48 Hours - Post Mortem | Andreen McDonald: A Millionaire Vanishes

Episode Date: December 12, 2023

For the first time on Post Mortem, 48 Hours producers Marie Hegwood and Lauren White take us inside the shocking trial of Andre McDonald. In a case that left viewers astonished by its verdict, the 48 Hours team will share their experiences from within the courtroom and discuss everything from Andre’s shocking testimony to the moving victim impact statement from Andreen’s father, Paul Anderson.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. I'm Anne-Marie Green, and we are back for another episode of 48 Hours Postmortem. And I'm joined today by two incredible producers on the show, Marie Hegwood and Lauren White, to discuss their latest episode about the killing of Andrene McDonald. And we've actually never done this before on Postmortem.

Green McDonald. And we've actually never done this before on Postmortem, but for 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 for joining us. Great to be here. Yeah, thank you. This was a case that left viewers with a lot of questions, especially when it came to the verdict, but this was also a particularly violent case. Before we get to our postmortem, let's listen to an overview of this week's episode. 29-year-old Andreen McDonald, a businesswoman, wife, and mother who had turned her assisted living healthcare business into a million-dollar enterprise, had seemingly vanished from her home. Her purse was still there, her keys were on the counter, and her vehicles were still there. Investigator Frank Stubbs saw something startling in the bathroom.

There was blood on the wall. There was blood and hair on a light switch. Andreen's husband of 10 years, Air Force Major Andre McDonald, told investigators the last time he had seen his wife was the night before. But the next day, investigators discovered items inside Andre's car that were not there during their initial search, including a shovel and, in a trash can, some clothing that appeared to be Andre's. We found blood on the pocket of the jeans. Although investigators had suspicions about Andre, without a body, none of the evidence collected proved

that a murder had occurred. Law enforcement, along with volunteer search teams, came out to search for Andre. Their search ended when a local farmer made a shocking discovery. I saw what appeared to be a human skull. That must have been a shock. A shock, yes. McDonald was arrested and charged with his wife's murder, but he would plead not guilty, raising an unusual defense. I'll actually just say a little something about myself. So my background is Jamaican. So listening to the mothers in particular, it reminded me of my own mother, you know. So I want to talk about the families here because viewers might not realize that,

you know, this is much bigger than just Andre and Andreen. For sure. For sure. You say much bigger. Well, I guess because, because you know the family is very close-knit they all grew up together the two families the two families both andre and andre's family that was something i i realized i'd never really seen before of the the close uh the closeness of the two families and here they are at this trial they haven't seen each other in a really long time it was almost like a family reunion before an awful reason, you know? And so even though they're there because they, you know, one side thinks the other side is guilty of murder,

they were still hugging each other and being kind to each other. And I did not expect that. Did they speak to each other? Not frequently, but yeah, they did. Yeah, they did. Especially because, you know, they had the, the thing is that they deeply loved each other, this family. And so now they had to choose sides.

They were forced to do that in the courtroom. And so that's the thing about it. And you could see on the defense side, them looking over to Andre's mother and sister, who was his sister, was there also looking at them. And you could tell that they loved each other. His sister was there also, looking at them, and you could tell that they loved each other. As we know from the episode, Andre is arrested, and he is charged with Andreen's murder. And he hires then this incredibly talented defense team, who they have been working on his defense for years at this point. And then three days before the trial is set to begin, Andre makes a phone call call and he turns the case in a completely different direction.

I mean, when I heard about the phone call, Andre's mother and sister called me and said, you know, he's called us and he's confessed. Confessed to what? Confessed what he said he did it. And I was like, OK. And they were just floored. And so and he told us how he did it. And I just thought, OK, 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 was shocking to me. He didn't say anything leading up to the trial. And then a few days before he he came clean. It was interesting to see because I think everybody was scrambling to try to figure out what to do next. So much like the jury, this episode asked viewers to figure out who and what

they believed. Marie, Lauren, you both attended the full trial. Yes, it has so many jaw-dropping moments. You know, even from the beginning with the prosecutor's opening, you know, he starts by listing all of these things that Andre had been looking up online. So it's just like, OK, the searches don't matter at this point because he's already copping to it. He'd already said, I did it. In a way, the prosecution was almost proving the wrong thing. And then after all that, the defense comes on and their opening was only three minutes

long. This is not a murder case. This is not a murder case. This is not a murder case. But it is a case about the degree and level of responsibility. It's a responsibility case. The degree and level of the responsibility, Major Andre McDonald, for the death of Andre McDonald. I imagine the 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 I've ever heard.

