Law&Crime Sidebar - Air Force Major Mutilated Wife in Brutal Hammer Attack Killing: Twisted Case of Andre McDonald

Episode Date: February 10, 2023

The Air Force major who confessed to brutally mutilating and killing his wife while testifying was sentenced to 20 years in prison last week. Andre McDonald, who calmly described every event leading up to the killing while on the stand, was originally on trial for murder until the jury requested a lesser charge of manslaughter while deliberating, which they found him guilty of. The Law&Crime Network’s Angenette Levy breaks down the twisted details of this bizarre case.LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerGuest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Vanessa Bein & Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee 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 binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. views shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. So when she got the second kick, I think I heard like some type of wheezing, you know, coming out of her. Andre McDonald takes the stand in his own defense and tells a jury his wife attacked him. So he killed her during a physical fight to protect himself. That's his claim. The jury finding him guilty of manslaughter instead of murder. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy and welcome to Law and Crime's Sidebar podcast. The jury in Andre McDonald's trial deliberated for 10 hours before finding him guilty of manslaughter in the death of

his wife and Dreen just about four years ago. The couple lived in San Antonio, Texas. The couple lived in San Antonio, but both were originally from Jamaica. MacDonald described in his testimony a rocky marriage and an argument that started one night in February of 2019. McDonald said that he learned that Andrine had been stealing from him. So once I got the information of when she had formed the company, he said, I realized it was right around the time she got the tattoo and stuff like that. So I know she was up to no good.

So I basically came and said, wait a minute, how the hell do you go ahead and register a business behind my back? And the documentation that I write and give to you to give to the bank for the new construction, you go ahead and modify that document in a new company's name with the bank, without my knowledge. What the hell is that? And her response was, it's not hearsay. Sorry, sir. You'll respond to that place why we can rule. Go ahead.

Yes, sir. So, her response was she's always alone. That's why, you know, she set things up and she does it by herself. And that's when I said, that doesn't make any sense because we both live in the same house. How can you be doing stuff alone? When are you ever alone? We live in the same house. We sleep in the same house every night, so I'm not sure.

That doesn't make any sense. any sense. You're clearly trying to steal them. Do you know about what time that is? That was probably around seven-ish or so. Yeah. You stay in the house and continue arguing. So she started getting aggressive instead of, you know, like apologizing and say, you know, she made a mistake or something like that. She, you know, started getting aggressive. And since we had a, you know, a young child in the house, I didn't want it to like blow up into, you know,

like blow up into any type of physical confrontation. So at that time, I decided, you know what, I'm just going to leave the house. Did you leave the house? Yes, I left the house and drove down to the gas station. McDonald's said he then returned home, and the two began to argue. She got real upset, and then she started yelling at me and started yelling. Because so came out a batty boy, the son came out of Batty boy. Is that Patois?

Yes, it is. It was breaking down from me? What does it mean? So the phrase Gosok Yamada means go and give you akimam, borrowed sex. And then Batty Boy is just another phrase in Jamaica that they use to call it homosexual. Is this a run-of-the-mill curse in Jamaica?

No, it is not. Why? So in Jamaica is more like a matriarchy-type society. society. So, you know, guys, usually, most guys that I know typically live with their moms. So there's like a close affinity to, especially guys and their mothers. So, like, disrespecting somebody's mom is like a big norm. If somebody said that to me to make about your mom, what would have it? Typically, they really do a fight. And the second part of the adult being a potse before, she said a homosexual. Why does that see?

So, it's sort of, you know, a little bit of, maybe homophobic type of society. So calling somebody like a batte boy is like a serious disrespect. Again, run in the middle or serious? Yeah, it's serious. Usually it starts like a fight. McDonald said he told Andrine he was going to get a divorce.

