402: Andreen McDonald: A Millionaire Vanishes (From 48 Hours)

Summary

Episode 402: Andreen McDonald - A Millionaire Vanishes (From 48 Hours)

True Crime Obsessed delves deep into the chilling case of Andreen McDonald, a successful entrepreneur whose sudden disappearance led to a labyrinthine investigation filled with suspicion, betrayal, and ultimately, tragedy. Hosts Jillian Mazzavali and Andreen McDonald guide listeners through the intricate details of this true crime story, blending factual recounting with their unique brand of humor and empathy.

Background: The Golden Couple

Andreen McDonald, a 22-year-old visionary from Jamaica, moved to the United States with her husband, Andre—a seasoned cyber warfare analyst in the Air Force. Together, they founded Starlight Homes, an assisted living business that skyrocketed into a multimillion-dollar enterprise within a few years.

Andreen McDonald [00:22]: "She was the brains of the operation. Andre liquidated his 401K and sold his BMW to fund her dreams. But the relationship was more transactional than loving."

Their union, while outwardly successful, was marred by underlying tensions. Andre's substantial investment contrasted sharply with Andreen's relentless drive and ambition, setting the stage for future conflict.

The Disappearance: A Perfect Storm

On March 1, 2019, Andreen failed to attend her routine morning activities—missing both her gym session and her office. Concerned, her employer took note, prompting her concerned mother, Maureen, to file a missing person report.

Peter Van Sant [03:30]: "The biggest issue was her phone was missing, her purse was still there, keys on the counter, and her vehicle remained unchanged."

The initial investigation revealed a scene unsettlingly untouched: personal belongings were left in place, suggesting no immediate signs of abduction or foul play.

Investigation: Unraveling the Clues

As days turned into weeks, the investigation began to cast suspicion on Andre. Surveillance footage captured him purchasing items from Lowe's, including a shovel, ax, and gas cans—all tools ominously linked to potential criminal activity.

Andreen McDonald [24:11]: "His hood was up, and he was clearly trying to avoid the cameras. He was buying stuff from the 'murder aisle.'"

Further evidence emerged when blood consistent with Andreen's was found on a hammer and traces on Andre's clothing. However, the absence of Andreen's body complicated the determination of cause and manner of death.

Andreen McDonald [26:03]: "There was blood on the hammer, DNA from Andreen, but without her body, we can’t definitively prove how she died."

Andre's subsequent actions—seeking legal counsel and exhibiting erratic behavior—heightened suspicions of his involvement in Andreen's disappearance and possible death.

The Trial: A Twisted Narrative

During the trial, Andre provided his account of the events, portraying the incident as a mutual altercation spiraling out of control.

Andre [44:25]: "At the moment, she spat in my face. So I grabbed her head; I think we had a clash of heads."

Despite his admission of physical confrontation, the prosecution struggled to definitively link him to manslaughter due to the lack of a definitive cause of death. They posited that Andre's jealousy and inability to cope with Andreen's burgeoning success led to his violent outburst.

Andreen McDonald [38:16]: "Andre resents her success. He hates seeing her thrive."

The defense argued for manslaughter, suggesting that the death resulted from a spontaneous and uncontrolled fight rather than premeditated murder.

Verdict: Justice Deferred

After a mere 11-hour deliberation upon recapping the evidence, the jury found Andre not guilty of murder but convicted him of manslaughter, citing insufficient evidence to support the more severe charge.

Jillian Mazzavali [53:53]: "Andre’s actions and his lack of remorse really show his true colors. It's shocking that nine jurors believed his story despite the overwhelming evidence against him."

Andre received a 20-year prison sentence for manslaughter, in addition to five years for tampering with evidence. Despite a $2.1 billion wrongful death civil suit awarded to Andreen's family, the funds remain inaccessible.

Andreen McDonald [56:35]: "The family's wrongful death suit awarded over $2 billion, which they'll never see, but at least Andre's appeals keep getting denied."

Aftermath: A Legacy in Ruins

Starlight Homes, once a beacon of success and compassion, was forced to shut down, leaving a void in the community it served. Andreen's family, devastated by her loss and the legal outcome, continues to navigate life without her presence.

Andreen McDonald [56:57]: "So after six days, the jury gets the case. 11 hours into deliberations, they send a note to the judge saying that they're hopelessly deadlocked. So the options are either murder, manslaughter, or not guilty by self-defense."

The case highlights the challenges in the judicial system when concrete evidence is lacking, even in the face of compelling circumstantial indicators. It underscores the profound impact of personal relationships gone awry and the enduring pain inflicted on families caught in the crossfire.

Conclusion: Reflections and Lessons Learned

Hosts Jillian Mazzavali and Andreen McDonald express their profound sorrow and frustration over the miscarriage of justice in this case. They emphasize the importance of accountability and the dire consequences of unchecked jealousy and control within personal relationships.

Jillian Mazzavali [58:21]: "It all just sucks. It's what we say every single time when a man kills a woman for whatever stupid reason, and the kids are the ones that suffer."

The episode serves as a poignant reminder of the complexities surrounding domestic disputes and the crucial need for comprehensive evidence in securing justice. It also highlights the emotional toll such cases take on all involved, leaving a lasting scar on the community and the victim's loved ones.

Notable Quotes:

• Andreen McDonald [00:22]: "She was the brains of the operation. Andre liquidated his 401K and sold his BMW to fund her dreams. But the relationship was more transactional than loving."

• Peter Van Sant [03:30]: "The biggest issue was her phone was missing, her purse was still there, keys on the counter, and her vehicle remained unchanged."

• Andreen McDonald [24:11]: "His hood was up, and he was clearly trying to avoid the cameras. He was buying stuff from the 'murder aisle.'"

• Jillian Mazzavali [53:53]: "Andre’s actions and his lack of remorse really show his true colors. It's shocking that nine jurors believed his story despite the overwhelming evidence against him."

• Andreen McDonald [56:35]: "The family's wrongful death suit awarded over $2 billion, which they'll never see, but at least Andre's appeals keep getting denied."

---

This detailed summary encapsulates the key elements of the episode, providing a comprehensive overview for those who haven't listened while highlighting significant moments and quotes to enhance understanding and engagement.

Transcript

[Jillian Mazzavali]

On January 10th, you're gonna rob that place and I'm gonna do it with you. Don't miss den of thieves two.

[Patrick Hines]

And the top goes gangster.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Starring gerard butler and o'shea jackson jr. You're not a killer. I am. Den of thieves two. Rated r. January 10th. Julian pezzoli.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yes. Patrick Hines.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Can we give them the breaking news? I mean, it's maybe it's a little bit of old news, but it's also just still exciting news.

[Andreen McDonald]

You're talking about merch.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know we're talk. The merch store fam went live for everybody yesterday. So if you didn't know, we have all this brand new. Really great. We tried it all on. We've got blankets, we've got candles, we've got beanies.

[Andreen McDonald]

We have like a long sleeve tee that is so comfortable and cozy.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And she's burying the lead. It's a Jillian's Law T shirt. We've never had one of these before. It's like, oh my God.

