True Crime All The Time - Andre McDonald

Episode Date: October 28, 2024

Andre McDonald is a former Air Force Major who was a cyber warfare analyst. He met his wife, Andreen, in the city of Port Antonio, Jamaica, in 2009. The two started a successful together after moving to the United States. Andre and Andreen McDonald were a wealthy couple who seemed like they had a perfect life, but they had a volatile marriage that ended when Andreen was found beaten to death inside their family home.Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss Andre McDonald. The investigation quickly focused on Andre as a potential suspect. The more that police uncovered, the more motive it seemed Andre had to want his wife dead. The evidence mounted against Andre as well. However, he changed his defense right before the trial, and it would be up to the jury to decide what side they believed in.You can support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 407 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And with me as always is my partner in true crime, Mike Gibson. Give me, how are you? Hey, I'm doing pretty good. How about you? I'm having a great week. And you and I were talking about it on Patreon. We actually put a brand new episode out on Saturday. A Patreon episode on Joan Rebell and Goldine Pyser. This is kind of a Halloween episode. The murder occurred on Halloween night. You know, It goes back to the 50s. And it's a very interesting case because, you know, we're talking about same sex relationships in the 1950s. And there's a lot wrapped up into it. There really is.

So if you're on a Patreon, check it out. If you're not, now's a great time to sign up. We also have a brand new episode out on True Crime All the Time Unsolved, where we're talking about Chance Englebert, a newlywed and a father to an infant son who went missing. in July 2019. He got into an argument with his wife and was later captured by a security camera in Terrytown, Nebraska.

That's a good episode. Go check it out. All right. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Raylene Brewer. Hey, Raylene. Ash Zwizzler. Hey, Ash.

Sheila Gilliam. What's going on, Gilliam? Lisa Hervey. Hey, Hervey. Teresa Pereira. Ah, Pereira. Mermaid Maniac jumped down to our highest level. What's up, Maniac?

Natalie Pater. Hey, Peter. Sarah Lester. Well, appreciate that, Sarah. Karen Robinson. What's up, Robinson? And last but not least, Jennifer Ball. There's Ball. And if we go back into the vault.

This week, we selected Amber Hatcher. And there's Hatcher. And there's Hatcher. We also had a great PayPal donation from Andrea Edwards. Thanks, Andrea. Yeah, we appreciate all the support. All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of True Crime all the time? I am ready.

We're talking about Andre McDonald's. Andre and Andréne McDonnell were a wealthy couple who, you know, looking from the outside in, seemed like they had the perfect life. But it turns out that they had a volatile marriage that ended with Andrine being beaten to death inside the family home. We've heard of these families that look perfect on the outside. Yeah. A lot of the listeners probably know people. Absolutely.

who you would think just by what you know of them, they're leading the perfect life. Maybe they got great jobs. They got enough money. They've got great children. But do you really know what's going on behind closed doors? And my answer is always no. There is no way to know for sure. Yeah, there's always that family.

You go, man, they just got it all going on. I wish we could be like them, but probably not. They might have some skeletons in their closet. Yeah. Andre McDonald is a former Air Force major who worked as a cyber warfare analyst. Sounds like a kind of a cool job. Yeah. Sounds like something you would get into.

I like to do a lot of analyst stuff. Analyzing? Yes. Analysis. Yes. Andre met his wife Andrine in the city of Port Antonio, Jamaica in 2009. Andrine grew up in Portland. Jamaica. Her biggest goal in life was to be financially successful, and she believed moving to the

United States would help her achieve her dreams. When I hear Jamaica, which the first thing comes to my mind, probably comes to your mind too. Redstri? Yep. Oh, I could have said weed. I could have said Mon. I could have said Michael Scott. There's a lot of things I could have said there. But, you know, let's kind of break down the American dream. When you hear that, what do you think? You know, someone coming from another country to better their life. Yeah. And, you know, it sounds to me like this is what Andrine thought was possible.

And it is possible. Many, many people have done it. Now, you and I have both been to Jamaica. Yes. There are large parts of Jamaica that. I believe where, you know, a lot of people live in poverty. So, you know, if you're watching Baywatch or you're watching, you know, one of these shows from the U.S. as a kid and you're thinking, oh, man, if I could get over there, I could be like them.

Yeah. I just wonder how many, you know, people kind of get their ideas of the U.S. from television. Oh, I think several. Or, you know, Jamaica is also a travel hot spot. It is. A lot of cruises stop there. You know, are you seeing a lot of Americans walking around buying things? You can tell they have money.

Maybe some of it comes from that as well. You know, I think they learn that there's opportunities. There's absolutely opportunities versus being just kind of locked into the local tourism scene and the, the rum, business over there. Andreen met Andre when she was just 19 years old. He was 10 years older than her. He was also from Jamaica and he came to Port Antonio in May 2009 to attend a funeral. Andrine's mother, Maureen Smith, told 48 hours that her daughter was excited about the relationship. They decided Andrine would come back to the States with Andre and they got married in July 2009. And we just talked about it, Gibbs, right?

She had a dream of moving to the U.S. Her biggest goal was to be financially successful. And she thought the best way to achieve that would be to get to the United States. She meets this guy and has the opportunity. So she's excited about the relationship. She's excited about moving to the U.S. Yeah, she gets to work on her goal. A few years later, the couple moved to San Antonio.

where their daughter Elena was born, Elena became the center of Andrene's world. As most kids do. Absolutely. They become the center of the universe. Number one, because they require so much attention, everyone's attention. And number two, they're just so darn cute.

They are cute. At the age of 22, Andrine founded an assisted living business called Starlight Holmes. And that's pretty amazing at the age of 22. I got to be honest with you. Ambitious. Very ambitious. Now, Andre had better credit.

