Missing Texas mom feared Air Force major husband would kill her, affidavit says
A Texas businesswoman who vanished last week told a friend "many times" that if she ever went missing, it would be because her husband had killed her, according to an arrest affidavit. CBS affiliate KENS-TV reports Andreen McDonald, 29, was reported missing when she didn't show up for work Friday at a local assisted living facility she owns, according to the Bexar County Sheriff's Office.
Her husband Andre McDonald, a 40-year-old major in the Air Force, was arrested Sunday on evidence tampering charges.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said investigators executed a search warrant on the couple's home and uncovered "disturbing" items including a shovel, an ax, work gloves and gasoline — which led them to believe McDonald was planning to dispose of a body, the station reports. Salazar said they believe Andreen McDonald is "no longer living" and that the couple's 6-year-old daughter, who is autistic and mostly non-verbal, may have witnessed the crime.
Andre McDonald is reportedly a suspect in the disappearance. The evidence tampering charges stem from allegations that he tore up receipts for the items found in the home, KENS reported.
An affidavit filed by the Bexar County Sheriff's office includes interviews with two witnesses who went to her home Friday when she didn't show up at her gym, as she usually did, reports the San Antonio Express-News. Jerry Garcia, a sheriff's spokesman, told the paper that the witnesses referred to in the affidavit are "very close" friends of the missing woman. The document says the two women entered the home through an unlocked back door when no one answered and found blood and hair on a light switch.
"The first witness said that the missing person told her many times that if she ever went missing, it would be because the suspect killed her," the affidavit says.
The women said they also saw what appeared to be a fire on the ground in the backyard and a zipper in the fire. One of the women left to pick up Andreen McDonald's mother, and when she returned, they saw Andre McDonald leaving the house and called police.
When deputies responded, they reportedly talked to Andre McDonald, who at first told them that his wife was being treated at a hospital. When investigators called the hospital he referenced, however, they found she wasn't a patient there. McDonald then told deputies he didn't know where his wife was and said they had gotten into a fight the night before, according to the document. McDonald then told the detective he didn't want to talk to him and asked for an attorney.
The deputy saw what he believed was blood in the master bedroom, the affidavit says.
On Saturday, March 2, investigators executed a search warrant at the home and found more apparent blood in a car and confirmed the blood in the bathroom was human. Investigators found Andre McDonald had purchased a shovel, an ax and a hatchet, as well as heavy duty large plastic garbage bags, gloves and gas cans. Investigators found a fire pit that had recently been used to destroy papers and other items, the document says. Investigators found coveralls and a claw hammer with brush on it in a trash can as well as the shovel, ax, hatchet and garbage bags in a car — the newly-purchased shovel had dirt on it and appeared to have been recently used, according to the affidavit.
Andre McDonald was booked on a charge of evidence tampering Sunday afternoon because he had allegedly torn up a receipt for those items, which were recently purchased, reports the San Antonio Express-News.
As he was led away by deputies Sunday afternoon, McDonald told reporters, "I love my daughter, I love my family, that's it."
Authorities were using cadaver dogs to search for Andreen McDonald's body near Wilderness Oaks, a rugged area north of San Antonio with many creek beds and drainage ditches, the station reports.
"Quite frankly, there may be a body out laying 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," Salazar said.
