Air Drive main convicted of manslaughter blames spouse for combat that led to her demise

They have been the image of the American dream. Andreen McDonald, described as a ”rising star,” and Andre McDonald, a serious within the U.S. Air Drive, have been a San Antonio energy couple who ran a profitable enterprise that funded a lavish life-style. Their seemingly excellent world got here crashing down within the winter of 2019 when Andreen all of the sudden disappeared.

”I bear in mind … like a panic set in,” says pal Mandy Corridor. ”Andreen will not be the individual to go take off someplace and nobody is aware of the place she is.”

Investigator Frank Stubbs tells ”48 Hours” correspondent Peter Van Sant, ”Her purse was nonetheless there, her keys have been on the counter and her autos have been nonetheless there.” Stubbs noticed one thing startling whereas looking the house. ”I discovered there was blood on the wall in an space that was type of odd, there was blood and hair on a lightweight change,” he says.

AN AMERICAN DREAM TURNED NIGHTMARE

Within the afternoon of March 1, 2019, after 29-year-old Andreen McDonald was reported lacking by her mom Maureen, a Bexar County sheriff’s deputy arrived on the McDonald dwelling in an upscale gated neighborhood in San Antonio.

Inside minutes, the deputy noticed that blood and hair on the sunshine change.  And within the yard, usually superbly landscaped, one other troubling clue: a random burn pile.

Maureen Smith: We discovered a … zipper from uh, Andreen’s shirt.

Peter Van Sant: It was Andreen’s shirt?

Maureen Smith: Mm hmm (affirms).

Andreen’s husband, Andre ”Andy” McDonald, advised the deputy that when he awakened, he acquired their daughter Alayna to high school earlier than reporting to Lackland Air Drive Base, the place he served as a cyber warfare analyst.

As soon as he realized Andreen was lacking, Andre rushed again dwelling. However he shortly headed out the door once more to behave on a hunch that Andreen, who suffered from migraines, may need gone to a close-by hospital for therapy.

Andre’s arrival to the hospital was captured by surveillance cameras, says lead investigator Frank Stubbs.

Frank Stubbs: On that tape … he is available in, you possibly can see him … asking for McDonald … and so they inform him … there’s any individual in Room 3 named McDonald.

Peter Van Sant: He arrives again to the home. What does he inform them?

Frank Stubbs: He tells them that she’s within the hospital.

However when the deputy known as the hospital, he found that the McDonald who had checked in was not Andreen McDonald.

Andre advised deputies that he rushed again dwelling earlier than seeing his spouse as a result of he had left his cellphone at dwelling and needed to let Maureen know he had discovered Andreen.

Sheriff Javier Salazar of the Bexar County Sheriff’s Workplace:

Sheriff Javier Salazar: There was some indication to him that she was there and injured to some extent.

Sadly, the foremost’s hunch turned out to be mistaken.

Maureen Smith: Once I heard, I used to be — oh, God, I used to be so upset … I used to be simply considering that she’s someplace that we will discover her.

And for Andreen’s mother-in-law, Jackie Horne, who lived in Florida, there was uncertainty.

Jackie Horne: I had known as Andreen’s cellphone a few thousand occasions already, saying, ”Andreen, no matter it’s, please, please, simply name me again.”

What involved everybody was the actual fact Andreen would by no means simply disappear. She was identified for her sense of accountability and dedication to her household and enterprise.

Peter Van Sant: How would you describe Andreen?

Maureen Smith: She is aware of what she desires. And he or she would by no means cease till she get it.

ANDREEN (video): I did are available in earlier than he did. Approach —

ANDRE: Proper, Andreen did defeat me, and she or he is so excited.

Andreen created an assisted residing enterprise in San Antonio known as Starlight Properties when she was simply 22. And, based on Andre’s shut pal Andrew Russell, Andre bankrolled her goals.

Andrew Russell: With the intention to begin the enterprise, Andre, he liquidated his 401K. … And .. he bought the BMW that he owned.

Jackie Horne: They have been doing so nicely. They have been doing every part that may make any mom proud.

Starlight Properties thrived, and below Andreen’s watch the tiny home-based enterprise remodeled right into a multimillion-dollar enterprise in simply seven years.

ANDREEN MCDONALD SPEECH: Once I began my assisted residing, I solely began with three residents … In the present day, Starlight Properties Assisted Residing, we’ve two areas within the San Antonio space.