So he secured a loan, liquidated his 401k, and sold his BMW to finance the business. They were serious. Well, they must have thought it was a really good idea. Andrene handled most of the day-to-day business affairs since Andre was still in the military, but they split the profits equally.

And that does make a lot of sense. number one, you're married. But number two, she's doing all the work. He put up all the money. So even if they weren't married, if it was just a partnership, that would be a pretty fair and equitable split. Yeah. And the business grew pretty quickly.

At first, it was based in Andrene's home, but over the next seven years, it grew into a multi-million dollar enterprise. They established two different locations in the San Antonio area. soon Andre and Andrine were able to purchase a house in a wealthy community in San Antonio. They were described by a lot of people Gibbs as a power couple. Just like me and you. Exactly. ADA Stephen Speer told A&E, they were making seven figures largely through her efforts.

Wow. Impressive. Yeah, you have to be impressed by what she did. Now, he did finance. right, this business venture, but it sounds like all the hard work was done by her. Yeah. He was still in the military, but their marriage had its problems. One of the biggest issues was Andrene's affair with their ex-boyfriend, Abin, Hall,

a businessman living in Port Antonio, Jamaica. They dated back when they were teenagers. But according to Andrine's friend, Mandy Hall, they rekindled their romance in 2017. During one of Andreen's philanthropic trips to Jamaica, Mandy told 48 hours, Aubin has always been that first love. It wasn't something Andrine got over emotionally. Well, that's a problem. Well, it's a problem in any marriage. Yes. But is it all that uncommon that someone has trouble kind of letting go of their first love? There is something kind of special about, you know, that first love.

Yeah, people hold on to that memory. They do. But a lot of times it's just a, most times it's just a memory. Yeah. Once you get married, you might think back about that person every now and then, but you're not seeking them out to rekindle the relationship. It's just a nice memory that might pop in your head every now and then. And if my wife's listening, I'm going to get a lot of questions.

Yes, you are. I was thinking that as you were speaking. But this affair was secret until the summer of 2018, when Andrine got the letter A tattooed on her hand and a date tattooed on her wrist. On social media, Andre found a photo of Aben with the same hand tattoo. The numbers 14-3-76 represented his birthday. It's kind of hard to hide a tattoo. It's kind of hard to play off that it's something other than that. Yeah. I mean, it's, you can't wipe it off. You have to explain it.

Now, if it was a butterfly or anything else other than what she put on there, okay, you could explain it away. We just happened to get the same tattoo. We went to the same place. You can maybe try to explain those types away. It was a little weird though that he also got the same tattoo with his own birthday on it. Not her birthday. Yeah.

Yeah, I thought that was a little strange. Yeah, I love myself too. I'm going to put my A and my birthday on there. According to Mandy Hall, she said that Andrine told her that she impulsively got to tattoo, saying she knew it was something stupid to do. Really? Well, you know, you do it impulsively and then after the fact you think, oh, that was not smart at all. What did I do?

There are going to be repercussions. Absolutely. Andre threatened to divorce her unless she caught off all contact with Aubin covered her tattoos and promised never to travel to Jamaica without him. Okay. I mean, I don't know if that's all that. Unreasonable? Unreasonable of a request. Andrine did cover up her tattoos because she didn't want to lose her business.

Public records indicate Andre filed for divorce from Andrine in 2017, but withdrew the file. You the problem with that was she did it because she didn't want to lose her business, not her marriage. Yes. It specifically said she didn't want to lose her business and she would have. Right. If the couple got divorced, that business. was going to be at the very least split up sold and the and you know the profits split or or whatever but the couple seemed to be getting along at Andre's 40th birthday party which took place about two weeks before

andrine disappeared on february 28th 2019 Andre and andrine argued about the business via text Earlier that day, they went to an accountant to prepare their taxes. Andre discovered his wife omitted his name while filling out business paperwork. He felt like she was trying to hide money from him. At one point, he texted his wife, all you do is scheme, but I'm no fool. Well, I think once your partner knows that you've had an affair, they're going to be skeptical about anything you do. Well, the trust level had to be at an all-time low.

Sure. So, you know, when it comes to business, you see something. Is it surprising that he would automatically jump to the conclusion that she's doing something she shouldn't be doing? He's probably thinking that about everything. Sure. At that point.

Andreen's phone was turned off just after midnight. On March 1, 2019, no one heard from her after that. She was reported missing on March 1st after she missed a meeting with her personal trainer and failed to show up for work. Two of Andrine's close friends went to her home and entered through an unlocked back door.

They saw blood and hair on a light switch. And what appeared to be the remains of fire on the ground in the backyard, they found a zipper among the ashes. Okay, that's a little. freaky. Yeah, that's not good. Now you could argue somebody was burning some clothes.

Okay. But why? You can just throw a pair of jeans in the trash if you want to. You don't have to burn them. Yeah. Normally, and maybe it's just because we're all true crime enthusiasts, burning is done to get rid of evidence.

That's what I'm thinking. But you also have to think about, you know, these friends. They go over, what do they think? You know, she's probably sick. We're going to find her on the couch, you know, watching the view and eating chicken noodle soup. But never imagining what they're,

what they actually walked in on. Blood, hair. Suspicious fire. With a zipper. One of the women left to get Andreen's mother, Mooring Smith. When she returned, they saw Andre, leaving the house and called the police.

Within minutes, The sheriff's deputy spotted the blood and hair on the switch, the burn pile, and the zipper within the burn pile. Andrine's purse was still in the house. Her keys were on the counter and all her vehicles were still there. A lot of red flags. Yeah, we talk about that in a lot of episodes, especially on the unsolved side. You know, what does it mean when someone has seemingly disappeared? but they didn't take their purse.

They didn't take their car keys and drive away in one of their vehicles. Sometimes they don't take their phone. Sometimes they don't take their phone. It never seems to be a good sign. And I can imagine it wasn't a good sign here. Now, on top of that, you add the blood and hair and all that. Andre told the police that he woke up and took his daughter to school before he reported to the Air Force base.