Right. OK, so let's talk about the prosecution. The prosecution brings forth some some of the evidence. the prosecution. The prosecution brings forth some of the evidence. I want to start with that shocking moment when Andre tells Andreine's friends and family that he goes to the hospital to check up on her because she suffers from really bad migraines. And I guess it was normal for her to go to the hospital periodically. I think he was in a precarious situation because when he was there at the house and he decided to go to the hospital was because all these people, I mean, her co-workers were there. Her mother was there asking where Andrean was. The police were on their way. Like the walls were closing in on him. Yeah. Because he's being cornered by the police and

family members asking where she's at. And what does he do? What does he say? Yeah. And to his surprise, there's a McDonald's already there. Yes. And it was a woman as well. And so the hospital attendant, the front desk guy, he testified and he said, you know, I let Andre in. I buzzed him in to go in. And Andre just looked down the hall and turned around and walked away. Because he wasn't expecting 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 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 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 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 that I guess the way to describe it is almost like, oh shucks, you know, like with your shoulders and your hands and, you know, kind of frustrated. I don't know what that is. Is that him saying like, oh, my goodness, you know, I'm in it now. I don't know. But it was kind of crazy to see that reaction from him.

Wow. Wow. I want to talk about Aubyn, Andreen's ex-boyfriend, lover. You know, you can understand why a husband would get upset. Of course. When his wife turns up with two tattoos. I mean, the birth date of her lover? It was beyond a tattoo. They were making plans of her being with Aubyn. I mean, they were. Oh, this was serious. This was serious. Yeah. And her husband never

knew until he saw those tattoos. And even then he was kind of like, it was matter of fact about it, like he was, he initially was filed, he filed for divorce and they ended up getting back together. And so those tattoos, even though people might've thought that that was a motive, his motive, that was a year before. Right. And she had covered them up. Yeah. He told her to cover them up at his request. The defense really tried to make Aubyn almost, I guess, in a way of making Andrean look bad, they kind of made Aubyn, they kept talking about how Aubyn was, you know, this gangster

and, you know, this big bad drug dealer. They showed the jury kind of like a scary picture of him with all these tats and stuff and this big muscular with no shirt on. I think if Aubyn would have had a suit on and it would have been like more love affairs, but this was like he was just unclothed with all these tats. This is who she went to. She left her husband for this man. So there was another expert who testified who didn't actually make it into the broadcast, but whose information could have led to Andre's conviction for murder.

So both of you felt very strongly about this expert's testimony. Why? So it's a potentially damning piece of evidence that would seem to poke holes in Andre McDonald's claim that he had hit Andreen's body with the hammer the night after her death. We don't know if he didn't hit her and do this

damage to her in the house and then take her to the field. He could have hit her in her throat or her jaw. You know, we don't really know what we're just going by what he's saying, you know. And so I think we don't really know for sure how she died. So Dr. Harold Gill King is the former director of forensic anthropology at the Center for Human Identification. He came to share his findings about the injuries on Andre McDonald's skeletal remains. The doctor testifies outside of the presence of the jury at like 9 a.m. to see if his testimony should be admitted. You noted that there were exhibitions of paramortem blunt force injuries to the mandible. That's correct. It is difficult to conceive how such a fracture would have occurred

or why it would have occurred following death. Okay, but you'd agree with me that that's a question for the imagination more than something you'd be able to scientifically include or exclude as a possibility. I would say that in my 46-year experience, fractures such as the one you mentioned occur at the time of death or slightly before. He made it very clear what they were talking about in terms of the injuries and when they might have occurred. And I think, I don't know what happened in terms of that motion and why he was excluded because he was very key to this whole testimony in terms of when the injuries happened. He was not, you know, wavering. I think some of the other experts kind of waver, like we believe, we think.