Childhood pal, Mandy Corridor, says Andreen’s success was born out of humble beginnings.

Mandy Corridor: Rising up in Portland, Jamaica … we did not have loads. … And, so, we figured if we needed to get someplace in life … it could be in America. … That is the place the dream was.

Andreen’s dream of coming to America got here true at 19, when she met Andre. He was additionally a local of Jamaica, who on the time was a captain within the U.S. Air Drive. Andre had returned dwelling to Port Antonio, Jamaica, in Could 2009 to attend a funeral the place he met Andreen, who was 10 years youthful.

Peter Van Sant: Was there an attraction proper from the start?

Maureen Smith: She was excited when she met him. … excited in regards to the captain within the Air Drive. … they each determine for her to come back to America.

They married that July.

Jackie Horne: I used to be pleased to know he had met any individual that he may have a life with.

That life would quickly embrace a child lady, Alayna. Alayna was on the middle of Andreen’s world, which made her disappearance so perplexing, says Horne.

Jackie Horne: I do not suppose Andreen would simply rise up and stroll away and go away Alayna, and no one would hear from her.

That night, a forensic crime unit examined these stains within the toilet and confirmed the preliminary perception that they have been blood.

Peter Van Sant: Whilst you have been going by way of the home, was Andre there?

Frank Stubbs: Sure, he was.

Peter Van Sant: Did you see any indicators of bruising on his physique, any indicators of — of any accidents that maybe he’d been in a battle?

Frank Stubbs: Nothing that we may — that we may decide.

Investigators have been hoping Andre had some solutions. However he stated the final time he had seen his spouse was the evening earlier than, and so they stated what Andre described raised extra questions than solutions.

Frank Stubbs: He had advised them that they had come dwelling from the tax preparers workplace, and that that they had argued over the enterprise and … he went up the highway … acquired some fuel and simply cooled off.

Frank Stubbs: We have been capable of receive video proof of him going to the Shell station.

Andre stated when he returned dwelling, he and Andreen went to separate bedrooms.

However based on investigators, what Andre did not point out was the textual content alternate that occurred on the fuel station.

TATTOOS, TEXTS, AND A MARRAGE IN TURMOIL

For investigators, the textual content messages discovered on Andre’s cellphone revealed a wedding in turmoil, together with allegations of betrayal.

Peter Van Sant: Accusations of unfaithfulness in these textual content messages, right?

Frank Stubbs: That is right.

Peter Van Sant: We’ve got a printed copy. Would you thoughts studying these from his cellphone?

Frank Stubbs (studying the textual content): Andreen responds … ”When you convey up Aubyn once more, I’ll divorce you myself.” 

Aubyn Corridor, a businessman residing in Port Antonio, Jamaica, who based on investigators, was Andreen’s ex-boyfriend and, probably, her present lover.

In response to Andreen’s risk of divorce, Andre texts: ”I do not care in case you break up. You introduced Aubyn into our life.”

Aubyn dated Andreen when she was a youngster, say investigators. Andreen’s shut pal Mandy Corridor says the 2 rekindled their romance in 2017 throughout considered one of her philanthropic journeys to the island.

Mandy Corridor: Aubyn has all the time been that old flame … It wasn’t one thing Andreen acquired over, emotionally.

Corridor says they carried on their affair in secret till the summer time of 2018 when Andreen acquired two new tattoos: an preliminary ”A” tattooed on her hand and a date tattooed on her wrist.

Mandy Corridor: Andy was positively suspicious of what it meant.

With a suspicious thoughts, Corridor says Andre went to work to unravel this tattoo thriller.

Mandy Corridor: He went, and he did his personal digging.

It was on social media the place Andre found an attention-grabbing {photograph} of Aubyn branded with the identical precise tattoo that was additionally on Andreen’s hand.

And people numbers 14-3-76? They’re Aubyn’s birthday — day, month and 12 months.

Mandy Corridor: She advised me that she impulsively acquired the tattoo … she knew it was one thing silly to do.

Enraged, Corridor says Andre threatened divorce until Andreen reduce off contact with Aubyn, coated up her tattoos, and promised to by no means journey to Jamaica with out him.

Mandy Corridor: She did cowl up the tattoos. … She did not need to lose half of every part she labored exhausting for.

At Andre’s fortieth party, Corridor says by all outward appearances, the McDonalds appeared to be getting alongside. However simply 13 days later, on March 1, 2019, that is when Andreen disappeared.

