant reports and Dream McDonald, a millionaire, vanishes.

In the afternoon of March 1st, 2019, after 29-year-old Andreen McDonald was reported missing by her mother Maureen, a Bexar County Sheriff's deputy arrived at the McDonald home in an upscale gated community in San Antonio. Within minutes, Sheriff Javier Salazar says his deputy made a disturbing discovery. One of my deputies had seen what they believed to be blood on the wall and possibly hair.

And in the backyard, normally beautifully landscaped, another troubling clue: a random burn pile. Right here, I saw the burn pile. We found a zipper from Andreen's blouse. It was Andreen's blouse?

Andreen's husband, Andre "Andy" McDonald, told the deputy that when he woke up, he got their daughter, Elena, to school, before reporting to Lackland Air Force Base, where he served as a cyber warfare analyst. Once he learned Andreen was missing, Andre rushed back home, but he quickly headed out the door again to act on a hunch that Andreen, who suffered from migraines, might have gone to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Andre's arrival to the hospital was captured by surveillance cameras. Lead investigator Frank Stubbs. On that tape, he comes in. You can see him asking for McDonald's. And they tell him, there's somebody in room three named McDonald's. He arrives back to the house. What does he tell them? He tells them that she's in the hospital. But when the deputy called the hospital, he discovered that the McDonald's who had checked in was not Andrean McDonald's.

Andre told deputies that he rushed back home before seeing his wife because he had left his cell phone at home and wanted to let Maureen know he had found Andreen. There was some indication to him that she was there and injured to 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 just thinking that she's someplace that we can find her.

And for Andrene's mother-in-law, Jackie, who lived in Florida, there was uncertainty. I had called Andrene's phone about a thousand times already, saying, Andrene, whatever it is, please, please just call me back. What concerned everyone was the fact Andrene would never just disappear. She was known for her sense of responsibility and dedication to her family and business. ♪♪

How would you describe Andreen? She knows what she wants and she will never stop until she gets it. I did something before he did. Right. Andreen did defeat me and she is so excited.

- Ann Dream created an assisted living business in San Antonio called Starlight Homes when she was just 22. And according to Andre's close friend, Andrew Russell. - In order to start the business, Andre, he liquidated his 401k. - Andre bankrolled her dreams. - And he sold the BMW that he owned. - They were doing so well. They were doing everything that would make any mother proud.

Starlight Homes thrived, and under Andrene's watch, the tiny home-based business transformed into a multi-million dollar enterprise in just seven years. When I started my assisted living, I only started with three residents. Today, at Starlight Homes assisted living, we have two locations in the San Antonio area.

Childhood friend Mandy says Andreen's success was born out of humble beginnings. Growing up in Portland, 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 the dream was. Andreen's dream of coming to America came true at 19 when she met Andrej.

He was also a native of Jamaica, who at the time was a captain in the U.S. Air Force. Andre had returned home to Port Antonio in May of 2009 to attend a funeral where he met Andreen, who was 10 years younger. Was there an attraction right from the beginning? She was excited when she met him, excited about the captain in the Air Force. They both decided for her to come to America.

They married that July. I was happy to know he had met somebody that he could have a life with. That life would soon include a baby girl, Elena. Elena was at the center of Andreen's world, which made her disappearance so perplexing, says Jackie. I don't think Andreen would just get up and walk away and leave Elena and nobody would hear from her.

That evening, a forensic crime unit examined those stains in the bathroom and confirmed the initial belief that they were blood. While you were going through the house, was Andre there? Yes, he was. Did you see any signs of bruising on his body, any signs of any injuries, that perhaps he'd been in a struggle? Nothing that we could determine.

Investigators were hoping Andre had some answers, but he said the last time he had seen his wife was the night before. And they said what Andre described raised more questions than answers. He had told them they had come home from the tax preparer's office and that they had argued over the business. And he went up the road, got some gas and just cooled off.

We were able to obtain video evidence of him going to the Shell station. Andre said when he returned home, he and Andreen went to separate bedrooms. But according to investigators, what Andre didn't mention was the text exchange that happened at the gas station.

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Four investigators that text messages found on Andre's phone revealed a marriage in turmoil, including allegations of betrayal. Accusations of unfaithfulness in these text messages, correct? That's correct. We have a printed copy. Would you mind reading these from his phone? Andre responds, if you bring up all but again, I will divorce you myself.