He rushed home when he learned his wife was missing. But he quickly left again on a hunch that Andrene had gone to a nearby hospital as she suffered from migraines. His arrival was recorded on camera. They told him there was someone in room three named McDonald. When he returned to the house, he told the police she was in the hospital. But when a deputy called to verify, he discovered Andrine was not in the hospital. And to me, that is such a strange thing to tell a police officer. Right.

Because it's so easily verifiable. And if she was in the hospital, why wouldn't you be there with her? Oh, I feel better now. I know she's there and then I just left her again. Yeah. Yeah. It's just not adding up, right? Andre explained he came home before seeing the patient in the hospital room because he left

his phone at home and wanted to tell Maureen. Smith, he found Andrey. Couldn't pick up a phone there. But he didn't find. Right. Andrine. He never saw her. He is claiming that someone told him there was someone with the last name McDonald.

And he is saying he assumed that was Andrine. So, you know, I'm going to rush home, get my phone, call her mother. But you're right, Gibbs. How many phones are at a hospital? How hard is it? Yeah. Would it be to make a phone? a call, even if you don't have your cell phone.

I mean, I guess you can make a case that he didn't know her number, but. Yeah, there's also this thing called information. I think they still have that. Nobody uses it anymore, but I think they still have it. But at a minimum, wouldn't you at least go in and say, hey, baby. How you doing? You okay? I'm here.

I just will make sure you're okay. I'm going to run home real quick because I left my phone, call your mom, and I'll be right back. Do you need anything while I'm there? Now, I could use the phone that's sitting right next to your bed, which is in every hospital room. And you can tell me your mom's number because you probably know it. So, I mean, again, though, as we do these cases Gibbs, so often, you know, you try to figure out what these people are saying. And it's hard to because a lot of it just doesn't make sense. And why is that?

because they acted impulsively. They didn't think things through. And a lot of times, okay, now you're trying to make something up on the fly? Yeah. That's hard to do. Hard to do and hard to remember later.

Yeah. Andre told the police that he and Andre got into an argument about the business and he left home to Kulah for a few hours, stopping at a nearby gas station. He assumed she was sleeping in their daughter's room when he came home. Andre then said he didn't want to talk to the detective and asked for an attorney. Probably a good idea at that point with all you've said so far. Absolutely.

On the evening of March 1st, a forensic crime unit examined stains in the bathroom and confirmed they were human blood. Andre had no visible injuries on his body when he spoke to the police. He was captured on surveillance at the gas station, which seemingly supported his story, at least that part of it. However, Andre failed to mention his text exchange with Andrine at the gas station where he accused her of cheating. Andrine wrote per 48 hours, if you bring up Aubin again, I will divorce you myself.

In response, Andre texted, I don't care if you get a divorce. You brought Aubin into our life. So obviously, you know, as an affair does, this blasted a major hole, caused a huge rift in their relationship. Yeah. Now, it sounds like they tried to reconcile. But to me, it seemed as though, you know, Andre was not going to be able to get past it. Now, you could make the argument that Andrine wasn't making it easy for him. Sure.

With the tattoos and the, and all that. I just think it's hard for a lot of relationships to move forward after infidelity's involved. Absolutely. Yeah. We talked about trust. You know, once the trust is gone, you can't always get it back. Or at the very least, you can't get it back to the level it was for many people. Investigators couldn't find Andreen's cell phone.

They checked to see if her cards or passport had been used, but they hadn't. Andre was their main person of interest. And let's face it, how could he not be? The family knew how dedicated Andrine was to her business and to her daughter. She would not have left without giving some kind of notice. And we say that about so many people in the unsolved cases that we cover. You know, people have routines. They have built up a track record over time.

They're either extremely reliable. somewhat reliable, not reliable at all. But a lot of people are extremely reliable, especially when it comes to their own business and to their children. So to just up and leave, you know, those two things, that would seem out of character for most people. And for her. And for her as well.

At 2 p.m. on March 2nd, an undercover investigator assigned to watch the house, saw that the garage was damaged, and Andre was backing out of the driveway. The investigator followed him to a gunshot. Andre purchased a 9mm handgun and ammunition. Investigators assumed that he was buying the gun to harm himself. So they detained him in the parking lot.

And it does seem like a strange thing, right? People buy guns all the time. Sure. But in the midst of what's going on in his life to just get in your car and go buy a gun. Now, I'm sure he didn't know that they were watching him, but what are the authorities to think? What's he need this gun for other than he's distraught and he's going to hurt himself? Yeah, I'm sure. They have concern over that for him and his daughter. Andre was turned over to military authorities for a mental evaluation. That same day,

investigators executed a search warrant on the house and Andreen's car. They didn't. They discovered a shovel, a hatchet, an axe, trash bags, gloves, and gas cans in the car. The shovel had dirt on it and appeared to have been used recently. So those are things that if they're in your trunk right now, get them out. Get them out. I mean, I carry a lot of those items, but I have a good reason. Sure. I take it you don't want to share that. No. Reason. But, you know, in all serious, you pull someone over even without all of the context of what's going on in this case and you open up the trunk and you see these items okay there somebody's going to have some questions if it was just a shovel if it was just a hatchet you know but you add in the trash bags the gloves the gas cans

I mean it's a it's a strange combination yeah it's a bit much yeah it's like if you're not a landscaper. Yeah, it's like pulling Dexter over and finding, you know, his roll of knives and all the plastic sheeting in the zip tie. Yeah. You're going to have to explain to me what all this stuff is for. In the corner of the garage, investigators found a hammer in men's clothing in the garbage. Traces of blood were found in the pocket of a pair of jeans. Blood was found on the hammer. and DNA testing later confirmed it was Andrene's blood. Let me use this hammer, but I'm just going to tossing in this trash can over here and not worry about it. As though police would not search the garbage.