Right. But I think it's really interesting too that, you know, when Dr. Gil King is giving this testimony, you know, Andre, he's doing this before Andre testifies. He testifies, the doctor testifies outside of the presence of the jury at like 9 a.m. And then Andre takes the stand at 1 p.m. And he explains it all 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. He said he was afraid of her. And the one moment during the trial that made Andre emotional. We'll be right back. I'm Erin Moriarty of 48 Hours, and of all the cases I've covered,

this is the one that troubles me most. A bizarre and maddening tale involving an eyewitness account that doesn't quite make sense. A sister testifying against a brother. A lack of physical evidence. Crosley Green has lived more than half his life behind bars for a crime he says he didn't commit. Listen to Murder in the Orange Grove, the troubled case against Crosley Green, ad-free on Amazon Music.

In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reached the age of 10 that would still have heard it. It just happens to all of them. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years, I've been investigating a shocking story

that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely, Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Welcome back. You know, perhaps the most disturbing part of this trial

in Andre's testimony is when he explains what he does after Andreen dies. He said when the police came and are examining the house, he's sitting there thinking just filled with a rage and getting really angry. And then once they leave, he grabs a hammer and some gasoline and goes out there to hit her body. I think everyone else, at least on the prosecution side, thought, no, he's going there to destroy evidence. Let's hear him questioned during the trial. At first, I hit her in the face with the hammer front. And then I used the claw and hit her in the neck area.

And I remember the claw got stuck in her neck. And then that's when I was ripping the hammer out. And then at that point, I thought I was done. But as I'm walking away, I give it one more whack somewhere in the body.

I'm not sure where that landed. Listening to his testimony about what he did to the body was just so brutal and detailed. You know, he talks 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. It was terrible. It was.

And I think the thing about it is that we have to remember this is his point. This is his story. This is, we have nothing else to go on because her body had been left out in the open and maybe that was a 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 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 breathing i he didn't do anything he didn't he didn't try to resuscitate her even when the prosecution said why He didn't try to resuscitate her. Even when the prosecution said, why didn't you try to resuscitate her?

He said something to the effect of, why would I try and resuscitate a dead body? 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 prosecution didn't push him on that. They never really took him to task.

They just let him explain it, keep on explaining himself. So watching him testify, I didn't know how to interpret his demeanor. I didn't know if this was a man who was just not emotional when talking about this horrendous, horrific thing that happened in his life. Or if this was a man that was highly disciplined because he was a trained military guy, how did you guys feel watching him testify? I definitely felt that he was in control, even just his whole aura and his vibe. And I think the way the testimony, when he was on the stand and the way he talked about what he did to her and the way that he did it and how he did it,

and the way he talked about what he did to her and the 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 rarely said her name. He usually said, he rarely said her name. He usually said the body or her or it. And that, you know, that's just another layer of dehumanization.

Right. So when he's on the sand though, he says something that certainly surprised me. I don't know if it surprised the jury. He actually turns this whole thing on Andreen and talks about me being in fear of her. and then that was used against her to show, wow, she's so strong. She can carry Andre on her back. And then they showed the videos of her power lifting. And Andre talked about how Andre could lift about 300 pounds and he was about 180 pounds at the time this happened.

She looked taller than him too. She's tall. Yeah, she's about maybe two inches taller than him. Okay, just a little bit. Maybe she was in heels. Yeah, she always wore heels. She did. She wore four inch stilettos as many times she could.

At first, when I first heard the testimony about it, I was offended. To be honest with you, I just thought, oh, my God. Yeah. You know, 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 she's being framed. I think for them to hear you have this beautiful Black woman and you're talking about

how strong she is, how mean she is, how angry she is, you know, I think it definitely was playing into stereotypes for sure. Very much so. And I think one thing to add to that is that when we first started hearing about the victim, we never saw a picture of her. 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 of Andreen during this trial. It's really a shame. The defense rested. The following day was supposed to be closing arguments, but then what happened? So, you know, we live in New York, New Jersey area. We were used to freezing rain. Texas is not, come to find out. So here we are in San Antonio, there's a freezing

rainstorm coming. And not only does it shut down the court for that day and the city of San Antonio, but it shuts it down for two whole days. And so this was right after Andre's testimony. And so because of this, when I spoke to the jurors, they told me that they believe that break kind of had a negative effect on the jury because it gave some distance from the testimony and from the prosecution's case. And so they're just based off, they're just going off of memory from like the week prior. That's a really interesting detail. So finally, it's up to the jury to decide whether to convict Andre of manslaughter or murder. Right. And it's all in how you sort of define these two crimes. They decide manslaughter.

