As friends and Bexar County sheriff’s deputies were beginning to search for San Antonio businesswoman Andreen McDonald at her home, her husband was at a Baptist Hospital emergency room looking for his wife, a former front desk worker testified Tuesday.
Andre McDonald, 43, is on trial for murder and tampering with evidence, accused of killing his wife of nine years, Andreen, 29. She was reported missing March 1, 2019, after friends and co-workers said she did not show up for a morning workout or to her assisted-living business.
McDonald has pleaded not guilty.
Brandon Gordon was working the ER desk at a Baptist Hospital facility on U.S. 281 North around 1 p.m. March 1, 2019, when McDonald walked up to his window, he told the jury Tuesday.
“He came in looking for his wife. I asked him for the last name. (He said) McDonald,” Gordon told the jury.
Prosecutor Lauren Scott shows Bexar County Deputy Filiberto Gonzalez a photo on Tuesday during the trial of Andre McDonald, who is accused of killing his wife, Andreen McDonald, in February 2019. Gonzalez was called to do a welfare check on Andreen by her friends and mother on March 1, 2019.
Billy Calzada / Staff photographer
On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio murder trial: Andre McDonald admitted stomping wife to death
When the man told McDonald that there was a woman with that name there, he said McDonald “kinda stared off at me, went to the door and left.”
The jury was shown video of Andre McDonald walking into the facility and walking up to the desk. The exchange with Gordon lasted about 20 seconds.
Andreen’s burned remains were found July 11, 2019, nearly four months after she was reported missing, at a ranch on Specht Road near Camp Bullis, about 6 miles from the couple’s far North Bexar County home.
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Air Force Reserve Maj. Andre McDonald takes a break during the second day of his trial for the murder of his wife, Andreen McDonald, whom he is accused of killing in 2019.
Billy Calzada / Staff photographer
Jurors spent most of Tuesday morning listening to testimony from the first deputy who responded to a welfare check regarding a missing person on March 1, as well as the crime scene investigator who took more than 600 pictures of the couple’s upscale home on Solitude Cove.
Deputy Filiberto Gonzalez testified that Andreen’s mother and three friends were “frantic and scared, all talking at the same time” while he was attempting to get statements from them regarding Andreen.
On ExpressNews.com: Jury not in room as murder trial testimony in San Antonio exposes affair by victim Andreen McDonald
He told the jury that the women took him to the master bathroom, where they had observed apparent blood and hair on a light switch, as well as a spot on the floor in that room that had smears that looked as if something had been cleaned up; and to the backyard where burn piles were observed.
Gonzalez then said he went to the garage, where he saw the victim’s Porsche SUV parked inside and a Chevrolet Malibu parked in the driveway that sparked his curiosity because the tires had a white substance on the edges. Also, there was a dent on the back of the car that “led me to believe the car went off road and backed into something,” he said.
After these developments, Gonzalez said he contacted a supervisor for further investigation by the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office’s criminal investigation division.
Defense lawyer John Hunter questions Bexar County Deputy Kristen Schroeder, who responded to a missing person call on the day that Andreen McDonald went missing in 2019. McDonald’s husband, Andre McDonald, is on trial for her death.
Billy Calzada / Staff photographer
“It concerned me a lot with everything I saw and was told to me, so I wanted to make sure it was investigated properly,” he told the jury.
Later Tuesday, jurors heard from Tony Kobryn, an investigator with the BCSO who worked on a cellphone extraction that revealed arguments via text and WhatsApp between the couple regarding Andreen McDonald’s alleged affair with an old boyfriend in Jamaica, and the limited liability company she formed without her husband, two details jurors heard about during the opening of the trial.
Jurors also heard from an employee of and saw video from a Lowe’s home improvement store that showed Andre McDonald shopping for supplies on March 2, 2019. Receipts shown to the jury document that he bought two 5-gallon gas cans, a shovel, log splitter, an ax, leather gloves and a box of contractor trash bags.
Testimony continues Wednesday in the 399th District Court, Judge Frank Castro presiding. If convicted, McDonald faces up to life in prison.
ezavala@express-news.net