Aubin Hall, a businessman living in Port Antonio, Jamaica, who, according to investigators, was Andreen's ex-boyfriend and potentially her current lover. In response to Andreen's threat of divorce, Andre texts, I don't care if you get a divorce. You brought Aubin into our life.

Aubyn dated Andreen when she was a teenager, say investigators. Andreen's close friend Mandy says the two rekindled their romance in 2017 during one of her philanthropic trips to the island. Aubyn has always been that first love. It wasn't something Andreen got over emotionally. Mandy says they carried on their affair in secret until the summer of 2018

when Andreine got two new tattoos, an initial A tattooed on her hand and a date tattooed on her wrist. Andy was definitely suspicious of what it meant. With a suspicious mind, Mandy says Andre went to work to solve this tattoo mystery. He went and he did his own digging. It was on social media where Andre discovered an interesting photograph of Aubyn Mabry.

branded with the same exact tattoo that was also on Andreen's hand. And those numbers, 14376, they're Abin's birthday.

Day, month, and year. She told me that she impulsively got the tattoo. She knew it was something stupid to do. Enraged, Mandy says Andre threatened divorce unless Andre cut off contact with Aubin, covered up her tattoos, and promised to never travel to Jamaica without him. She did cover up the tattoos. She didn't want to lose half of everything she worked hard for.

At Andre's 40th birthday party, Mandy says by all outward appearances, the McDonald's seemed to be getting along. But just 13 days later, on March 1st, 2019, that's when Andreen disappeared. The once festive home had transformed into a crime scene as investigators worked the McDonald's residence until two the next morning.

When they couldn't locate Andrean's cell phone, investigators checked to see if her credit cards or passport had been used. All dead ends. We came up dry on all of these inquiries. At this point, all we had was a missing person. Within hours of his wife's disappearance, Andre McDonald was a person of interest. He stopped answering questions and lawyered up.

At 2 p.m. the next day, an undercover investigator assigned to watch the McDonald's house noticed that the garage had been damaged and Andre was backing out of the driveway. The investigator followed him to a nearby gun shop, where additional investigators, who were called to the scene, observed Andre purchasing a 9mm handgun and ammunition.

We were under the assumption that he was purchasing a gun to probably harm himself. When Andre walked back to his car, investigators confronted him. Their violent takedown may be disturbing to viewers. Investigators moved to detain the Air Force major and turned him over to military authorities for a mental evaluation.

Meanwhile, investigators returned to the house with a search warrant and checked Andrean's car. While there, some objects caught their eye. There was a shovel. There was an axe. An axe. There was like a hatchet kind of maul. There was trash bags. There were gloves and a couple of gas cans. And there was more. Inside the garbage can in the house...

was a receipt from Lowe's that had been torn up. Detectives were able to obtain surveillance footage from the hardware store, items that were purchased the day after Andreen went missing. This is Andre McDonald coming into the Lowe's. He's going to purchase us several items. You can see him with a basket here. You can see there's a shovel in the basket. Now he comes up here. There's two gas cans. There's a mall or a hatchet.

Here's that ax. What's at play here? It appeared to us that now that his wife is missing, it pointed to the disposal of her body. Look at that cart full of ill will, right? Yes. And in the corner of the garage, investigators would uncover what they say was the most damning evidence of all. We found a hammer and clothing in the garbage. The clothing that we found appeared to be Andre's clothing.

Investigators say they found traces of blood on the pocket of these jeans. What's on the claw hammer that's of interest? The lab determined that there was the presence of blood on the hammer and the DNA that they obtained from that blood sample was from entry. We concluded that that hammer was probably used as the murder weapon. This is significant. Very significant.

48 hours into the investigation, Detective Stubbs believed he had discovered key evidence that implicated Major Andre McDonald in his wife's disappearance. Investigators located those items stained with Andrean's blood inside the family's trash can. This missing persons case had become much more sinister. And it's pointing toward what?

The evidence was pointing towards a murder. But there was a problem. None of the evidence collected proved that a murder had actually occurred. Turning a missing persons case into a homicide case is very difficult. On March 3, 2019, the Air Force concluded its evaluation of Andre and released him. Civil authorities quickly moved in and placed him under arrest.

But it wasn't for murder. Major Andre McDonald was arrested for tampering with evidence based upon that torn receipt found at the house listing the items he had purchased from the hardware store. Andre's arrest left his mother, Jackie, in a state of shock and disbelief. I saw that Andre was taken into custody and I just collapsed.