The as soon as festive dwelling had remodeled into against the law scene as investigators labored the McDonald residence till 2 a.m. the subsequent morning. After they could not find Andreen’s cellphone, investigators checked to see if her bank cards or passport had been used — all lifeless ends.

Frank Stubbs: We got here up dry on — on all of those inquiries. … At this level, all we had was a lacking individual.

Inside hours of his spouse’s disappearance, Andre McDonald was an individual of curiosity. He stopped answering questions and lawyered up.

At 2 p.m. the subsequent day, an undercover investigator assigned to observe the McDonalds’ home seen that the storage had been broken and Andre was backing out of the driveway.

The investigator adopted him to a close-by gun store the place further investigators, who have been known as to the scene, noticed Andre buying a 9mm handgun and ammunition.

Frank Stubbs: We have been below the belief that he was buying a gun to most likely hurt himself.

When Andre walked again to his automobile, investigators confronted him in a violent takedown.

Investigators moved to detain the Air Drive main and turned him over to navy authorities for a psychological analysis.

In the meantime, investigators returned to the home with a search warrant and checked Andreen’s automobile. Whereas there, some objects caught their eye.

Peter Van Sant: There was a shovel. There was an ax.

Frank Stubbs: An ax. There was a — like a hatchet type of maul. There was … trash luggage, there have been gloves … And a few fuel cans.

And there was extra.

Frank Stubbs: Inside … the rubbish can in the home was … a receipt from Lowe’s that had been torn up.

Detectives have been capable of receive surveillance footage from the ironmongery shop —objects that have been bought the day after Andreen went lacking.

Frank Stubbs (watching surveillance video): That is Andre McDonald coming into the Lowe’s …he’ll buy a number of objects. … You may see him with a basket right here. You may see there is a shovel within the basket … And now, he comes up right here … there’s two fuel cans. … There is a maul —

Peter Van Sant: There’s the hatchet.

Frank Stubbs: — or a hatchet … This is that ax.

Peter Van Sant: What’s at play right here?

Frank Stubbs: It appeared to us that … now that his spouse was lacking. It pointed to the disposal of her physique.

Peter Van Sant: Have a look at that cart filled with ailing will, proper?

Frank Stubbs: Sure.

And within the nook of the storage, investigators would uncover what they are saying was essentially the most damning proof of all.

Frank Stubbs: We discovered a hammer and clothes … within the rubbish. …  The clothes that we discovered … gave the impression to be Andre’s clothes.

Investigators say they discovered traces of blood on the pocket of a pair of denims.

Peter Van Sant: What’s on the claw hammer that is of curiosity?

Frank Stubbs: The lab decided that there was the presence of … blood on … the hammer. … And the DNA that they … obtained from that — that blood pattern was from Andreen.

Frank Stubbs: We concluded that that hammer was most likely used because the homicide weapon.

Peter Van Sant: That is vital.

Frank Stubbs: Very vital.

ALL EYES ON MAJOR ANDRE MCDONALD

On March 2, 2019, 48 hours into the investigation, Stubbs believed he had found key proof that implicated Main Andre McDonald in his spouse’s disappearance. Investigators positioned these objects stained with Andreen’s blood contained in the household’s trash can. This lacking individual’s case had grow to be way more sinister.

Peter Van Sant: And it is pointing towards what?

Frank Stubbs: The proof … was pointing in direction of a homicide.

However there was an issue. Not one of the proof collected proved {that a} homicide had truly occurred.

Frank Stubbs: Turning a lacking individual’s case right into a murder case could be very troublesome.

On March 3, 2019, the Air Drive concluded its analysis of Andre and launched him. Civil authorities shortly moved in and positioned him below arrest.

Nevertheless it wasn’t for homicide. Main Andre McDonald was arrested for tampering with proof based mostly upon that torn receipt discovered on the home itemizing the objects he had bought from the ironmongery shop.

Andre’s arrest left his mom in a state of shock and disbelief.

Jackie Horne: I noticed that Andre was taken into custody. … And I simply collapsed. … I do know he liked Andreen. Why would he hurt her?

And for Andreen’s mom, Andre’s arrest left her head spinning.

Maureen Smith: Oh, God. Andre couldn’t harm Andreen. That is what I used to be saying. However who else?

Including to everybody’s sense of shock, confusion and suspicion was Andre’s resolution to cease cooperating with detectives.