He was done with their marriage. He said Andrine was the aggressor during a physical fight that started in the home that night. She comes, like, right up in my face and says it again, Osaki Matabati boy. Is she still continuing on forward? Yes, you know, she's charged, you know, she's charging toward me when she's saying it. Okay. How close to your face does she get while she's charging? So she comes, like, right up in my face, at which point I'm like,

A way out to move out of my face, which means what are you doing, get out of my face. What is your response? And the response after that is, a way I got it, a way out of it, which means what are you going to do about it. What you said? And at that point I said, you know what, you're trying to get me to, you know, trouble. So... Does she stop? No. Now, after I say that, that's what...

Do she leave? No. Right at that moment, what happened? So at that moment, she then repeats the Gasaki Matabati boy, but this time, at the end, she spits in my face. At the moment she spits in your face, what happened? So at that point, this was like brief, when I grabbed her, because she's like right in front of her,

so I grabbed her head. I think we had like a clash of heads, and I think it opened up like a cut somewhere on her face, Because she's a bit, you know, taller than I am. So when the headbutt, it's like my forward and then your lower face or something. You're aggressive. So at that point, her initial reaction was to kind of like, you know, reach up and, like, grab her face to see.

And then there was, like, some blood on her fingers. So she, like, runs into the master bedroom. Not the master. So the master bathroom in the bedroom were just separated by the door. So we're like, maybe the distance to the door. bathroom doors like between me and say right here. When she runs into the bathroom, what she did? So she runs into the bathroom and turns on the light switch and then turns to the

mirror to kind of take a look at her face. And at that point, you know, I'm trying to see what her face look like. So I just like step maybe like a foot into the bathroom. In the door? Right. And what happened? So when she looks and sees, sees the mark on her face, because she was like looking at it.

I think you touched it again. But at that point she gets extremely angry, and that's when she comes, you know, across the bathroom, from the switch back towards door standing at, to attack me. When she attacks you, do you react? Yeah, so 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, you know, getting hit with the blows. And then in between the sculptor, I remember, like, grabbing her and, like, tripping her over one of my legs. And then she, like, falls, and that's when I, like, kept her, like, twice when she was, when she felt. She's coming up? Yes. She's throwing her punch. Yes, she was. Is she going sideways, backwards, or right?

Now, she was coming directly at me, so, like I said, when she went inside. the bathroom and hit the lights switch, lights which is on the other side of the bathroom where the mirror was and then she had to basically charge all the way across the bathroom back towards me at the door and that's your momentum or her momentum to kind of live her overall so you know doing the rest and I sort of used like her own body weight you know when I twist her and used like my leg to like like a trip so that's how she felt so when When she got the second kick, I think I heard like some type of wheezing, you know, coming out of her.

And then also, like in the background, I could hear like some footsteps running. And at that point, I was like, oh shit, Elena. So I ran out of the bathroom towards the living room area, and then I saw like Elena, like, she was somewhere close to the stairs, right at the front. So I ran towards Elena and picked her up, and we went upstairs, and then I was trying to get her back to bed. In stunning detail, and really in a matter-of-fact fashion, Andre McDonald described going back to Andrine, thinking that she had called 911, but he said that he kicked her again. She wasn't breathing, so he put her in trash bags. He said he then took the bags off and put her clothes in a plastic bucket and tried to burn them and then dumped her body.

So at that time I took the bags off. I was going to leave it there. And for some reason, I don't know why, but I just had this weird idea to probably should just take the clothes. So I took the clothes and threw them in the bag and then went back in the car. I went home. Take all the clothes? I think so.

And you went in, you said, you put them in the bag, you went home. Yes. Well, you got home wanted you did. So when I went home, I think I went home. I think I went home, and that point I think, I don't know if I took my clothes off and threw them in the bag. But eventually, I knew I threw her clothes, and I'm thinking I probably took my clothes off as well, and threw him in like a plastic bucket, and I just got a lighter and lit him. McDonald described dumping the body and then going to work and trying to later dispose of evidence.