What was the reaction like in the courtroom? The family, I was sitting behind Andre's family and you could tell, I mean, they were all just shocked when you hear not guilty of murder. And then the, you know, the law enforcement side, they all just seemed really disappointed for sure. I think anyone who hears the graphic detail of what he did, according to him, after the fact would think, how could you find him not guilty of murder? But when we spoke to the jurors, they said that surprisingly, the ones who were pro-manslaughter, when it came to know what he says he did after the fact with the hammer they said we're not here to discuss that we're here to focus on what did he do leading up to her death um you know i talked earlier about how what was really kind of disturbing to me was the way in which he testified it came off as casual which seemed even worse than unemotional

but there was emotion during the sentencing. During the victim impact statement. That was the first time you saw emotion in his face. Because when the father said, you're like my son. Andreen's father says this. Andreen's father says that. You're like my son. You know, where you're going, I go with you.

Like he, the way he talked to Andre is like the father-son relationship. And that's when you knew that that family was a close, that they loved each other, deeply loved each other. And they just wanted that love to continue, you know? I want to play a clip from his statement. But I want you to know, in spite of everything, I forgive you.

I love you. And when I say I love you to know, in spite of everything, I forgive you. I love you. And when I say I love you, that cannot change. It's like a part of me is in a symmetry and a part of me is going to jail. You know, when Paul Anderson said that, you know, there wasn't a dry eye in the courtroom. We all were weeping. It was just so emotional. We all were weeping. It was just so emotional.

And you could just feel, we all could feel for Paul, who at this point, he had lost Andrean. He had lost another child whose name was also Andre. And now he's speaking to Andre, the person who he believes murdered his daughter, and saying, I love you. And I'm still with you. You're still a part of me. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. And that's when you saw Andre. Because I think he, at that point, he And that's when you saw Andre, because I think he,

and at that point, he knew that he, you know, ruined his life and ruined the family that he had. Everything that they worked so hard for, that American dream, was just gone. And his daughter, Elena.

Yeah. Man. So Andre McDonald is sentenced to 20 years. He's also appealing his manslaughter conviction. Any final thoughts about working this case? Well, I will say, you know, as far as yes, he was sentenced to 20 years. But according to the judge, Frank Castro, with time served, he could be out in about six and a half years from from today's recording. He could be out in about six and a half. So that's kind of surprising when you hear that. But, you know, overall, this case was just, it was just so sad. They're all sad, all of them, of course. But, you know, the family aspect and, you know, the fact that these two people, you know, found each other, built such a wonderful life for their whole family, and it was just all destroyed. And I think within the Jamaican culture, I mean, just education is important.

Success in your career field, like that's kind of like the bottom line, you know, in terms of coming to America and achieving the things that they did. That's what they were here for. That's what they live for, you know? And so now, you know, it's so sad because sometimes I'll check in with Andreen's mother.

I'll check in with Andreen's mother, Maureen, Cindy, to see how they are doing and how the daughter's doing. And it's just, you know, it's like night and day. In a moment like that, everything's gone. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having us. Yeah, thank you so much. If you want to view a timeline of Andre's story, make sure you check out 48hours.com. The amazing associate producer Morgan Canty put this together for us.

Be sure to join us next Tuesday for another Postmortem and watch 48 Hours, Saturdays, 10, 9 central on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. And if you are liking the show, please rate and review 48 Hours on Apple Podcasts and follow 48 Hours wherever you get your podcasts. You can also listen ad-free on the Amazon Music Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly?

Introducing the best idea yet. has at least one game of Monopoly. Introducing the best idea yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bolder risk takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video game character of all time,

only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye? Or Jack, that the idea for the McDonald's Happy Meal first came from a mom in Guatemala? From Pez dispensers to Levi's 501s to Air Jordans, discover the surprising stories of the most viral products. Plus, we guarantee that after listening, you're going to dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app

or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. Did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free on Wondery Plus and the Wondery app.