Sheriff Javier Salazar: Andre’s face advised us … there was no approach in hell we have been going to interrupt him and make him inform us what had occurred.

Sheriff Salazar went on native TV asking for assist.

SHERIFF SALAZAR (information convention): We’re asking anyone with any data on her whereabouts to provide us a name …”

Quickly after, the neighborhood of San Antonio, together with household and associates got here out in droves to search for Andreen, together with a volunteer search get together fashioned by former Air Drive Airman Bobby Inexperienced.

Inexperienced took ”48 Hours” out to one of many areas the place he looked for Andreen.

Bobby Inexperienced (strolling with Peter Van Sant): Proper now, we’re behind a … hospital we thought … he may need taken her right here to a wooded space.

Peter Van Sant: As you stroll by way of right here … what are you on the lookout for?

Bobby Inexperienced: You’d have a look at … tree branches which have been pushed away, one thing that was reduce … contemporary, uh, tire tracks.

Peter Van Sant: What number of miles did you cowl?

Bobby Inexperienced: It was tons of of miles.

As search efforts continued, Andre McDonald was launched from jail on bond.

Together with his spouse absent, Andre took over the administration of Starlight Properties. Search efforts continued, though investigators say Andre did not participate. Days would finally flip into months of lifeless ends.

Because the seek for Andreen went on, investigators dug additional into the couple’s relationship, studying that that they had enterprise issues in addition to romantic ones.

In WhatsApp messages shared with associates, there are arguments over who actually was the brains behind their profitable enterprise. In a single, Andreen tells Andre: ”Starlight Properties is my thought, my dream, and wouldn’t have occurred with out my drive.” 

Again then, associates like Andrew Russell grew to become anxious in regards to the potential for violence.

Andrew Russell: And I’ve textual content messages from Andreen that is saying …  ”somebody goes to snap.”

Russell advised investigators that the couple’s confrontation turned bodily the evening earlier than a Christmas get together at their dwelling in 2018, the place the McDonalds acquired right into a bodily altercation.

Andrew Russell: So, after I went into the kitchen, Andy and Andreen have been grappling on the ground. … The subsequent morning they have been laughing about it. … I did really feel uncomfortable after that. I believed the scenario had grow to be poisonous.

Simply over two months later, Andreen’s blood was spilled in her dwelling, and she or he vanished. Lastly, on the night of July 11, 2019, 133 days after Andreen had gone lacking, there was a break within the case.

SHERIFF SALAZAR (information convention): About 7:30 this night, Bexar County Sheriff’s Workplace patrol deputies have been dispatched to this location for a report of some human — human stays that have been discovered …

Skeletal stays have been positioned in a farmer’s discipline simply six miles from the McDonald dwelling. Clifton Klabunde made the invention. Klabunde had taken out his tractor to retrieve a cow cranium that had been noticed proper alongside the tree line of the property.

Clifton Klabunde: I noticed the — what gave the impression to be a human cranium in entrance of the cow cranium.

Peter Van Sant: That should have been a shock.

Clifton Klabunde: A shock. Sure.

Officers decided that the human skeletal stays belong to Andreen McDonald.

Cindy Johnson | Andreen’s sister: I used to be at a church praying for Andreen. …  I could not do something. I broke down.

Maureen Smith: It hit us like a storm as a result of we nonetheless wasn’t considering like that.

Jackie Horne (crying, shaking her head) By no means. … I by no means noticed this coming.

Lower than 48 hours later, Andre McDonald could be arrested and charged together with his spouse’s homicide.

MAJOR ANDRE MCDONALD TAKES THE STAND

Andreen’s household had waited for justice for 4 years.

Cindy Johnson: It hurts … each evening earlier than I am going to my mattress, I take into consideration her.

Bexar County Assistant District Attorneys Steve Speir, Lauren Scott and Ryan Groomer would prosecute Andre McDonald for the homicide of his spouse, Andreen.

However the prosecution would face an uphill battle. Regardless of the proof discovered on the McDonald dwelling — the hammer and the blood — the prosecution couldn’t say for certain how Andreen died.

Lauren Scott: As a result of … Andreen’s physique … was out within the parts in that discipline for all of these days … health worker’s workplace was unable to specify what precisely brought about Andreen’s demise.

Peter Van Sant: And does that, Steven, complicate your preparation?

Steven Speir: No, it completely does. … we are saying he brought about her demise; nonetheless, we do not understand how.