Yeah. So again, as we see so many times, you know, things don't make sense, but why is that? And I think we talked about it in our Patreon episode. We did. If you have someone who is not a hit man, you know, we're not talking about a skilled killer here. Are they going to make mistakes? Are they going to be in a rush and do things that make no sense? And to me, yes.

And I think that's what we see in a lot of cases. And thankfully so, because a lot of times this is what leads people to be caught. Yeah. I mean, now we have a hammer with her DNA on it. We know it was used. Inside the garbage can, investigators also found a torn-up loz receipt that showed Andre purchased some of the items found in the home the day after Andrene went missing. The item suggested he was attempting to dispose of a body. And I'm assuming a lot of that was, you know, trash bags, gloves.

Shovel. Shovel, hatchet. Andre was captured by security cameras purchasing the suspicious items it looks. That's the other thing. I think people forget there's cameras everywhere today, especially if you're shopping. And receipts are timestamped and it's very easy to go back and look at the, you know, match up the camera footage with a transaction. You know, maybe you don't go to Walmart. You don't go to Lowe's or Home Depot. Maybe you go to Billy Bob's flea market and pick up some of this stuff where, you know, some of the technology doesn't exist,

but I mean, how many people are caught on surveillance at Walmart, Loves? You see it in tons of cases. Sure. Yeah. And what are they buying? Trash bags, gloves,

shovels, bleach. I mean, it's just, it's stuff to either bury a body or cover up a crime scene. On March 3rd, 2019, Andre's mental evaluation was completed and he was released. but was quickly arrested on a charge of evidence tampering for tearing up the receipt. Because Andre was not cooperating, Sheriff Javier Salazar went on local TV to ask for the public's help in locating Andream.

On March 4th, investigators revealed they believe Andrine was no longer living. And I could understand how they would come to that assumption. Sure. the blood on the hammer that was confirmed to be heard. All the stuff found in the car. Nobody's heard from her. It's not looking good. No.

Sheriff Salazar named Andre as a person of interest, noting that when deputies made contact, he quickly asserted his rights to legal counsel and refused to speak to us. But, you know, if you're the authorities, you're thinking 100%, this guy, he did something, but you don't have a body. Nope.

And you don't know for certain that Andrine is, is even dead at this point. Yeah, I mean, at this point, you have a motive. You've got a couple of different motives for sure. Yeah. And you have some potential weapons. And a lot of cleanup purchases. Yes. By March 4th, authorities obtained a second search warrant for the couple's

residents to examine blood evidence, Sheriff Salazar discussed their daughter Elena with the San Antonio Express News saying, to us, it's pretty evident that she saw something. She saw what happened to her mom. CBS noted that Elena has autism and is mostly nonverbal. Sheriff Salazar added, quite frankly, there may be a body outlaying in the woods that, again, would help us bring closure to this case. And to one little girl, I feel that we owe answers to. He did acknowledge that it was possible that Andreen voluntarily left the country, but she left behind personal items. Someone would normally take with them when traveling. Yeah, but would she leave her daughter? Well, that's the thing. But when you're talking about making an arrest and charging someone with murder and taking them to

trial. The possibility that she could have voluntarily left could be reasonable doubt in the minds of a jury. Yeah. On March 5th, CBS affiliate K-E-N-S-TV reported on an arrest affidavit that indicated Andrine told a friend. If she ever went missing, it would be because Andre Kilt her. Oh, that's just coming out and saying it, isn't it? Yeah. And I've told, you know, many people that if I ever go missing, it's probably Gibby. Now, that's just covering my bases. I don't really have anything concrete. It's probably the most obvious thing.

Yes. Yeah. I'm just thinking logically. If something ever does happen to me, it would probably be you. It would be for the podcast. I would do it for the podcast. And then do an episode on yourself? Yeah, but I just don't know who would do all the talking.

From prison? Who would do all the talking if you're not here? You'd have to get somebody else. I'd have to get AI to reproduce your voice or something. Now you're scaring me. But you know things aren't going well, Gibbs, in a relationship when someone tells their friends, hey, if I ever go missing, it's my husband. Yeah.

I mean, if you're thinking like that. Things are bad. Yeah, and you probably shouldn't be in the relationship anyway. Never in a million years would I think my wife would ever tell someone that because I don't believe she thinks I would ever do that. Investigators were continuing to uncover details about their marriage in WhatsApp messages that Andrine shared with friends. She argued about who was the brains behind the business. According to 48 hours, she once texted Andre. Starlight Holmes is my idea, my dream, and would not have happened without my business.

drive. And that's probably all true. Sure. He was just the early financial backing. Yes. Yeah. He was the one who put up the money. But I do think it was her idea. And I do think, you know, it was her drive and her hard work that propelled the business forward. Andreen texted her friend Andrew Russell. Someone is going to snack. Russell told investigators that the couple got into a physical altercation the night before Christmas at their home. He told 48 hours, when I went into the kitchen, Andy and Andrine were grappling on the floor. The next morning, they were laughing about it. I did feel uncomfortable after that. I thought this situation had become toxic. Now, can you imagine walking in on one of your couple friends and they're all on the ground wrestling? Grapling. G grappling. Like an MMA fight or something.

one of my friends has his wife and a figure four leg lock or what are we talking about here and you're like hey hey hey what are you guys doing and he says uh i did feel a little uncomfortable yeah yeah but you did i'd be like honey get your coat we're leaving and never coming back definitely not healthy but i also thought it was strange that he said you know the next morning they were laughing about it now maybe there are some couples like that but i can honestly say that my wife and I have never grappled and will never be grappling. Well, maybe you need a little grapple. And if we did, my assumption is she wouldn't be laughing about it the next morning.