I know he loved Andreine. Why would he harm her? And for Andreine's mother, Andre's arrest left her head spinning. Oh, God. Andre could not hurt Andreine. That's what I was saying, but who else? Adding to everyone's sense of shock, confusion, and suspicion was Andre's decision to stop cooperating with detectives.

Andres' face told us there was no way in hell we were going to break him and make him tell us what had happened. Sheriff Salazar went on local TV asking for help. We are asking anybody with any information on her whereabouts to give us a call at 210-335-

Soon after, the community of San Antonio, along with family and friends, came out in droves to look for Andreen, including a volunteer search party formed by former Air Force Airman Bobby Green. Bobby took us out to one of the areas where he searched for Andreen. Right now we're behind a hospital. We thought he might have taken her here to a wooded area.

As you walk through here, what are you looking for? You would look at tree branches that have been pushed away, something that was cut, fresh tire tracks. How many miles did you cover? It was hundreds of miles.

As search efforts continued, Andre McDonald was released from jail on bond. With his wife absent, Andre took over management of Starlight Homes. Search efforts continued, although investigators say Andre didn't take part. Days would eventually turn into months of dead ends.

As the search for Andreen went on, investigators dug further into the couple's relationship, learning that they had business problems as well as romantic ones. In WhatsApp messages shared with friends, there are arguments over who really was the brains behind their successful business.

In one, Andreen tells Andre, Starlight Homes is my idea, my dream, and would not have happened without my drive. Back then, friends like Andrew Russell became worried about the potential for violence. And I have text messages from Andreen that's saying someone is going to snap.

Andrew told investigators that the couple's war of words turned physical the night before a Christmas party at their home in 2018, where the McDonald's got into a physical altercation. So when I went into the kitchen, Andy and Andrean were grappling on the floor. The next morning they were laughing about it. I did feel uncomfortable after that. I thought the situation had become toxic.

Just over two months later, Andreen's blood was spilled in her home and she vanished. Finally, on the evening of July 11th, 2019, 133 days after Andreen had gone missing, there was a break in the case. About 7:30 this evening, the Bear County Sheriff's Office patrol deputies were dispatched to this location for a report of human remains that were found.

Skeletal remains were located in a farmer's field just six miles from the McDonald home. This man, Clifton Klebundy, made the discovery. Clifton had taken out his tractor to retrieve a cow skull that had been spotted right along the tree line of the property. I saw what appeared to be a human skull in front of the cow skull. That must have been a shock. A shock, yes.

Officials determined that the human skeletal remains belonged to Andrene McDonald, her sister, Cindy Johnson. I was at a church praying for Andrene. I couldn't do anything. I broke down. It hit us like a storm because we still wasn't thinking like that. Never. I never saw this coming.

Less than 48 hours later, Andre McDonald would be arrested and charged with his wife's murder. See more evidence from the case at 48hours.com.

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Andreen's family had waited for justice for four years. It hurts. Every night before I go to my bed, I think about her.

Bear County Assistant District Attorneys Steven Speer, Lauren Scott, and Ryan Groomer would prosecute McDonald for the murder of his wife, Andreen. But the prosecution would face an uphill battle, despite the evidence found at the McDonald home, the hammer and the blood.

the prosecution could not say for sure how Andrean died. Because Andrean's body was out in the elements in that field for all of those days, medical examiner's office was unable to specify what exactly caused Andrean's death. And does that, Stephen, complicate your preparation? No, it absolutely does. We say he caused her death. However, we don't know how. If Andre murdered his wife...

What do you believe was his motive? I believe it was largely because he felt emasculated. She was such a rising star, had control of these businesses, and I think he was jealous of that. McDonald, who pleaded not guilty, was represented by some of the top defense lawyers in San Antonio. John Convery, Zoe Russell, and John Hunter.

How would you respond to the notion that what caused all this was his envy of his wife's success? I don't see any evidence of that. Andre is a major in the Air Force. I mean, he's incredibly successful on his own right. Major Andre McDonald had been under house arrest since April of 2021.

But days before his trial was set to begin, January 17th, 2023, McDonald, who had remained silent about his wife's death, began telling an extraordinary story, beginning with his own mother. Jackie says her son told her Andreen's death was an accident. He looked at me and he said, Mom, I'm going to tell you the truth. And he started to cry.