I get really angry So at that point I poured the gas on it and I lit the fire Wasn't enough gas? No, it wasn't like a lot of gas It's just like left over gas That I had like

I used to cut my own grass But then eventually Like you know It's business grooming stuff I started having Eddie Come by the house now And do the lock here So it was just like

Some leftover that I had the container So I poured that on there I lit it and then he was out, I don't know a lot, but it was out pretty pretty fast. So at that point, you know, I got a hammer and the body's like right there. So at that point I just got really pissed off and started like, you know, hitting the body with the hammer. How many times? Honestly, I couldn't tell you, but it was multiple times. But I know, so I know I was like hitting like in the face and like the neck area.

And I remember, like, 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. I remember the claw got stuck in her neck. And then that's when I like, I was like ripping the hammer out. And then at that point, I think, I thought I was done. But as I'm like, sounding like walk away, I give it like one more whack somewhere on the bottom. someone on the body, I'm not sure where that landed. The jury deliberated for 10 hours, and at one point were even deadlocked, so the judge

read them a charge and sent them back in. After that 10 hours of deliberation, they found Andre McDonald guilty of manslaughter, not murder, and the judge sentenced him to the maximum of 20 years in prison. Joining me to talk about this case is someone who covered the trial. She is Erica Hernandez. She is the court reporter for KSAT TV in Santa and So Erica, welcome here to Sidebar. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me. First of all, your thoughts on the verdict. The jury deliberated, I see about 10 hours and came back not guilty

on murder, but guilty on manslaughter. Your thoughts? I think we were all a little surprised, but not completely shocked because they had spent so long deliberating. I think at that point, we knew it would possibly be manslaughter at that point, especially when they came. and told the judge that they couldn't decide and he issued an Allen charge. But it was still kind of surreal because this is a guy who did take the stand and admitted to killing his wife, but yet was able to get that manslaughter charge. So it was definitely kind of, yes, it was surprising, but also we were kind of waiting for it. So not completely surprising that they came back guilty on manslaughter, possibly a compromise

verdict, would you think? I really do think so. And I think when the charge of the court was initially read before they went into deliberations, it was extremely confusing. Even for us who cover courts all the time, we're sitting there like, I need a flow chart. Like, if you get to this decision, go to this paragraph, get to this decision, go to this paragraph. So I could see how if a jury is sitting back there, not really understanding what this is in front of them, this law, how it would take them so much time to be like, wait, what? Why can't it just be this or this? We have to come to decisions. And I think that tripped them up a little. And that's why they ended up going with that manslaughter charge. Jury instructions can be so, so confusing. And they're very

important. So I would consider this. I would think that the attorneys for Andre McDonald would consider this a win for them, the fact that he was not found guilty on a murder charge, but on manslaughter. Have you spoken to them? Yeah, I did speak to Mr. Convary after the trial, and they were okay with the verdict. They were, I don't know, so much okay with the max of the 20 years that he got, but I think it is a win for them. Either way, I mean, he could be possibly eligible for parole in seven and a half years, which is nothing compared to the possible life sentence he could have gotten. One of the things that I heard in his testimony that was a little surprising to me was the fact that Andrine is on the floor wheezing. And, you know, after they have this

physical altercation, and then their daughter comes downstairs, he hears her footsteps. He takes her back upstairs and then, you know, puts her back to bed and then comes back downstairs. Was that shocking to you? And then more unfolds after that. We had always known from day one when the first affidavit and information in this case came out in 2019 that the daughter was home at the time. But yeah, I don't honestly know if all his testimony is completely true because we had heard other things that the daughter had said in therapy sessions and stuff like that that didn't match up with that testimony. So I don't know how much of it to believe of what he says happened actually happened. That's very interesting. This case is

very disturbing to me on so many levels. I know it's been four years since the took place. But Andre McDonald, to me, seemed to just be very matter of fact in discussing this. He seemed obviously to be very well prepped. He talked about how he invoked. He didn't speak to law enforcement in the beginning. So this was the first time he had told his story was up there on the stand, at least publicly. So were you surprised at how just matter-of-factly he discussed this? I didn't see any emotion. I understand he wanted to divorce her. I all of that stuff, but were you a little surprised by how he was just able to tell this story? I've covered a lot of trials, and this was the first time I was kind of glad.