I think she probably would kick your ass. She might be laughing about how she kicked my ass. On July 11, 2019, a farmer found Andrine skeletal remains six miles from her home. Her skull was found in front of a cow skull. skull. A medical examiner concluded Andream died from blunt force trauma, consistent with a hammer attack. And less than 48 hours later, Andre was arrested and charged with murder. Well, now they have her remains. They have motive. They have a weapon. Yeah. And like I said before, my thought is they knew he had done something. But it seems as though, you know, it really took the

finding of her remains, for them to feel comfortable with arresting him and charging him with her murder. It was a difficult case for the prosecution because they couldn't say exactly how Andrine died because her body had been out in the elements for months. A.D. A.A. Stephen Speer believed Andre killed his wife because he felt jealous and emasculated. It took over three years for Andre to go to trial. Just three days before the trial started, Andre called his mother to tell her the truth about what happened. He then called Andreen's sister Cindy Johnson and admitted to killing his wife,

but said it was self-defense. And his defense team was shocked because, I mean, this was coming just days before the trial. Their case basically, you know, did a 180, just days before the trial. was set to begin, and Andre now said he wanted to testify. I'm thinking the defense is saying, hey, hey, could you have talked to us before you made all

these decisions? Could you have let us know this much earlier? So we could have had more time to plan. We've had three years. Jury selection started on January 17, 2022. The defense wanted to suppress certain evidence, such as a statement from Andrene's friend Carol Gondon. Bar, who said in court per CBS, many times she said, if anything happened to her, she would always say that Andre did it. Carol was the one who reported Andrine missing and walked through the house on the morning of March 1st, 2019. When Carol saw the blood and hair on the light switch, she said, I was thinking Andrine was dead. I think a lot of people would have. I think so too. But you could also see why the defense would want to try to suppress these types of statements. Andrine's mother,

Maureen Smith, also testified about how Gondbar informed her. Andrine was missing. She explained that she lived with the couple but was working the night Andrine disappeared. Both women said that Andrine was having an affair with a man in Jamaica and visited him a little over a month before she disappeared. So we're getting into the area of a possible motive, right? We have an affair. Andre's upset about it and he kills her. In opening statements, the prosecution told the jury about all the evidence found in

the home, including the bloody hammer with Andrine's DNA on it. Investigators found hundreds of searches on his phone, such as how long does DNA live outdoors. How long does it take? Just not a smart individual. Well, again, we talk about what people do. Do they not know that, you know, police are going to be able to find all these searches, whether it's on your phone or your home computer or whatever it is, or are they just thinking, I'm not going to get caught? Or are they not thinking about any of that? They're just seeing red. They're mad. And, they end up doing something and they're just not concerned about all these other things. I think you're right.

Now, the defense argued that Andrin's death was an accident that occurred during what they called a mutual fight. They asked for a verdict of manslaughter. Gibbs, what is a mutual fight? I mean, is this more grappling and then at some point he grabs a hammer? Well, to me, a mutual fight. is where, you know, both sides agree. Hey, we're going to fight. Yeah.

Which I'm sure you were involved in when you were younger. I know I was. You know, two kids said, you know, meet me on the playground after school. We're going to duke it out. That's a mutual fight. Yeah. I don't know how many husbands and wives say, do you want to fight? I want to fight.

Let's agree to fight. I just don't think it happens that way. I don't think so easy. In a physical manner. You're right. I mean, high school, yeah. Hey, I'll meet you out at three o'clock. Three o'clock high.

Yeah. Or like a boxing match or an MMA match, right? That's a mutual fight. Both people have agreed that combat is going to take place. Yeah. You're not saying, hey, honey, I'm going to see you at 8 o'clock in the living room and it's going down. Yes. Most domestic violence situations.

don't occur that way. No. It's one side instigating or committing the act against the other. It's not usually both sides saying, let's go at it. Cindy Johnson was the first witness. She testified about the phone call she received from Andre. Andre said he wanted Cindy and her mother to know the truth before the trial started. He explained how he got into an argument with Andrew.

because she was operating a business in her name only. He also described how he killed Andrine in their bedroom. Cindy Johnson testified per KSAT. He plunged her to the ground and used his foot to stop her. Andre told her that his daughter witnessed the murder. He put her to bed and went outside. According to Cindy, he said he couldn't believe what happened. He said, I can't believe she's dead.

He took off her clothes and burned them and put her body in the car. He took the body where it was found. I'm sure she was horrified hearing this. Yeah, it's going to be a very tough phone call. But also, you know, does that correspond in your mind, Gibbs, with an argument of self-defense? Because I'm not hearing self-defense in what he's telling Cindy on the phone. Yeah, I mean, it sounds like he has. had the opportunity to walk away from this argument.

He chose not to. He threw her down on the ground. Unless she's coming at him with a weapon, a knife or a gun or something like that, where does the self-defense come in? Yeah, because I don't hear anywhere in that story that he was in harm's way. No, I mean, if it's just hand-to-hand combat between the two of them, It seems like it's tough for Andre to make the self-defense claim. Well, he said he threw her on the ground.

And then stomped her. He could have stopped once he had her on the ground and walked away. The jury heard testimony about location data, phone calls, and text messages, including the argument that occurred on February 28, 2019. The jury was shown the items taken from the family vehicles, including the axe, hatchet, two cigarette lighters, work gloves, and garbage bags. According to KSAT, forensic pathologist Dr. James Fee,

testified that Andrine was likely killed with a claw hammer and was not stomped on, as André said. Maybe he was trying to make it sound less horrific. Less graphic. Graphic, yeah. Her remains had severe injuries consistent with being struck by a blunt object, including a fractured spinal cord, a broken rib, and a fractured jaw. But he could not determine which injury caused her death.