Peter Van Sant: If Andre murdered his spouse, what do you imagine was his motive?

Steven Speir: I imagine it was largely as a result of he felt emasculated … she was such a rising star, had management of those companies … And I believe he was jealous of that.

Andre McDonald, who pleaded not responsible, was represented by among the prime protection legal professionals in San Antonio: John Convery, Zoe Russell and John Hunter.

Peter Van Sant: How would you reply to the notion that … what brought about all this was his … envy of his spouse’s success?

John Hunter: I — I do not see any proof of that.

Zoe Russell: Andre is a serious within the Air Drive. I imply, he is extremely profitable on his personal proper.

Main Andre McDonald had been below home arrest since April 2021. However days earlier than his trial was set to start on Jan. 17, 2023, Andre, who had remained silent about his spouse’s demise started telling a rare story, starting together with his personal mom.

Jackie Horne says her son advised her Andreen’s demise was an accident.

Jackie Horne: He checked out me and … he stated, ”Mother, I’ll inform you the reality” … and he began to cry.

McDonald then known as Andreen’s mom and sister, Cindy, who put the decision on speaker cellphone.

Peter Van Sant: [He] … gave the household, for the primary time, particulars of what occurred based on him.

Cindy Johnson: Sure, based on him. Sure.

It was a cellphone name that surprised his protection crew.

Peter Van Sant: Was it surprising to you that he had finished this?

John Hunter: Surprising’s a great phrase for it, yeah. … The complete context of the case modified.

Zoe Russell: His finest thought could be to inform his story in court docket.

Andre would get to inform his story, however not earlier than the prosecution laid out its case in opening statements.

STEVEN SPEIR (in court docket): Contained in the trash bin within the storage … a hammer. That hammer has blood on it. It’s the sufferer’s blood.

The protection contended that Andreen’s demise was an accident.

JOHN CONVERY (in court docket): This isn’t a homicide case. … it’s a case in regards to the diploma and degree of accountability … With proof of accident. A mutual combat. All of which occurs within the blink of a watch.

The prosecution additionally known as forensic pathologist Dr. James Feig who testified that Andreen’s skeletal stays had extreme accidents in line with being struck by a blunt object. She had a fractured spinal wire, a damaged rib and a break up jaw.

However the pathologist couldn’t decide what precisely had brought about Andreen’s demise.

DR, JAMES FEIG (in court docket):  So, the way in which that I’ve phrased her explanation for demise is homicidal violence, together with blunt drive trauma.

After six days of testimony and 33 witnesses, the prosecution rested. The protection had just one witness.

JOHN CONVERY (in court docket): Protection calls Main Andre McDonald.

Andre McDonald described the night of Feb. 28, 2019. Whereas on the tax preparer’s workplace together with his spouse, he found that Andreen had began a brand new enterprise a 12 months earlier with out his data.

JOHN CONVERY (in court docket): What did that signify to you?

ANDRE MCDONALD: Principally that meant to me just about that she was robbing me.

After a heated argument that night, McDonald says he left the home to chill off at that fuel station.  McDonald says they continued their argument over textual content. And when he returned dwelling, he raised the potential of divorce and splitting their enterprise in half.

ANDRE MCDONALD (in court docket): She grew to become extraordinarily irate on the considered … splitting the enterprise. … and fees into the room to confront me.

ANDRE MCDONALD: So, when she comes into the room, , I rotated and she or he comes like proper up in my face. … So at that second … she spits in my face … So at that time … I grabbed her, as a result of she’s like proper in entrance of me, so I like grabbed her head … I believe we had like a conflict of heads, and I believe it opened up like a reduce someplace on her face.

Andre stated Andreen bumped into the toilet and turned on the lights. When Andreen noticed her bloody face within the mirror, Andre claims she attacked him.

His testimony could also be disturbing to some.

ANDRE MCDONALD (in court docket): When she comes, she’s like throwing like some punches, so I am attempting to love duck all the way down to and like preserve my head, my face … from getting hit with the blows. I bear in mind like grabbing her and like tripping her … After which she like falls … and that is after I kicked her like twice … The — the second kick, I believe I heard like some sort of wheezing … after which additionally like within the background I may hear like some footsteps.

The footsteps of their younger daughter, Alayna. Andre stated he left to place Alayna again to mattress, and when he returned about half-hour later, his spouse was lifeless.

ANDRE MCDONALD (in court docket): I grew to become like fairly frantic at that time as a result of … , she’s lifeless on the ground.