[Andreen McDonald]

It's like, it makes me really shy. But the actual, like the actual fabric of the shirt, like a long sleeve shirt. I was like, oh my God, it looks so good.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And it's my favorite piece of new merch. It's such a cool design. Check out the don't be garbage stuff. We got bunnies on that stuff now.

[Andreen McDonald]

It's really cute.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

The blankets are so cozy. I'm totally obsessed. We opened it for Patreon a week ago. Patreon. You can check your email for that 10 discount code. But for everybody else for the next couple of weeks or until it sells out. The merch store is now open for everybody.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yep.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

So just go to truecrimeobsess.com and click on the merch link.

[Andreen McDonald]

Enjoy it, have fun and put your.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Pictures in the group. We want to see what you're wearing.

[Andreen McDonald]

We totally want to see.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

That's my favorite part.

[Andreen McDonald]

The hoodies are so comfortable.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Oh God, they're so comfortable. We did a have a chip and live hoodie.

[Andreen McDonald]

I know. My mom is like, you what?

[Jillian Mazzavali]

We need all of your mom's expression.

[Andreen McDonald]

It's like, yeah, girl, you're on a shirt, baby. Welcome to showbiz, kid.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I just can't today.

[Andreen McDonald]

I'm.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I'm like, it's one of the. I just, I don't want to give anything away, but I just can't. And it's. This is going to be a tough one.

[Andreen McDonald]

We're going to do it for Andreen because she fucking deserves it. But everyone else can go Kick her off can go to hell.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Straight to hell.

[Andreen McDonald]

You know what? Scram.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Hi. Julian Mazzavali.

[Andreen McDonald]

Hi. Patrick Hines.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Oh, fam. Join the Facebook group. Hey, the Facebook group is such a fun place to hang out.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

59,000 people in, give or take. You know, Sasha, our moderator, takes it really seriously. Makes it a very safe space. A very fun space to be. People are in there all the time making friends. There's so many splinter meetup groups now.

[Andreen McDonald]

There's so many.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Salt Lake City is doing their Friendsgiving. There's the NorCal. They're always doing stuff. I know they were trying to make one happen. Like in Raleigh and Charlotte. Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

Okay, great.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

So get in there. Find your people. It's the true crime obsessed podcast discussion group. I'm in there. You're in there. We're in there all the time. Steve's in there.

[Andreen McDonald]

Answer the questions before you come in.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Yeah, don't forget to answer the questions, because otherwise, Sasha won't let you in. And it's Sasha's world. We just live in it.

[Andreen McDonald]

And then you're just gonna be in.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

The queue forever fore wondering why you're not in there having all the fun.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Ask the questions. Answer the questions. What are we talking about today, girl?

[Andreen McDonald]

Okay, so this is our. One of our bonus episodes that we do. It's the 21st one of the year, I think.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Whoa, crazy. The first year, we only did 10.

[Andreen McDonald]

I know.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And now we're up to 21.

[Andreen McDonald]

Can't help ourselves.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know.

[Andreen McDonald]

This is an episode of 48 Hours. It's called Andreen. A millionaire vanishes.

[Peter Van Sant]

She would be at the gym at 5:30 in the morning, in the office by 8 on March 1. They had no indication she would be late. She didn't show up for work. This was very significant to her employees. They called the gym and found out she never showed up to the gym, which is like a religion to her.

[Andreen McDonald]

After calling Andreen repeatedly, just going to voicemail, you know, the anxiety starts setting in, like I start panicking. For Angie to be missing is not possible.

[Peter Van Sant]

The biggest issue for me were the fact that her phone was missing, her purse was still there, her keys were on the counter, and her vehicles were still there.

[Andrew Russell]

If her vehicle's there, her purse is there, her keys are there. If she's missing, is there a concern of an abduction?

[Peter Van Sant]

Well, the deputies obviously didn't know what to think at this point. They were just beginning the investigation.

[Andreen McDonald]

So it's March 1, 2019. Peter Van Sant is reporting.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Hey, Pete.

[Andreen McDonald]

Anyone was wondering, but you know, we dive.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

He's no Andrea Canning, you know what I mean? But he gets the job done.

[Andreen McDonald]

We dive right in here. It's March 1, 2019. Andreen is reported missing by her mother, Maureen.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

And Deputy Salazar shows up to the scene, and it is pretty alarming. There's blood on the wall, there's hair. They find what they describe as a, quote, random burn p with a piece of Andreen's clothing zipper.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

This is all very alarming.

[Andreen McDonald]

Right. So that's sort of how we open. We open on the scene and Andreen is missing. So we learn that Andreen is from Jamaica.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

We're told, quote, she was brought to the United States by her husband. Her husband is named Andre. Sometimes he goes by Andy. I don't give a shit. He sucks.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

He sucks. He's a major in the Air force. He had a top secret security clearance like his career actually did.

[Andreen McDonald]

When we hear that.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Totally. His career is pretty, like, impressive.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. He's a cyber warfare analyst.

[Mandy]

Ye.

[Andreen McDonald]

Andre, I hate you. If you happen to do that, then good for you. So Andre, the husband hears that Andreen is missing, and he rushes back home.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

But he. At the minute he gets there, he's like, oh, I'll be right back. He wants to act on a hunch.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

He says he goes to a nearby hospital thinking that Andreen might have gone there because she suffers from migraines, and I guess sometimes they're so bad, she, like, checks herself into the hospital and.

[Andreen McDonald]

He really does go there.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

We see the video.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

This. What is about to happen is so crazy and is never resolved.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. So Frank Stubbs is the lead investigator, and he tells us and Peter Van Zant, like, this is when something weird happened because the husband goes to the hospital. And we do see him. We see him walking in. We see him at the front desk.

[Peter Van Sant]

You can see him asking for McDonald. And they tell him there's somebody in room three named McDonald.

[Andrew Russell]

He arrives back to the house. What does he tell them?

[Peter Van Sant]

He tells them that she's in the hospital.

[Andreen McDonald]

The husband runs home. He does not go into the room to see his wife. He just confirms that someone with the same last name is there and then leaves and then goes home because he.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Says he wants to go. He left his cell phone at home, and he wants to go call her mother to say, we found her. She's at the hospital. But he doesn't go into the room. So, like, this feels. We're gonna guess what. It's not her.

[Andreen McDonald]

It's not her.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

We're gonna find that out in a minute. But this seems like an awfully lucky break for him.

[Andreen McDonald]

I think he was planning it. I think he was trying to say, oh, well, I went to the hospital, but he didn't turn that tape through. It's like, well, go visit your wife then.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Right? There really was somebody named McDonald in room number three.

[Andreen McDonald]

But it wasn't. It wasn't her.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

But it wasn't her. Like this very bizarre coincidence.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. And the husband's like, no, no, no. This is totally on the up and up. I left the hospital before checking on my wife because I at home, and I just want to call her mother and let her know everything's okay. And I'm like, you don't know everything's okay.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Exactly.