And again, it goes back to the fact that, you know, her remains had been out in the elements for, you know, a number of months. Andrine's cause of death was listed as homicidal violence, including blunt force trauma. A forensic serologist testified that the blood found on the handle and head of hammer found inside the home was and dreams one officer testified that he interviewed andre on march 1st and march 2nd of 2019 on march 2nd andre had bandages on his hands he said he was tending to rose bushes and got hurt unlikely story i'm not saying men don't you know do a little gardening but pretty convenient it's a pretty convenient story yes

Given what was found, you know, in the vehicle and what police thought you were out doing with that stuff. Earlier at trial, a gardener testified that he tended to the landscaping and the McDonald's owned no lawn equipment. So, you know, we said these were people that had some money. Yeah. They had a landscaper. Why is he out tending to rose bushes? Because he's really not. Andre spent over four hours testifying.

He admitted to killing his wife and disposing of her body. But he claimed self-defense. Well, I bet the defense hated that he was on the stand. I think they hated the fact that he flipped the script three days before the trial started. According to Andre, they were arguing because she was having an affair and tried to start a business in her name. Things reached a breaking point on February 28, 2019, when they met at a tax. preparation office. At trial, Andre repeated the story that he left home in the evening and went to a gas station to cool off. But Andrine was not asleep when he got home, as he had said previously,

she waited for him and the argument continued. It escalated to the point that he raised the possibility of divorce and splitting the business in half, which angered André. Andre said, as quoted by 48 hours, she became extremely irate at the thought of splitting the business and charges into the room to confront me. He said, so when she comes into the room, you know, I turned around and she comes like right up in my face. So at that moment, she spits in my face. So at that point, I grabbed her because she's like right in front of me. So I like 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. Andrine ran into the bathroom and turned on the lights. She saw her bloody face and attacked him. He said per KSAT,

when she was attacking me, I was basically trying to defend myself. Andre continued 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 grabbing her and tripping her. And then she, like, falls. And that's when I kicked 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. This guy says like way too often.

He sure did. As do my children. I get on them all the time. You don't have to say like in front of everything. I like what you're saying here. Like I get you, man. But these background footsteps that he heard, those were his daughter. Those footsteps were his daughter.

Andre said his wife was injured, but a lot when he put his daughter back to bed. When he returned 30 minutes later, she was dead. All right. So he makes his case of how it went down. but at the end of it, he says she was still alive, but he chose not to do anything to get her help, but just to pick his daughter up and stay away for 30 minutes, if that's how it even went down.

Oh, yeah. No, I get you. I don't know that I believe anything that is coming out of this guy's mouth, but I like the point that you're making. Even in this self-defense scenario that he's painting, there is a point in time. where it seems to me he could have called 911. He could have tried to get her help.

He could have scooped her up and put her in the car and taken her to the hospital. But to come back 30 minutes later and say, well, okay, she died. During cross-examination, the prosecution asked if he thought about calling 911. Andre said, 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 lying on the floor dead well you know how you do that you call 911 and they can send somebody to remove her well maybe just close the bedroom door i you know i think the prosecution asked a good question but he answers it in a way as though his only option

would have been to call 911 after she was already dead. He could have called 911 in the beginning of the 30 minute period. Absolutely. But he's only looking at it as though his option would have been to call at the end of the 30 minute period once he knew she was already dead. Because that's what aligns with his story in his head. Absolutely. The defense asked Andre why he killed his wife.

He claimed it was self-defense. The defense showed VIII. videos of Andrine powerlifting and carrying Andre up the stairs on her back. Andre said his wife could lift 300 pounds, which was twice his weight. Okay. So apparently this dude only weighed 150 pounds. I'm pretty sure I weighed 150 pounds when I was like in the eighth grade. I figured you would just born 150 pounds.

A little shy of it, but not too much. But why is the defense doing this? Well, they really want to try to push the self-defense. Yeah, because they have to try to make the jury see that Andrene was a serious threat to Andre's life. She could lift 300 pounds. She could have killed him with her bare hands. Right? That's what they have to try to get across to the jury.

Andre dumped his wife's body in the field where she was found. He removed her clothing and went home to burn it. As quoted by KSAT, Andre said, he thought at the time, I'll just get her out of the house. And then I'll just pretend I don't know where she is. It was quite a hassle. I remember there was a dead cow right where I ended up. I took the bags off. I was just going to leave the body there.

And for some reason, I don't remember why. But I just had this weird idea that I should probably just take her clothes. I'm thinking my life is over now. I'm guessing I would get blamed for this. No, I didn't think I was guilty, but knowing like the circumstance, there's obviously a dead person in your house and you're the only adult there. We had a good life for a while and everything is going good and basically this madness. Like, you know, I'm feeling really sad.

At the same time, I'm also like, why me? Why me? Why don't you cry me a freaking. river. I mean, we got to break some of this down. At one point, Gibbs, he says, it was quite the hassle. It was a hassle to have to try to dispose of his wife's dead body. Yeah, he's something. He really is. You know, I noticed, remember when he called her sister, Cindy? Yes. He doesn't know what he's saying because when he talked to her, he said,

I took, after I stomped her and realized she was dead, I took her clothes off there at the house and then put her body in the car and drove her. But now he's telling a little bit different story, right? That he didn't take her clothes off until he got to the site

where she was discovered. And my theory around that is always that, you know, people change their story because they're trying to craft it in a way that fits their story now. Yeah. Their narrative now. Sure.

Because now he's saying self-defense. So he's crafting the story to that angle. And then he's also saying, why me, why me? As though, you know, woe is me. Why would this happen to poor little old me? All I ever wanted was just to have a happy marriage. He was asked about the hammer. Andre explained that when investigators finished searching his home, he went back to the field with the hammer in a can of gas.