McDonald then called Andreen's mother and sister Cindy, who put the call on speakerphone. He gave the family for the first time details of what happened, according to 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? 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 court. McDonald would get to tell his story, but not before the prosecution laid out its case in opening statements. Inside the trash bin in the garage, a hammer. That hammer has blood on it. It is the victim's blood.

The defense contended that Andreen's death was an accident. This is not a murder case. It is a case about the degree and level of responsibility with evidence of accident, a mutual fight, all of which happens

in the blanket or not. The prosecution also called forensic pathologist Dr. James Feig, who testified that Andreen's skeletal remains had severe injuries consistent with being struck by a blunt object. She had a fractured spinal cord, a broken rib, and a split jaw. But the pathologist could not determine what exactly had caused Andreen's death. So...

The way that I have phrased her cause of death is homicidal violence, including blunt force trauma. After six days of testimony and 33 witnesses, the prosecution rested. The defense had only one witness. Defense calls Major Andre McDowell.

McDonald described the evening of February 28 2019 while at the tax preparers office with his wife he discovered that and dream had started a new business a year earlier without his knowledge. Basically that meant to me pretty much that she was robbing me. After a heated argument that evening McDonald says he left the House to cool off at that gas station.

McDonald says they continued their argument over text. And when he returned home, he raised the possibility of divorce and splitting their business in half. She became extremely irate at the thought of splitting the business. Charges into the room to confront me. So when she comes into the room, you know, I turn around and she comes like right up in my face. So at that moment, he

McDonald said Andrean ran into the bathroom and turned on the lights. When Andrean saw her bloody face in the mirror, McDonald claims she attacked him.

His testimony may be disturbing to some viewers. When she comes, she's like throwing like some punches. So I'm trying to like duck down and like keep my head, my face from getting hit with the blows. I remember like grabbing her and like tripping her. And then she like falls and that's when I kick her like twice. The second kick...

I think I heard like some type of wheezing. And then also, like in the background, I could hear like some footsteps. The footsteps of their young daughter, Elena. McDonald said he left to put Elena back to bed. And when he returned about 30 minutes later, his wife was dead. I became like pretty frantic at that point.

Because, you know, she's dead on the floor. You never thought I needed... In cross-examination, Prosecutor Speer asked if McDonald had thought about calling 911. I never thought about calling anybody to revive a dead person. My purpose at that point was simply to get her out of the house so that my seven-year-old daughter wouldn't see her mother laying on the floor dead.

After putting Elena back to bed, McDonald said he dumped Andreen's body in this field, stripped her naked, and returned home to burn her clothing, which left that burn patch in the backyard. But what about Andreen's blood on the yellow hammer? On the face of it, the evidence doesn't square with McDonald's account of an accident. McDonald had an explanation for that,

He testified that when investigators finished searching his home, he went back to the field before dawn, angry and armed with the yellow hammer, a can of gasoline and a plan. My plan was to hit the person that caused this whole circumstance. You felt it was her fault, right? It's absolutely her fault. What did you do with the gasoline?

McDonald said when the flames subsided, that's when he attacked his wife's corpse with the yellow hammer. Why that last blow? Yes.

After that gruesome testimony, the defense shifted gears and tried to refocus the jury on their theory of the crime. And for the first time, the defense brought up why McDonald acted the way he did that night. Have you always believed you acted in self-defense? Yes, I've always believed that from the very beginning. The defense played videos showing Andreine giving her husband a piggyback ride and working out.

Would you describe Andrean as a very strong, powerful woman? Yes, I would. According to McDonald, his wife could lift up to 300 pounds. When she attacked you, were you in fear? Yes, I was in fear of, you know, being harmed during that whole situation.

They want you to forget and disregard all these actions. Closing arguments. Defense counsel said that this is self-defense. Folks, this is not self-defense. It's time to hold this man responsible for what he did. And it's time to find a guilty verdict. Andre McDonald did not intentionally or knowingly murder Andre McDonald.

He acted in self-defense. And your duty and your obligation is to say, no, I'm guilty. Thank you. After six days of testimony, the jury got the case. All rise, new jury. Approximately 11 hours into their deliberation, the jury sent a note to the judge. It says, we're hopelessly deadlocked. What do you make of Andre McDonald's claim of self-defense? Chat now on Facebook and X.

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After almost 11 hours of deliberating, the jury was deadlocked. Unable to decide if Andre McDonald was guilty of murder, manslaughter or not guilty by self-defense. Everything was said in the courtroom. All the evidence were there. He confessed on the stand what he did. They saw his demeanor. I don't know what was the problem.