[Andreen McDonald]

All you know right now is that your wife is in the hospital.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And the thing is, maybe because he had the hunch, it tells me that maybe this was a thing that happened a lot, that she would check herself into the hospital. So maybe just the fact that there was a McDonald in room number three, like, it happened so often. It's got to be her. I'm just gonna go home.

[Andreen McDonald]

We learn a lot about Andrea. Not a single person mentions her migraines.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know.

[Andreen McDonald]

Except for this.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

You know what? You're absolutely right. This is the most bizarre thing that's happened in any of these documentaries in a long time.

[Andreen McDonald]

You think you're being smart, Andre?

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Oh, right.

[Andreen McDonald]

I see you. I hate you.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I hate you too.

[Andreen McDonald]

Travel down the road.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Back again, girl. Gab is a sponsor this month. Tis the holiday season. Here's a great time of year to get a safe smartphone or smartwatch for your kiddo.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. Gab is the leader in safe phones and watches for kids, teens, and tweens.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I'm going off script. I was just talking about this today because I am obsessed with Gab. We got one for Daisy. The reason I'm obsessed with it is because the phone is so safe. She's bare. Barely interested in having a cell phone.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. There's no social media apps, there's no Internet browser, and it has GPS tracking.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

A couple of other things. And I'm just saying this because I know this because I use it. People can only text the phone if their contact is entered into the phone. So, like, Daisy was texting with her grandma. Grandma tried to start a text chain with grandpa.

[Andreen McDonald]

Can't do it.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Grandpa was trying to send her a picture, but it would not go through.

[Andreen McDonald]

Absolutely not.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Because he was not a contact in the phone.

[Andreen McDonald]

Loving it.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

So she was clamoring to get a cell phone. We got her a gap. But because it doesn't have any of the social media apps and because it's controlled and monitored, she barely cares about having a phone. It is the way to ease your kid into the cell phone world.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. And the thing is, it's not real texting because kids also get unlimited talk and text with Gab Messenger.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

So the Gab messenger app is exclusive to the Gab phone.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Right.

[Andreen McDonald]

And it blocks high risk messages and content with nudity or whatever from ever reaching your kid's phone.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

We feel so safe with it. We love it. I was just talking. I didn't even know they were going to be an ad today. I was just talking about it to somebody other parent who's like, I'm going home and ordering that phone for my kid tonight.

[Andreen McDonald]

Great.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

That's why I think that Gab is a must have this year fam. And I cannot recommend enough that you and your family give them a try.

[Andreen McDonald]

And do it now because right now Gab is offering huge discounts on their phones and watches.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

The best part, there's no contract required. Just go to gab.comtco to get started.

[Andreen McDonald]

That's Gab G A B b.comtco gab.comtco terms and conditions apply.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

It is so good. Get it for your kid. I'm telling you. I like swear by it.

[Andreen McDonald]

I love it.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

It's the best.

[Andreen McDonald]

Long overdue.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Everyone is calling her, like, everyone is saying, like, she would never just vanish. We're going to learn. They've got a little girl. Like, everyone is like blowing up her phone being like, girl, where are you?

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. They're dev. They're confused because Andreen is focused, she's determined, she's responsible. She is super successful. She created an assisted living business.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Yeah. Which is exactly what it sounds like. It's called Starlight homes.

[Andreen McDonald]

She was 22 at the time.

[Andrew Russell]

Now, importantly, according to Andre's close friend Andrew Russell, in order to start the.

[Patrick Hines]

Business, Andre, he liquidated his 401K.

[Andrew Russell]

Andre bankrolled her dreams and he sold.

[Patrick Hines]

The BMW that he owned.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Andre liquidated his 401k to get it off the ground and sold his car, his precious BMW. Yeah. So he's kind of the money behind the thing, but she's like the brains of the operation. She did it all.

[Andreen McDonald]

You walk into an assisted living who you want to see Andreen or Andre? Andre by a mile?

[Jillian Mazzavali]

No. But we're going to learn later. There were business disputes and like I would imagine that he probably legally has some claim to the business because he's invested in it or whatever.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Just to note about this business, it's a. It started out small, and it is now a multimillion dollar enterprise. And she did this in.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah, she started when she was 22 years old.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

So we meet Mandy, who's Andreen's childhood friend, and she tells us about, like, they both wanted to come to the United States. That's where the dream was.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

They're from Jamaica.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. And she tells us that Andreen met her husband. Andrea was 19 years old. The husband was almost 30, 10 years older than her. He's also Jamaican. He was in the Air Force. And they got married really, really quickly.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Because that was how he wanted to, like, get her to the States to be with him.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. So they moved to the United States. They had their daughter Elena, and they.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Say that, like, Elena is center of everybody's world. We see pictures of her. She's the cutest little kid.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. Especially Andreen. So the whole, like, oh, she probably ran away on a vacation. Like, we're not even entertaining that.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Right, right. Exactly right.

[Andreen McDonald]

Because they were saying she never should anyway. No.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And they're saying, like, the presence of the daughter makes the disappearance, quote, perplexing. I'm like, what are we talking about? There's blood and hair on the wall.

[Andreen McDonald]

And a burn pit.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And a burn pit with her fucking clothes in it in the backyard. This is not a. This woman did not walk out of her. And it's moments like this that I'm like, are we doing this for the episode or are we doing this because.

[Andreen McDonald]

They really thought that we're doing this for the episode.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Okay.

[Andreen McDonald]

Because the cops are hoping that Andre has some answers. What he tells them just leads to more questions.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

Because the last time the husband saw Andreen was the night before. And they had a fight.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

So they were with their accountant.

[Peter Van Sant]

He had told them they had come home from the tax preparer's office and that they had argued over the business. And he went up the road, got some gas, and just cooled off.

[Andreen McDonald]

They had a fight about the business, which I'm sure wasn't uncommon.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I was just going to say they're going to tell us. This is a weird story. Nothing about that is perplexing to me. Having the first.

[Andreen McDonald]

But they had me in the first half.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Having lived through that. Oh, I don't know. Every year around April, I would say, meeting with the tax people and having a fight with your spouse. Not on huge.

[Andreen McDonald]

So that you work with, like.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Yeah, that's what I mean.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

Andre says they had this fight, right? So Andre says he went off for a drive to clear his head and cool off. Now, that's true. Because we have video of it. We can, like, see him, which.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

There's a lot of video in this. We see him at the gas. He went to the gas station to cool off.

[Andreen McDonald]

He says, yeah, we can. Like, they're like, okay, fine, you. You did leave, right?

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

So then he goes home, they sleep in separate rooms. Fine, whatever.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Now that is a little bit, like, at the very. It's not. That's perplexing. People do that. But that tells us more about this relationship than we knew. Because we're gonna see so much footage of them, like, loving each other at parties and they're dancing together. And this is a couple who very much puts on a public face. But shit was going down behind the scenes at home.