He said, my plan was to hit the person that caused this whole circumstance. So he is literally saying that he took the hammer out to the field after he'd already dumped Andrine's body and hit her. Why? Well, because he wants to show that the hammer was used after he defended himself. He has to explain how her blood. blood got on this hammer. And he does so by saying he drove out there just to hit her in the head with the hammer after she was already dead. Because I was so frustrated. Yes, that she did this to me. I'll show her. He testified per KSAT. During that time frame, my mind kind of shifted. At first,

I was just like feeling sorry about like the whole situation. I'm just thinking if only I knew what was going to happen. When I went back to the house, I would have probably just left the gas station and drove to Houston that night and never come back or something like that. And then I started feeling for myself like, man, why the hell does this shit have to happen to me of all people? Again, he is really into himself. Nowhere in there does he ever mention his daughter. No. Or his wife, right?

Right. Obviously he can't mention his wife because then that would shift the blame. back to him, why the hell did this have to happen to me? You allowed it to happen to you. Of all people. That's what he said. He said, I'm just thinking how my life is going great for several years. I get married.

I get a kid. You know, career wise, I'm doing good. I got promoted. Business is going good. And then just for it to turn on a dot from that kind of atmosphere to now, this whole crazy situation where basically. There's one dead person, and I'm probably going down for that. And then there's this little girl with autism that basically got no parents.

And then all the other people whose lives are going to get ruined because of this whole situation. Which is all your fault. Yeah, I mean, he does at least acknowledge his daughter here. But he is sticking with this kind of, woe is me. You know, this was such a horrible situation that happened to me. Yeah. that resulted in one person dead. That's how he's, you know, kind of spinning it in his mind.

He said at that point, I was just mad at the person that I believed had caused this whole situation and destroyed all of our lives. The pity kind of went away. And now it was just like pure rage and anger. I'm just pissed off at Andrew at that point. He was so angry that he poured gasoline on Andrew and set her body on fire. When the flames died down, he hit her by her body. body with a hammer. He said, I hit her in the face, the neck, and I just, like, hit her again

as I was walking away. And I'll be honest with you, Gibbs, I think some of what he's saying is true. When he says, I was just mad at the person that I believed had caused this whole situation and destroyed all of our lives. He says it was just pure rage and anger. I think all of that is true. I just think that all happened in the beginning. He's trying to paint it as if that all hit him after she was already dead. And I think it was the other way around. Right. Well, if anybody believes what he's saying, it sounds better that way.

If you can find your way to believe it. Oh, for, yeah, his self-defense angle, absolutely. Andre was asked why he bought a handgun on March 2nd. He explained, with all the situation of folks accusing me of stuff, my point was to get a firearm for protection. When asked about the hundreds of Google searches about decomposition, he said, a lot of this stuff is like curiosity,

just thinking about what the case would look like, basically. It's almost laughable. I mean, he's trying. I mean, yeah, okay, I'm curious about decomposition too. But even as a true crime podcaster, you're not going to find hundreds of Google searches about body decomposition. No. And so he's saying he was just curious, you know, about how long it would take and this and that.

When asked why he didn't reveal the location of Andrene's body, he said, I sort of expected she would be found. I was just surprised it took that long. I'm thinking she's probably going to be found in a day or two. To be honest, why would I make any efforts if I already. know she's dead, I'm not going to go out in the field and pretend and do some charade or something and pretend going out, doing fake searches with people and passing out flyers. Why would I do any of that? That's a screw up on top of what already happened. Maybe you want to tell the authorities where she is

to give some peace to her family. But if you notice, he doesn't ever really answer a question. He doesn't. He just spouts a lot of nonsense. He doesn't. He just spouts a lot of nonsense. sense and never really gets to the heart of the question. Finally, he was asked why he waited so long to confess. Andre said, when I got arrested for the case, I decided at that point, I was just going to dig in and wait until I went to court because I didn't really like trust the police or maybe the DA's office trying to twist words against me or try to manipulate that stuff. You had a lawyer.

You could have told your lawyer. Yes. who could have advised you on what to do. But we said, right, his defense team was blindsided as well. So obviously he did not do that. He said, I decided my best bet was to wait until I go to court and then I'll tell the truth. Because that worked out so well. I mean, everything else I said was a lot.

But once I get to court, Gibbs, that's when I'm going to tell the truth. In closing, the prosecution told the jury that Andre killed his wife because he, was enraged over her affair and thought she wanted her lover to kill him and she wanted to secretly open a business in her name. The defense argued that the case was not about murder. It was about what kind and degree of responsibility Andre had. According to KSAT, defense attorney John Converry argued that Andre took responsibility and confessed. Andrine was looking for a fight that night. He told the jury, it's Andrine, who charges after him in the bedroom. She's taunting him. Spitting in someone's face is an assault. She charges Andre. Is probably stronger than him. He has the

right to use proportionate force. Well, according to him, he threw it to the ground, walk away. Yeah, I think it's a good point that you made, which is it does sound like even in his story. There were points in time that he could have walked away without her ending up dead. He didn't do that. And is spitting in someone's face and assault? Yeah, maybe technically it is. But is it an assault that justifies the use of lethal force? And I would argue, no, absolutely not.

That's if she even did spit in his face. We don't know. Right. That's just he's saying that. Yeah. What about those, uh, talkers that spit as they talk. Close talkers?

Yeah. Yeah. They spray you as they talk. You can't just punch them. No. Is that an assault? No. You're like, hey, buddy.

You can just give them a tick tack and, you know, walk off. Defense attorney John Hunter also argued that the jury should exclude evidence found at the home on March 2nd because a deputy went inside without a warrant. After 11 hours of deliberation, the jury sent a note to the judge indicating they were deadline. A judge issued an Allen charge, ordering the jury to continue deliberations. On February 3rd, 2023, a jury found Andre McDonald guilty of manslaughter. On February 6th, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The judge told him that while he had no previous criminal record and had a good career in the military, nothing justified the death of his wife.