I was like, I hope there's not a camera on me in the gallery because I was making like shocked faces with some of the comments he was so calmly saying it was surreal, like how I went back. And I just was so angry at her. I went back and I whacked her body with the hammer one more time. that was so angry. I was just like, what am I hearing? Is this, is this really happening? Is this guy really on the stand talking about this so calmly with no remorse at all? And it was really, I didn't notice it till later, but he never really referred to her as his wife or even said her name and Doreen. It was just her or the body. It's like she had no identity to him.

A dissociation of sorts. I mean, this is obviously someone he loved at some point. point in time. I mean, they got married. I mean, I don't really know the full circumstances surrounding how they got married, but still. Yeah. And I think that's what the judge noticed it as well, because during sentencing, he was like, you sat there and spoke about the mother of your child so nonchalantly. And like, you didn't care. I didn't even see a tear in your eye. The only time I ever noticed you paying attention in trial was what her remains were on a screen. And you try to look over to see it. Other than that, I saw you fiddling on your phone. I saw you smirking. It was not a good look for Andre in the judge's eyes. And even kind of compared his testimony

to that of a serial killer. So the judge, I would glean from that, does not buy the story. Exactly. It was pretty obvious when right before sentencing and Judge Castro spoke to him and gave him that, like, you know, I see this military career, this honorable military career, but yet I see you on the stand and it's a completely different person. So that's kind of how he referred to it. And I think we can all understand, you know, time has passed. But still, this is someone that you loved at one point in time, I would assume. And I was a little stunned by the way he spoke about this.

And she's wheezing and you don't call for help. You just keep going. even if you think you're defending yourself and you're justified in doing so, I was a little stunned that he didn't call for help or anything. And his solution was to put her body in trash bags and then take it and dump it somewhere. And refer to all of that as a hassle. It was such a hassle. It was just like, what is going on? It was testimony like that I've never heard before. It was stunning. There's been another interesting wrinkle in this as well. Andre McDonald and Andrine were from Jamaica. And he actually talked on the stand about how it's more of a matriarchal society reverence for women, your mom, that type of thing. But now there's some big news concerning his father. So tell us a little bit about that.

So we live streamed this trial. And while I was looking through the chat one day, I noticed there was a lot of people in Jamaica tuning in. And there was a person who kept referring to. his father. And they're like, like father like son, like father like son. And I was like, what is going on? So we started doing a little digging on our end and got with some sources in Jamaica and were able to confirm that Andre McDonald's father is awaiting trial for the deaths of two of his wives. So that was just shocking in itself. I don't know how much life he had with his father because he did say he at one point moved in his life to Florida with his mother. So I don't know how involved, his father was in his life just to know his father is sitting in jail with the same type of charges his son is. But for two wives, was shocking to us. It's absolutely shocking.

And it makes you wonder what type of environment Andre McDonald may have grown up in. Yeah, exactly. And his father is a prominent businessman. He's well known. Everybody, as I was told, it's still a very small community. Everybody knows everybody. And it was, you know, something I guess he thought he was going to get away with because they were murder for higher plots. And the first wife, I believe, was he never really got charged with until the second wife was killed. And that person who did the actual, is alleged to do the murder, was like, hey, this man paid me to do it. And that's kind of where it all opened up. Well, Erica Hernandez, I think you'll probably be continuing to follow that, right?

Oh, yes, we'll be watching closely. And Andre McDonald's not done in court. He's got another court date coming up in a few weeks on the tampering with evidence charge. And then there's also a possibility because of what he said he did to the body afterwards, he faces further charges for that as well. Well, very interesting. Maybe we'll have you back to talk about that. That sounds interesting. Thank you so much for coming on. We really appreciate it. Thank you. And that's it for this edition of Law and Crimes Sidebar podcast. It is produced by Michael Dininger and Sam Goldberg. Lopi Zoki is our director of YouTube. Alyssa Fisher handles our bookings and Kira Bronson does our social media. You can listen to and download Sidebar on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get your podcasts.

And of course, you can always watch it on Law and Crimes YouTube channel. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy, and I will see you next time. You can binge all episodes. of this long crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.