[Andreen McDonald]

Right. Because I think also she stepped into. Everyone was like, oh, she's like a Wunderkin. She's so amazing. And then to kind of. I think people feel. To show any crack at all means that everything's gonna crumble. And that's not true. But hiding, that can kind of lead us to a scary situation.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And who knows? Like, maybe they did have this sort of fiery hon again, off again, you know what I mean? I don't think they hated each other all the time. I don't think they loved each other all the time. I will tell you from experience, working with your spouse is not easy.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. And, like, what is a 19 and 30 year old have in common anyway? You know? And it feels kind of. It feels just. I don't want to talk about Andrean in a way, because we don't know her and we don't know her motivations, but it's like, she got married super young, had a baby really young. This guy gave her money for her business. That she did. Yes. She did all the work for that. But the money, it feels a little transactional a little bit.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

But they're suddenly living in this, like, gorgeous McMahon Mansion. Like, they've got a bunch of cars. Like, they're doing really well.

[Andreen McDonald]

And so the cops are like, all right, yeah, he told us about the fight, but he didn't tell us about the text. And I'm like, oh, fuck.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know.

[Andreen McDonald]

So their marriage is described as being in turmoil due to allegations of betrayal.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

We learned about a man named Auburn Hall. So he's described as a businessman living in Port Antonio in Jamaica. He was Andreen's ex boyfriend and potentially her current lover. They describe him.

[Andreen McDonald]

So the texts are that Andreen is texting her husband. Do not mention Aubin to me again or it's over. Like, stop it. You're mentioning. We're having fights about Auburn. If you do, I'm going to divorce you. Shut up about it. So Mandy's like, may I? Peter Van Tante, a little bit of context here.

[Andrew Russell]

Aubyn dated Andreen when she was a teenager, say investigators. Andreen's close friend Mandy says the two rekindled their romance in 2017 during one of her philanthropic trips to the island.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I've been.

[Andreen McDonald]

Has always been that first love. It wasn't something Andrew got over emotionally. Mandy's like, he was her first love.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

But, like, we don't. I don't know, we don't get a ton of confirmation on this. It's like she was doing so well that she was making philanthropic trips back to Jamaica, which is incredible of her.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. But she was cheating on her husband with Oppenheimer.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Okay, so that's, like, confirmed.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. They were secretly dating.

[Mandy]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

Because we. We learned Mandy says they dated when Andrea was a teenager, but it's like she married this guy when she was a teenager, too. Exact.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And she never, like, got over Aubyn.

[Andreen McDonald]

Right. And so she was going back to Jamaica and they were in, like, a secret relationship, but not so secretly.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I mean, very not secretly.

[Andreen McDonald]

Because they had matching tattoos.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Like, two of them. This is wild. She had an A on her hand, and on her wrist is a date. And Andre, like, goes all Inspector Gadget, tries to figure out exactly, like, the mystery of the tattoos.

[Andreen McDonald]

Like, wouldn't you be suspicious, too? I hate this guy.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know, I know.

[Andreen McDonald]

But it's a pretty, like, I gotta.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Tell you, like, not to wander too far afield. See, the other day was I got a code for Apple on my ph and he's like, can I have your phone for that card? I just handed it to him. The absolute luxury and beauty of living in a marriage where there are no secrets. You can go through my phone, you can look through my emails. I've got absolutely nothing fudgeing to hide. It is. It is the best. And that was not really the case with Andre and Andreen.

[Andreen McDonald]

No.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Because Andre looks into it.

[Andrew Russell]

It was on social media where Andre discovered an interesting photograph of Auburn branded with the same exact tattoo that was also on Andreen's hand. And those numbers, 14, 3, 76, they're Aubin's birthday.

[Andreen McDonald]

They both got a for Andreen and for Aubin and then each other's birthdays.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Oh, I. Right, yes. That's what the A stands for.

[Andreen McDonald]

That's what the A stands for.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

But like the audacity. It could also stand for audacity. The audacity to get the man's birthday tattooed on your wrist.

[Andreen McDonald]

From everything I've learned about Andre. Good.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know, fuck this guy. I agree. But like, when people ask you that, what do you like? What's the answer? That's the thing, you know?

[Andreen McDonald]

So that's why I'm thinking, thinking. I think it was more of a business relationship than like a romantic lovey dovey.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Or maybe it was that it started out lovey dovey, but then like, they, you know, they were in business together and like, the. The love is over. I think what the reason she doesn't leave him is because she's afraid he's going to take half the business.

[Andreen McDonald]

Well, that's because he will, right? Because he hates her and he's. Sometimes you're. You think you're. They're your biggest fan, but they're really your biggest hater.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

And this Andrea and Andre situation is the same thing. Like, he's, I think, very threatened. And can. Can you hear it? Well, like, I g. Money for that. What about my 401k? I could be driving a BMW. I mean, come on.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

No, 100%, but. So she's in love with Auburn, but is, like stuck with her husband because she doesn't want to lose half her business.

[Andreen McDonald]

Right. And now, according to Mandy, the best friend Andrea, like, the minute she got the tattoo, she was like, shit. Like, Andrea knows. It was kind of. It was impulsive. It was way too obvious.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Like, also, like, rubbing it in his face. Now Andre sucks. Rub everything in his face. Like, I hate this guy. But, like, it is not going to do anything to make the tension at home any less.

[Andreen McDonald]

Well, so Andreen is caught.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andrew Russell]

And Andre says, enraged, Mandy says Andre threatened divorce unless Andreen cut off contact with Auburn, covered up her tattoos, and promised to never travel to Jamaica without him.

[Andreen McDonald]

She can never go to Jamaica alone ever again. Like, she says yes, because of her business.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Of course. I mean, and that makes sense to me. You know what I mean? Like, and more to the point, I think what nobody's saying because it's a 42 minute episode, is that like, Andre is a completely unreasonable fucking asshole and.

[Andreen McDonald]

He resents her success. He's jealous of her, right?

[Jillian Mazzavali]

So, like, not. Would she, like, have to give him Half the business. He probably destroyed the business out from under her.

[Andreen McDonald]

Like, her life would be destroyed.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

And so she agrees, right?

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Oh, God, what a prison. I like. Oh, my God.

[Andreen McDonald]

So she covers the tattoo. She agrees to everything else. And to the outside world, it looks like everything is cool. They'd worked through the cheating well, and we.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Mandy tells us Andre's 40th birthday. You know, we see video from it. This is where, like, they're running around together, they're dancing, they're having fun, and, like, everything seems to be fine on the outside. It is 13 days later that Andreen goes missing, right? 13 days later, yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

Which really just goes to show, right?

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I mean, you never know anything.

[Andreen McDonald]

Have no idea. It's really sad. Like, oh, that just made me so.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know.

[Andreen McDonald]

Like, my heart just got really heavy. I know about that.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know. It's. It's. It's awful.

[Andreen McDonald]

So let's go through the house and the crime scene.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

Andrin's phone is missing. There's no movement on her credit cards or her bank accounts.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Like, walk me through this. Sure. There's no world in which any of these cops believe that she just walked off into a new life.