And he did it in front of his child. Andre showed no emotion and no remorse. The judge noted that he looked at his phone during trial and only paid attention when pictures of his wife's bones were shown to the jury. Why would he have his phone during trial? Why would his defense team say, yeah, you can look at your, I mean,

I would have been like, no phone. Pay attention. Pay attention. Well, it does sound to me as though the judge is saying, without actually coming out and saying that he should have gotten more. I don't want to speak for the judge, but I'm reading between the lines here. When he says nothing justified the death of his wife, I'm thinking he probably didn't

agree with the manslaughter verdict. With credit for time served, Andre will be eligible for parole after serving only seven and a half years in prison. A letter from his daughter, Elena, was read during. the victim impact statements. According to KSAT, the letter said to Andre McDonald, you killed my mother, you took away my life, and you broke my heart, and you hurt my feelings, and you will pay for what you did. You will be punished forever. Now, that might not mean anything to Andre McDonald, but I know for a fact if either one of my daughters said anything like that

to me. It would cut me to the core. It would crush you. It would crush me. But I'm also not a killer who has no feelings. And I'm not sure Andre has any remorse about what happened that night. It doesn't seem like it. Whether it's because he just doesn't have remorse or whether it's because he has caused himself to believe his story of events. And I think that will be a problem for him when he tries to get parole. Yeah, the only thing that he'll have going for him is that he admitted to killing his what. It was the jury, I think that really, I don't want to say they messed up because you can never say that about a jury. We weren't on it. We didn't hear everything. But it's, it's tough, right? This manslaughter charge. Obviously, they weren't convinced that he,

purposefully, maliciously killed his wife. They must have bought, at least to some degree, the self-defense angle. That's the only thing I can think of. The following day, it was reported that Andre's father was awaiting trial in Jamaica for the murders of two of his wives. Wow. Okay. Everton McDonald was ordered to stand trial for hiring someone to murder his wife. In July 2020, He was also charged with killing his first wife in May 2009. That trial was set for early 2024. I hate to say, it runs in the family. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Yeah, I mean, you can start to think about some of these things. On February 15th, 2020, Andre accepted a plea deal for the evidence tampering charge. The deal called for a five-year sentence, added to his 20-year sentence. So you get five years for tearing up a receipt, but 20 years for killing someone. Seems messed up, huh? It does seem messed up. Andrene's family filed a suit seeking damages against Andre.

The suit alleged that Andre killed André for financial gain. And on March 8th, 2024, a jury awarded $210 million in damages to Andrine's mother and her daughter. Andre's appeal was denied in August 24. You know, in the coming years, Gibbs, we'll probably see some more appeals from Andre continuing to argue self-defense. But, you know, even if his appeals are denied, this guy is not going to spend all that long in prison. Now, it's much longer than any of us would want to serve, right?

I don't want to spend a day in prison, but it doesn't seem to fit with him killing his wife. Yeah. And, you know, I just don't buy his story. I'll be honest with you. Yeah, I don't buy a story either. And part of it for me is that, you know, the story changed. It kept evolving. And it always seems to me that when the stories change to fit.

the evidence. That is someone trying to, you know, wriggle their way out of it, but knowing that they have to account for all of these different things. I have to account for the blood on the hammer. I have to account for, you know, this, this, this and this. And so the story keeps evolving until it encompasses all those things. He was so, so much about him, right? His responses was how it had impact on him. Yes. Poor me. I only mentioned his daughter once. Yeah. Had little to no regard at all for Andream or her family or her family in any of his statements. It was always, you know, little old poor me. And to be honest with you, I just don't believe it. But, you know, the jury heard all the evidence. They were obviously conflicted. They were deadlocked at one

point the judge said nope keep deliberating and they came back with what they came back i mean that's how our system works yeah i just think this guy's going to get out probably a lot sooner than he ever should but that's it for our story on andre macdonald we've got some voicemails gibs you want to check those out it's here hey this is ashie from batavia um i have to say i was a mic fan initially and then I was listening to the Tuki Williams episode is like 176 or something like that and Mike you you crap on crocodile dundee when Gibby's talking about that's not a nice this is a nice I have to say that's one of my favorite movies and I'm leaning more towards a giddy fan you guys have a great day keep your head on a swivel right love it now I think people

are just finding excuses to switch to Gibby I love Croc I don't think I was cracking on the movie. I think I was cracking on you. That's not a knife. This is a knife. Because I love that movie. Actually, you know, to be honest with you, I had a huge crush on the woman that was actually, I think, his wife in real life. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, she is. I had a, I had a huge crush on her when I was younger. Did you? Yeah. I can see that. Yeah. You know where Batavia is? Batavia? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Down towards Cincinnati? Maddie? Yeah. You said that was such conviction. I think it is. I don't know.

Hi, Mike. Hi, Givay. This is a vet from South Africa. I'm just calling to say thank you for doing such a great job on the podcast. I am absolutely addicted to you. I would also like to give a suggestion about, it's actually from India. It's a Netflix documentary that I saw. It's about Sheena Bora.

technically still unsolved with a lot of twists and turns. I would really like you guys with tape on that. But again, I just want to say thank you for all the great work. And I am team Giddy and team Mike because I just love the witty banter between the two of you. And it wouldn't be the same without one of you. Okay. Thank you. Keep safe and keep your own time.

Okay. Bye. All right. Awesome. Now, I probably should have put that on unsolved, but I don't think I've seen that one. I'll have to check it out. And maybe we should take a look at it. What if it's on Netflix, South Africa?

You know, sometimes different countries play different things. Uh-huh. Netflix, I mean. Right. And then there's whatever you have, which is not technically Netflix. It's like the generic version of Netflix. Yes, next flick. Next flick.

Yes. It's probably not on there, but, you know, we'll check. We'll find out. We had no mail bag this week. So that's it, buddy, for another. episode of true crime all the time. So for Mike, and give me, stay safe and keep your own time ticking.