For jurors Brandon Medellin... I voted for murder, and I saw that we were 6-6. And Rudy Ruiz... At no point did any juror think that he was innocent or that it was self-defense. The problem was wording. Because people really picked apart the definitions of murder and recklessness.

The jury of six women and six men spent hours discussing whether McDonald had intentionally murdered Andrene or if he had recklessly killed her, making it manslaughter. Murder carries a life sentence. Manslaughter up to 20 years. And I think most of us could agree that whatever happened, it was reckless. He left her on the ground and he did not render aid.

Now the trick was to try and convince the other jurors that it was murder. But as the deliberations continued, some of the jurors had been swayed, with nine now for manslaughter. Medellin says the biggest factor in swaying the vote was Andre McDonald's testimony.

There was so little evidence. And so a lot of people believed because we don't 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 convince a lot of the jurors. And we had that one juror that he said, well, I've kicked someone. I never intended to kill them. Medellin Ruiz and a third juror were the staunch holdouts for murder. No one was going to change anyone's mind.

The judge then invoked what's called an Allen charge, urging the holdout jurors to reconsider the evidence and reach a unanimous decision. After another hour of deliberations, a verdict. Mr. McDonald, please stand with your counsel. To the count of murder charged in the indictment, the jury finds the defendant not guilty of the offense of murder, as charged in the indictment and guilty of the offense of manslaughter.

Andre MacDonald was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of the lesser charge, manslaughter. Andrean's sister Cindy was in disbelief. A manslaughter after he spoke with no remorse, no love, nothing at all, and used hammer, stripper clothes, threw gasoline on her, burnt her, and they gave him manslaughter. That's crazy.

I am going to struggle with this thought until the day I die. The prosecution had a mixed reaction to the verdict. I was disappointed. However, the jury rejected his self-defense argument and held him accountable for at least something. For the defense, Andre McDonald may not have 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 outcome.

And Dreen's best friend, Mandy Hall. He's there to tell his story. He's there to make up whatever he wants to make up. She doesn't, she can't do that because he took that away from her. Cindy now sees that phone call from McDonald before the trial in a whole new light as a calculated ploy to deflect blame.

It's four years. It took him four years for him to recognize that he did what he did. And then all of a sudden, he's reaching out to us to let us think that he's been responsible. He didn't mean anything. He is lying. All the lies. It's all a lie. After the verdict, Sheriff Salazar reached out to Andreen's father, a retired member of the Jamaican army, with an unusual offering.

I did present Mr. Anderson with a gift. I asked my deputy to remove the handcuffs from Andre as they put him back into the cell, and I presented those cuffs to Mr. Anderson. I wanted them to feel some sort of connection to at least sending him away to prison. I want to tell you that we really appreciate it. Thank you very much. God bless you.

For Andreen's mother, nothing about this tragedy makes sense. Her daughter and the beautiful life she had created are gone. Andreen McDonald, who came to America, became a successful entrepreneur and found her purpose in serving others. Sadly, the business she created is now closed. I miss her very much.

Most times when I think about her, I just, it's like I feel like giving up. And in those times, Maureen and Cindy lean on one another. We're blessed to have each other to take us through this sad journey. When I'm weak, my mom is strong. When my mom is weak, I am strong. We have to be strong for Alayna.

Elena, now 12 years old, is the glue that binds this fractured family. A family that still includes Andre's mother, Jackie, though she is mainly left with the memories and the pain of what once was. I think I hurt for Elena more than I hurt for everyone. No child should ever have to go through what she went through. Maureen and Cindy are now raising Elena.

It's bittersweet 'cause we have Alaina. Alaina reminds us so much of Andre. Can mommy give you a kiss? Love you. Andre McDonald was sentenced to 20 years in prison for manslaughter, plus five years for tampering with evidence. He is appealing those convictions.

On March 8th, 2024, a San Antonio civil jury awarded $210 million to Andre McDonald's family in a wrongful death lawsuit against Andre McDonald. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island.

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At a time when we're debating where policing is going, we're going to tell you where the police came from. They wanted me to write about the New York City Police Department, but without using the words violence or corruption, which is effectively impossible. A story of how the largest and most influential police department in the country became one of the most violent and corrupt organizations in the world. It doesn't matter if you're a self-emancipated black person or if you're free. They're just sending people back to

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