[Andreen McDonald]

So that's for the show.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

They're doing it perfunctory, right? Like, they're doing it because they have to say that they did.

[Andreen McDonald]

They need to get to 41 minutes.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Yeah. Really?

[Andreen McDonald]

I mean, a little bit.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Also, the cops, like, I can't imagine any cop in this crime scene is saying, well, you know, she probably just walked away. I know there's blood and hair on the wall.

[Andreen McDonald]

And no one said, we're not. We don't hear anybody say that. Yeah, but I think they're really going through again. You start close, and what do we have? What do we don't? Where is their movement? Where is there not, let's say, but Andre is a person of interest immediately, right away. So he gets a lawyer.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And remember now, like, he's got all the money because he's got all her money.

[Andreen McDonald]

Right.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

You know?

[Andreen McDonald]

Oh, I would love to see the breakdown of the paperwork of the percentages.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Oh, sure.

[Andreen McDonald]

What? Because he put the money and he's the man, and he did this.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

The thing that, you know, having just started a business, I know they probably don't have any paperwork. You know what I mean? Which just means half of what is hers is his.

[Andreen McDonald]

Fuck.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know. You start a business, you never think it's gonna work. You know what I mean? Or even if you think it's gonna Work. You never. How long did it take us to sit down and be like, oh, what do we actually should we write? Years. I think know, girl, Our place is back. This is that amazing cookware. Tis the season to give cookware.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. Our place is a mission driven and female founded brand that makes beautiful kitchen products that are healthy and sustainable.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

So did you know that most cookware and appliances are made with forever chemicals?

[Andreen McDonald]

Ugh.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know. So these forever chemicals, they're PFAS and Teflon. Right. And these chemicals are under increasing global scrutiny for their impact on the environment and our health.

[Andreen McDonald]

Girl, guess what? Our place is made without them.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know.

[Andreen McDonald]

We don't need them.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

No. And they're absolutely gorgeous. We've been using them every single night. Steve loves them. He actually leaves the pots and pans out on the stove because they kind of look like art in your kitchen.

[Andreen McDonald]

They're very like smooth and artistic looking.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

They are.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

They kind of look like you threw them on a pottery wheel.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

You know what I mean?

[Andreen McDonald]

And they're all like pastel. They're very soft colors, very calming. And in addition to the pots and pans, they also have non toxic appliances that are changing the game. That air fryer toaster thing is my new favorite thing in my kitchen.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Best friend, Robbie Roselle, cover your ears. Guess what, girl? We got you that for Christmas. Ooh, we did. He loves to cook. He didn't have an air fryer. I'm like, we are getting the our place one because we tried it. Everyone is raving about it and he's going to love it.

[Andreen McDonald]

It's awesome. I love using the air fryer to heat things up.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

It's the best fam.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

You gotta get in on the our place. All right, so go to fromourplace.com and enter our code TCO at checkout to receive 10% off site wide.

[Andreen McDonald]

That's fromourplace.com and the code is TCO.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Our place offers a 100 day trial with free shipping and returns. You know that Steve loved it when I used that code to get the 10% off to get the gift for.

[Andreen McDonald]

Oh, he loves the code.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

He loves the code.

[Andreen McDonald]

So 2pm the day after Andreen is reported missing, there is what they call an undercover investigator watching the house. And Andre, they got they thank God there is. Yeah. Now they notice the garage door is damaged and they're like, let's clock that. We're going to put it in our notes.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

Now they're watching andre. Andre again. 2pm the day after Andreen is reported missing. Andre leaves the house.

[Andrew Russell]

The investigator followed him to a nearby gunshot shop where additional investigators who were called to the scene observed Andre purchasing a 9 millimeter handgun and ammunition.

[Andreen McDonald]

Now we see Andre buying a 9 millimeter handgun and ammunition.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

And then Andre leaves the store and.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

They think he's buying the gun to harm himself. So at this point, they've decided in their brain, whatever happened to Andre, he probably did it and now he's going to kill himself.

[Andreen McDonald]

Right. So 48 hours says. Which I was like, oh, that's new. Which I'm glad they're doing.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Me too.

[Andreen McDonald]

But they said the cops violent takedown may be disturbing to some viewers.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

Because they body slam him by his neck.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I mean, it was disturbing to me. Like, it's very hard to watch.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. Now a lot of times the cops are doing this to innocent black men. This guy happens to be guilty as fuck.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

But it still is like, holy shit.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know.

[Andreen McDonald]

With which it's like, boom.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

The truth of the matter is he's an armed person with like a gun and ammunition on him. So this could go badly. Very quickly.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. They body slam him onto the concrete in the parking lot.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

Like by the curb.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know. And you see like, his legs go up in the air. It's very violent.

[Andreen McDonald]

I was like. But the ease.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I. I know. The second time I watched it, I was like, oh my God, the guy who did it is enormous.

[Andreen McDonald]

Like, and I hate Andre.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

But can we ask a question?

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know. I just think when you got a guy that you think killed somebody and he's got a gun and ammunition on his body, I think it's.

[Andreen McDonald]

But he's a black guy.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know. Girl, listen to me.

[Andreen McDonald]

Like, guys are getting McDonald's in the backseat cop car.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know, I know, I know. It was In N Out burger.

[Andreen McDonald]

But yeah, whatever.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I'll get a double, double. And a small vanilla milkshake.

[Andreen McDonald]

Scott, the fact that I was thinking of somebody else, some other case is fucking insane.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

No, you're, you're, you're absolutely right.

[Andreen McDonald]

So they hand Andre over to military police for a mental evaluation. Meanwhile, the cops search the house and Andreen's car because they got a search warrant.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Yeah. Guess what they find.

[Andrew Russell]

There was a shovel. There was an ax.

[Peter Van Sant]

An ax. There was a, like a hatchet kind of mall. There was trash bags. There were gloves and a couple of.

[Andreen McDonald]

Gas cans and a few cans of gas.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

This is just where we are reminded again and again and again how fucking bad these people are at this Justin, Andrea's own car. I know, I know. In Andrine's own car.

[Andreen McDonald]

And now in the house, in the garbage can is a ripped up receipt from Lowe's. I mean, from the day after Andreen went missing. They put this thing back together in two seconds. He ripped it up once.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know.

[Andreen McDonald]

Then.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

So they go to Lowe's, they pull their surveillance video. Video. We see Andre walking around the store, hood up, clearly trying not to be seen by the cameras.

[Andreen McDonald]

The investigator and Peter Van Sant are standing up watching this, and they're like, there he is.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And it's all the stuff that was in the back of Andreen's car. All the shit from the murder aisle at Walmart or Lowe's or whatever.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Once again, what he bought. Just to remind. A shovel, an ax, a hatchet, trash bags, gloves, gas cans. Yeah, when you see a person buying that kind of shit all at once, can somebody say something?

[Andreen McDonald]

It's a slippery. I hear you. I hear you. I do. I think it's a slippery slope, I guess. Where does it end then? We're asking people, you know what else you need?