STEVEN SPEIR: You by no means thought I have to name …

In cross-examination, Prosecutor Speir requested if Andre had thought of calling 911.

ANDRE MCDONALD: I by no means thought of calling anyone to revive a lifeless individual. … My function at that time was merely to get her out of the home in order that my 7-year-old daughter would not see her mom laying on the ground lifeless.

After placing Alayna again to mattress, Andre stated he dumped Andreen’s physique within the discipline, stripped her bare and returned dwelling to burn her clothes which left that burn patch within the yard.

However what about Andreen’s blood on the yellow hammer? On the face of it, the proof does not sq. with Andre’s account of an accident.

Andre had an evidence for that. He testified that when investigators completed looking his dwelling, he went again to the sector earlier than daybreak, offended and armed with the yellow hammer, a can of gasoline and a plan.

ANDRE MCDONALD (in court docket): My plan was to hit the individual that … brought about this entire circumstance.

STEVEN SPEIR: You felt it was her fault, proper?

ANDRE MCDONALD: It is completely her fault.

STEVEN SPEIR: What did you do with gasoline?

ANDRE MCDONALD: I poured it on her after which I used the — the lighter and set it on fireplace.

Andre stated when the flames subsided, that is when he attacked his spouse’s corpse with the yellow hammer.

ANDRE MCDONALD (in court docket): I hit her within the face, the neck. … and I similar to hit her once more as I used to be strolling away. 

STEVEN SPEIR: Why that final blow?

ANDRE MCDONALD: As I used to be strolling away?

STEVEN SPEIR: Sure.

ANDRE MCDONALD: I suppose I used to be nonetheless offended after I was strolling away.

After that grotesque testimony, the protection shifted gears and tried to refocus the jury on their concept of the crime. And for the primary time, the protection introduced up why Andre acted the way in which he did that evening.

JOHN CONVERY (in court docket): Have you ever all the time believed you acted in self-defense?

ANDRE MCDONALD: Sure, I’ve all the time believed that from the very starting.

The protection performed movies exhibiting Andreen giving her husband a piggyback journey and figuring out.

JOHN CONVERY (in court docket):  Would you describe Andreen as a really sturdy, highly effective lady?

ANDRE MCDONALD: Sure. I’d.

Based on Andre, his spouse may carry as much as 300 kilos.

JOHN CONVERY: When she attacked you, have been you in worry?

ANDRE MCDONALD: Sure, I used to be in worry of, , being harmed throughout that entire scenario.

STEVEN SPEIR: They need you to neglect and disrespect about all his actions.

Then got here closing arguments.

STEVEN SPEIR (in court docket): Protection counsel stated that that is self-defense, Of us, this isn’t self-defense. … It is time to maintain this man answerable for what he did. And it is time to discover him responsible of homicide.

JOHN CONVERY: Andre McDonald didn’t deliberately or knowingly homicide Andreen McDonald. … He acted in self-defense. … and your obligation and your obligation is to say not responsible. Thanks.

After six days of testimony, the jury acquired the case. Roughly 11 hours into their deliberation, the jury despatched a notice to the choose.

John Convery: That claims, ”we’re hopelessly deadlocked.”

A SHOCKING VERDICT

After nearly 11 hours of deliberating, the jury was deadlocked— unable to determine if Andre McDonald was responsible of homicide, manslaughter or not responsible by self-defense. Andreen’s sister, Cindy Johnson, was perplexed. 

Cindy Johnson: All the things was stated within the courtroom. All of the proof have been — have been there. … He confessed on the stand what he did … They noticed his demeanor. … I do not know what was the issue.

Brandon Medellin: I voted for homicide. And I noticed that we have been six and 6.

Rudy Ruiz: At no level did any juror suppose that he was harmless or that it was self-defense.

For jurors Brandon Medellin and Rudy Ruiz, the issue was wording.

Brandon Medellin: Trigger folks actually picked aside the definitions of homicide and recklessness.

The jury of six girls and 6 males spent hours discussing whether or not Andre had deliberately murdered Andreen or if he had recklessly killed her— making it manslaughter. Homicide carries a life sentence; manslaughter as much as 20 years.

Brandon Medellin: I believe most of us may agree that no matter occurred it was reckless. He left her on the bottom, and he didn’t render help. … Now, the trick was to try to persuade the opposite jurors that it was homicide.