[Jillian Mazzavali]

A shovel and ax, a hatchet, trash bags, gloves and gas can. You lose me at gas cans. You know what I mean?

[Andreen McDonald]

Camping for the fire.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I guess so. You're definitely right. But it is like, add zip ties to this list and there's got to be some kind of alarm. You know what I mean?

[Andreen McDonald]

Garbage. I'm just. All I'm doing is devil's advocate. I'm just saying there's a reason for all of it. And then it becomes kind of like.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

It's also like a man. He's got his hood up. He's trying. You can see that he's looking for the camera. That's the thing.

[Andreen McDonald]

His hood is up. He's trying to hide his face. Peter Van Zant calls us a cart full of ill will.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Yeah, it's the literal murder aisle.

[Andreen McDonald]

Right.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

But I mean, luckily the cops in this instance aren't idiots and they put this all together because he's so stupid and he's so bad at this. Because they always are. You can't win as the killer because even when you try to do the thing from the jailbreak one where she bought one camping thing a month for Naima, they're still gonna find you.

[Andreen McDonald]

Everyone is on camera all the time.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

All the time, too.

[Andreen McDonald]

Like, we can track you.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

That's true.

[Andreen McDonald]

Don't even try.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Just everyone stop killing.

[Andreen McDonald]

Just like, stop trying. Don't even try to get away with it.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know, Game over. God.

[Andreen McDonald]

So there's even more evidence at the house because there's a hammer in the garbage can at home.

[Andrew Russell]

What's on the claw hammer that's of interest?

[Peter Van Sant]

The lab determined that there was the presence of blood on the hammer. And the DNA that they obtained from that, that blood sample was from Andreen.

[Andreen McDonald]

But Andre's clothes are in there too. And Andre's clothes have traces of blood on them.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And there's also blood on the hammer.

[Andreen McDonald]

And the blood is Andreen's.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

They send it away for DNA testing and back it's Andrea.

[Andreen McDonald]

So they can't prove right now that Andre murdered his wife, Andreen, because when they arrest him, it's for tampering with evidence because of the ripped up receipt.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

They're just getting him off the street because, like, he's a hazard to himself. They know that he's going to do something awful. But I just want to say murder is upsetting no matter what.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yes.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

But to. To know that this woman was probably beaten to death with a hammer, I mean, it is. It is like. It is a level of violence that is so. What is. What is wrong with that man's soul? Who is. Who. Who can do that to another human being under any circum?

[Andreen McDonald]

I honestly think what happened. This is an insecure man who always hated women, who wanted to control a 19 year old. And she said bet. And she became a fucking millionaire at 22. And you know who he was? He was the helper.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

He wasn't the star. And I think that breeds a lot of resentment. And she was cheating on him.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

Which she. I mean, she was in a shitty situation. I'm not saying cheating as a bad thing for you know what I'm saying? I can absolutely see how we get from point A to point B with.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

This piece of shit, but what always gets forgotten is the kid. This is the reason I know that I'm not at least a fucking monster. Because there's no world in which I wouldn't only be thinking about Daisy. In the moment I decide I'm gonna kill my husband. You know what I mean?

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah, of course. Of course.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Like, it all just makes me crazy.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

We had two really hard ones today. I'm sorry. We recorded another. The Worst Roommate ever. And these are hard ones.

[Andreen McDonald]

This is really bad.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

Everyone is, like, shocked. Everyone is confused. Andre has stopped cooperating. He lawyers up fine.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Because they say, like, after they find like the blood on the hammer and the bloody clothes and the garbage and the fucking Lowe's Murder aisle receipt. They say, like. And the video. Video. They're like, it looks like he murdered her.

[Peter Van Sant]

The evidence was pointing towards a murder.

[Andrew Russell]

But there was a problem. None of the evidence collected proved that a murder had actually occurred.

[Peter Van Sant]

Turning a missing person's case into a homicide case is very difficult.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Turning a missing person's case into a homicide case is very difficult. And, like, just that sentence is like.

[Andreen McDonald]

Oh, because where is she?

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Especially because they don't have the body. Because it's like, all of the evidence of the murder is like, he bought all the shit from the murder aisle. You know, like, there's blood on the hammer. He threw away his clothes. He's trying to hide.

[Andreen McDonald]

Somehow the lawyer can get him out of that.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know. I mean, using her money, which is the irony of it all.

[Andreen McDonald]

We've seen it happen.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

You know, but it's like, where's the.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Yeah, it's just like, the evidence is all right there, you know?

[Andreen McDonald]

So the police are now asking the public for help.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

And we meet Bobby Green, who is a former Air Force airman. He leads the search party.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

They're searching everywhere while the. They're searching. Andre is released on bond.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I love that there is a. There is, like, a press corps there to meet him when he gets out of prison.

[Andreen McDonald]

What he does not do, he does not go search for his missing wife.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

No. He goes to her business and takes over the management responsibility.

[Andreen McDonald]

The minute she decided on the name of this company is the minute he's been pining to take it from her.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I was thinking about him not participating in the search efforts, and obviously, I think he did this, but, like, I wonder if his justification would be, like, well, then all the focus will be on me. And, you know, we need the focus be on finding her.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. I wonder if also, like, I think a very valid thought would be, like, I can't be the one to find her.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Exactly.

[Andreen McDonald]

I can't be the one. But I'd be. I think I'd be close. You know, that's. Yeah, we're. I'm not gonna judge someone.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

We've talked about this a lot. Like, if it was Steve and. And, like. And I didn't do it, you know, and, like, this. We're doing the search. I don't know. I don't know if I could do it. I don't know if I could.

[Andreen McDonald]

Because you don't.

[Andrew Russell]

You.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

You're right. Like, the idea of being the one to find him and then, like, what.

[Andreen McDonald]

Are you gonna see?

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Right.

[Andreen McDonald]

Like, shouldn't he be. Shouldn't he continue to be the person, you know, and the form he is now? You shouldn't see that. Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

The guy that, like, nags me to do the laundry and close all the.

[Andreen McDonald]

Doors and fighting during tax season, like.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Oh, Steve, I love him, he's the best.

[Andreen McDonald]

But that, you know, like. So it's not always.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Nagging is a lot, though. You know what I mean? The nagging is a lot.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

You know, Sure. I mean, should I put my own laundry away? Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Could I remember to fold my towel after the shower and put it.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

You don't do any of that.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I do it like, I do. I do it. Just not all the time, you know? Do you? Yeah, every time. Yeah, of course. Does Mike?

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Oh, God. Okay.

[Andreen McDonald]

Well, do I just like, leave a wet towel on the floor?

[Jillian Mazzavali]

No, never. Not one. Not. It's. I'm never leaving it on the floor because I think it's his job to pick it up. I just, like. I'm moving on to the other thing.

[Andreen McDonald]

Let me ask you.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Oh, God.

[Andreen McDonald]

In your mind, like, where does it end up? Like, how does it get.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

That is a very fair question. So that is kind of what I was just trying to say. I'm never, like, I'm intentionally leaving this here so that somebody else will pick it up for me. The thought usually, or what really happens is like, oh, shit, I forgot to post the episode and I have to run and post it and I've just forgotten that the towel is on the ground.

[Andreen McDonald]

And the next time you see it, you'll get to it.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

He's already folded it and put it back. Because he does kind of start to follow me around and just do the things behind me.

[Andreen McDonald]

You've trained him well.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

But the episode got posted on time. Aren't we happy for that?

[Andreen McDonald]

Sure, yeah. But at what cost?

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I'm thinking of you, listeners. I'm thinking of you.

[Andreen McDonald]

Travel down the road. Back again, girl.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Ritual is back. Get ready to get enraged. It's my favorite stupid fact. Did you know that women were excluded from clinical research policy by federal law until 1993?

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah, I mean, that tracks. But here's the thing. Women belong in scientific research. We are essential. And ritual knows that because they conducted a university led human clinical trial for their essential for women 18 plus multivitamin to assess its efficacy.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

So let's talk about it, girl. It's a clinically backed multivitamin for women 18 plus. And listen to this. It's got the high quality traceable key ingredients in clean bioavailable forms. You know what you're putting in your body?

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. It's nine key nutrients in two delayed release capsules that are minty fresh, by the way. I know you take them every day and they optimize your body's absorption.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

They're also easy on the tummy girl.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. So. And the minty essence, I have to say, Minty essence.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

That's my drag name.

[Andreen McDonald]

I love it. It actually makes it fun. Like sometimes that's such a hassle where it's like, oh, take my. And now you don't have to worry. Like, I'm an empty stomach, a full stomach, it doesn't matter. Minty fresh, down the hatch.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

But also fam, rituals essential for women is USP verified. So get this, only about 1% of supplement brands on the market have the USP verified verified mark, which shows the product contains the ingredients actually listed on the label. That's the, like, the traceable and transparent thing that they're always talking about. They want you to know what you're putting in your ba day.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. And these are vegan, non GMO project certified gluten and major allergen free certified B corp and made traceable.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Like you said, everyone can take it.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yep.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

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[Andreen McDonald]

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[Jillian Mazzavali]

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[Andreen McDonald]

That's ritual.com TCO for 25% off.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Do it.

[Andreen McDonald]

We hate this guy. So of course he didn't show. He didn't participate in the search. But I do understand if people I'm thinking about, I don't even want to say things out loud, but people that I know who would be like, I can't go.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

No, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Like, for sure. It's important almost that they don't go. It's why, like, if you're a doctor and your kid gets wheeled in, you're not allowed to operate on them. You know what I mean? Yeah, of course. Course.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

So the search goes on for months. And as this is happening, the cops are digging deeper into their relationship and it is not good.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

It's really bad. And, like, this is where they see, once again, Andre put up the original funds for the business. But, like, they're looking at, like, WhatsApp messages between Andreen and her friends. And, like, basically this is her confirming what we've been saying, which is, like, he put up the Money. But, like, it was all my vision, it was all my labor, it was all my doing.

[Andreen McDonald]

And then they were. They'd fight about it.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

So they were just kind of fighting over, like, who was more important kind of. Or who had more saying what.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

We meet with this guy named Andrew who's friends with both of them. And, like, the friends are starting to worry about actual violence between the two of them because Andrea's texting Andrew, being like, it is so bad, girl. Like, one of us is going to snap.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yes, someone is going to snap. And so in 2018, things did get physical between the two of them. And it was at a Christmas party.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Like, at their own Christmas party at their house.

[Andreen McDonald]

And Andrew, the friend, is a witness.

[Andrew Russell]

Andrew told investigators that the couple's war of war words turned physical the night before a Christmas party at their home in 2018, where the McDonald's got into a physical altercation.

[Patrick Hines]

So when I went into the kitchen, Andy and Andreen were grappling on the floor. The next morning, they were laughing about it.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

The next morning they were, like, laughing about it like it was no big deal.

[Andreen McDonald]

Which to me is like, oh, this happens a lot.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

So that Christmas party, two months after the Christmas party, Andreen is missing and her blood is in the house. So, like, something happened and he did.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Escalating the violence is getting worse and worse and worse.

[Andreen McDonald]

So by July 11, 2019, Andrina's been missing for 133 days.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

And this is when her remains are found in a farmer's field just like.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Six miles from their house. We meet the farmer who found the remains. He said he was, like, on his tractor going out to, like, deal with a cow skull.

[Andreen McDonald]

I know.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

First of all, how long had that cow been out there rotting? That there was like, a skull.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. And then I was like, wait, what happened to the cow? And then, like, while he's doing that, he's finding human remains. Like, everything about this just feels so dark.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

All I could imagine was that, like, some animal must have moved Andreen's remains or something. Like, I don't know. It's a very weird scene.

[Andreen McDonald]

It's a weird detail to put in and then not explain. I wish I didn't know anything about it.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

It's true.

[Andreen McDonald]

Because it's like, wait, what? Where are you? And, like, how far away? And it's like, she was out there. For how long was she out there?

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know.

[Andreen McDonald]

Like, it's just. So the remains do belong to Andreen McDonald and, you know, like, Cindy, her sister Maureen, her mother, Jackie. Her mother in law. Her mother, mother in law. I was at a church praying for Angeline.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I couldn't do anything. I broke down.

[Andreen McDonald]

It hit us like a storm. Cuz we still wasn't thinking like that. Everyone is absolutely shocked and devastated.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

They're despondent about it to this day. Like in the interview for this, they can barely talk about it.

[Andreen McDonald]

I mean, could you.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I mean I, I would never do one of these things if something happened. And I mean, unless Sky Borgman came to me and was like, this story needs to be told. We're going to do it the right way then maybe. But like I would and I. No shade to these families. I mean, these stories need to be told. There are lessons to be learned. And I think people do learn things from, from hearing them, but I don't think I could really. Yeah. Could you?

[Andreen McDonald]

I think, I mean I, it would all depend. Yeah, I mean I, I'm grateful that I don't have to. I don't have experience.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I think about this all the time.

[Andreen McDonald]

You know, like weighing the why or why not. But I don't know. I think there's something about like getting the story told, right?

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

Like if they're doing it.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

That's why I'm saying if it's Sky Borgman came to me, fine, we'll do it. Yeah, but like dayline or done.

[Andreen McDonald]

I want to be involved.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Yeah, yeah, I think that's true.

[Andreen McDonald]

If it's that or like I'm not part of it and then it's done wrong. If those are my options, which I think in this day and age they are. Yeah, I'd have no choice.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Yeah, yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

And it would not be good, but I think I'd have no choice.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Well, less than 48 hours, Andre is arrested. He's charged with his wife's murder. We go into an ad at this point and they say to us, see more evidence from the [e-mail]. Why don't you just show it to us? Just include it in the documentary.

[Andreen McDonald]

One minutes.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I guess so. But like give us less of like, did she run away to go on vacation with her friends?

[Andreen McDonald]

I don't think. Did anyone say that?