However because the deliberations continued, among the jurors had been swayed, with 9 now for manslaughter. Medellin says the largest think about swaying the vote was Andre McDonald’s testimony.

Brandon Medellin: There was so little proof … And so, lots of people imagine, as a result of we do not know the rest apart from what he has advised us, that we’ve to take what he advised us.

And he was truly capable of persuade quite a lot of the jurors.

Randy Ruiz: And we had that one juror that he stated, ”Nicely, I’ve kicked somebody, and I by no means supposed to kill them.”

Medellin, Ruiz, and a 3rd juror have been the staunch holdouts for homicide.

Rudy Ruiz: Nobody was going to vary anybody’s thoughts.

The choose then invoked what’s known as an Allen Cost— urging the holdout jurors to rethink the proof and attain a unanimous resolution. After one other hour of deliberations: a verdict.

JUDGE FRANK CASTRO: Mr. McDonald, please stand together with your counsel. … To the depend of homicide, charged within the indictment, the jury finds the defendant, not responsible of the offense of homicide. As charged within the indictment: responsible — responsible of the offense of manslaughter. 

Andre McDonald was discovered not responsible of homicide, however responsible of the lesser cost: Manslaughter. Andreen’s sister was in disbelief.

Cindy Johnson: Manslaughter. After he spoke with no regret, no love, nothing in any respect, and used hammer, stripped her garments, throw gasoline on her, burned her, and so they gave him manslaughter … That is loopy. I’m going to battle with this thought till the day I die.

The prosecution had a combined response to the decision.

Steven Speir: I used to be disillusioned. … Nonetheless … the jury … rejected his self-defense argument and held him accountable for no less than one thing.

For the protection, Andre McDonald could not have walked out a free man, however —

John Hunter: It is a win. … Regardless of how I imagine that this can be a self-defense case. I do respect the end result.

Andreen’s finest pal, Mandy Corridor.

Mandy Corridor (crying): He is there to inform his story. He is there to make up no matter he desires to make up. …  She — she does not — she will be able to’t try this as a result of he took that away from her.

Cindy Johnson now sees that cellphone name from Andre earlier than the trial in a complete new gentle: as a calculated ploy to deflect blame.

Cindy Johnson: It is 4 years. It took him 4 years for him to acknowledge that he did what he did. … After which swiftly … he is reaching out to us. … To allow us to suppose that he is being accountable. … He did not imply something, he’s mendacity. … All a lie. It is all a lie.

After the decision, Sheriff Salazar reached out to Andreen’s father, a retired member of the Jamaican Military, with an uncommon providing.

SHERIFF SALAZAR (post-verdict information convention): I did current Mr. Anderson with a present. I requested my deputy to take away {the handcuffs} from— from Andre as they put him again into the cell. And I gave— I introduced these cuffs to— to Mr. Anderson.

PAUL ANDERSON: I need to inform you that we actually recognize it. … Thanks very a lot. God bless you (shakes the sheriff’s hand).

Sheriff Salazar: I needed them to really feel some type of connection to no less than sending him away to — to jail.

For Andreen’s mom, nothing about this tragedy is sensible — her daughter and the attractive life she had created are gone. Andreen McDonald, who got here to America, grew to become a profitable entrepreneur and located her function in serving others. Sadly, the enterprise she created is now closed.

Maureen Smith: I miss her very a lot. Most occasions after I take into consideration her, I simply, it is like I really feel like giving up.

And in these occasions, Maureen and Cindy lean on each other.

Cindy Johnson: We’re blessed to have one another to take us by way of this unhappy journey. Um, after I’m weak, my mother is powerful. When my mother is weak, I’m sturdy.

Maureen Smith: We’ve got to be sturdy for Alayna.

Alayna— now 12-years-old— is the glue that binds this fractured household. A household that also contains Andre’s mom, Jackie— although she is principally left with the reminiscences and the ache of what as soon as was.

Jackie Horne (crying as she appears to be like at a photograph of Andre, Andreen and Alayna): I believe I harm for Alayna greater than I harm for everybody. No little one ought to ever should undergo what she went by way of.

Andreen’s mom and sister are actually elevating Alayna.

Cindy Johnson: It is bittersweet as a result of we’ve Alayna.

Maureen Smith: Alayna reminds us a lot of Andreen.

Andre McDonald was sentenced to twenty years in jail.

He’s interesting his manslaughter conviction.

Peter Van Sant

Correspondent, ”48 Hours”