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Well, but it's just the idea of them entertaining the idea that she left on purpose.

[Andreen McDonald]

And I'm really asking, did they?

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

When they were like searching the house, they're like, we had to make sure that the passport weren't used and the credit cards. You know what I mean?

[Andreen McDonald]

And I'm like, I think that's Just pretty standard, though.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I just want. If there's more evidence in the case, let me see it, you know?

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. So the prosecutors on this case are.

[Andrew Russell]

Saying, despite the evidence found at the McDonald home, the hammer and the blood, the prosecution could not say for sure how Andreen died. We say he caused her death.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

However, we don't know how.

[Andreen McDonald]

There's no way to prove how Andreen was killed.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And that's really important because she'd been out there in that field for 130 years, 33 days. So she was too decomposed to know the manner of her death.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. The medical examiner can't get any details that would be helpful in a trial.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And they say they're like, we can say he caused her death, but we can't say that we know how.

[Andreen McDonald]

Right. And the prosecution is saying the motive was jealousy, mostly because Andreen was so successful. But then Auburn. The boyfriend with the matching tattoos.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

They say that the motive was him feeling emasculated.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Men. Can we do fudgeing better?

[Andreen McDonald]

I mean, I'll wait. I've been waiting.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Can you imagine the motive for murder is feeling emasculated by your powerful, wonderful. By the way, her business wasn't fucking bitcoin. Her business was taking care of old people like that, like, and she was a philanthropic. She was going to Jamaica. She's like, we see video of her, like, in her own community, just handing out food to unhoused people. Like, to feel. What was it? What did you love about her, Andre?

[Andreen McDonald]

She could have just like, been her partner.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

And helped the whole business thrive and.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Flourish, become that entrepreneurial overnight. So, like, when you met her, what did you love about her? You know what I mean?

[Andreen McDonald]

That she was 19 and he could try to bring her down.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I guess that's true.

[Andreen McDonald]

This was never part of the plan.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Uh huh. Uh huh.

[Andreen McDonald]

In his mind, she fucked it all up the minute she got successful. God, Starlight. Oh my God. The minute she started doing that, he was fucked.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

The idea that emasculation would be like, his motive for murder, it just, it will never not be shocking to me. You know, crazy.

[Andreen McDonald]

Now the defense is like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

[Andrew Russell]

How would you respond to the notion that what caused all this was his envy of his wife's success?

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I don't see any evidence of that. Andre is a major in the air Force. I mean, he's incredibly successful on his own. Right. She's not understanding. It doesn't matter how successful he is if she's successful. That's the problem.

[Andreen McDonald]

It's not the same.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Right?

[Andreen McDonald]

It's not the same.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

So Andre, the husband, has been on house arrest this whole time since 2021. And he's been totally silent and unhelpful.

[Mandy]

Yep.

[Andreen McDonald]

Until. Until January 17, 2023. Right before the trial starts, Andre has what we are told is an extraordinary story.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

He calls his own mother and says, I'm gonna tell you what happens, and bursts into tears.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Now, we don't get the story yet. We just get that there right before the trial starts, he is now telling people what he says happens.

[Andreen McDonald]

And he calls his mother with the story without telling his defense team.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Oh, my God. That was.

[Andreen McDonald]

They're all interviewed together, and they're like, yeah, shocking is one word for it. Van Zant. Like, what?

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know.

[Andreen McDonald]

But now this guy is going to testify. Now, first, the prosecution lays out their case, and they call Dr. James Feig, who's a forensic psychologist, and he says that this is hard, everyone. I'm sorry.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

The trial stuff is really hard, and it's very graphic. So if you do. If you. If you want to stop now, we totally understand. But if you are going to listen. Not for kids. The trial stuff, what we learn is.

[Andreen McDonald]

That it's not just what he did to her, it's hearing him say it.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

And, like, that is incredibly hard. But Dr. Feig, the forensic psychologist, he says that Andreen has severe injuries that are consistent with being struck by a blunt object.

[Andrew Russell]

She had a fractured spinal cord, a broken rib, and a split jaw. But the pathologist could not determine what exactly had caused Andreen's death.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

The way that I have phrased her cause of death is homicidal violence, including blunt force trauma.

[Andreen McDonald]

It's homicidal violence, including blunt force trauma. But he can't go into any more details than that.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

How is that not enough?

[Andreen McDonald]

I know. It's like, well, do we have any objects? Oh, we have a hammer. Like.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Oh, right, right. Exactly.

[Andreen McDonald]

Two plus two is fucking four.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

So the defense is up, and they're saying this is not a murder case. They say it's. It's about degree of responsibility and that they're going to show evidence of an accident, a mutual fight, all of which happened in the blink of an eye.

[Andreen McDonald]

And the defense has one witness.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

And the witness is the husband.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Yeah. So he gets up on the stand. Just seeing him on the stand is enraging, just on its own.

[Andreen McDonald]

He is so smug.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

And entitled.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And it's going to be pointed out later, not an ounce of remorse, not an ounce of sadness for the loss of his wife, the mother of his child.

[Andreen McDonald]

From the minute he starts talking, everything is Andrea's fault 100%.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And he says it, he says this is actually her fault.

[Andreen McDonald]

Because at first when I heard, oh, it was an accident. Yeah, we're going to get the sob story. We're going to get, oh, my God, it was a tragic accident. I can't believe it. She tripped and fell. That's what I. Because that's usually what happened.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

No.

[Andreen McDonald]

He is vindictive and cruel and mean on the stand talking about what happened.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

So he says February 28, 2019, they were at the tax preparer, and he discovers that Andreen had started a new business a year earlier without his knowledge. And when they ask him, what did that mean to you? He says, that meant that she was robbing me. Now, I don't understand what that means.

[Andreen McDonald]

He clearly, these two had a lot of secrets and they didn't trust each other at all.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

And that it's a betrayal that your wife is starting a business behind your back. The reason she's doing is because he's a nightmare and he's a controlling asshole.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And if she write like this will be her own business, that she can then leave him. Because she can't leave him now because he's a partner in her current business.

[Andreen McDonald]

Right. So he sees it as robbing him because it's something that's just her.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Uh huh, uh huh.

[Andreen McDonald]

She is his. I mean, in his mind, she belongs to him.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And somebody tell me why him saying this on the stand is a good idea.

[Andreen McDonald]

This is what I'm saying. Yeah, I was shocked by. And we're just getting started. Everyone like what he says on the stand, But I was shocked that I was like, oh, I thought it was gonna be some bullshit. My God. She slipped and fell. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

No, no, no, no.

[Andreen McDonald]

This is him explaining why he did what he did.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Right?

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

And why we should all agree that.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

That it's her fault.

[Andreen McDonald]

It's her fault.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

So he says after a heated argument that evening, he left the house to cool off at the gas station, which we saw. We saw the surveillance video. They continue to argue over text. He comes home, he says he wants a divorce and suggests splitting the business. And then according to him, she becomes furious at the idea of splitting the.

[Patrick Hines]

Business, charges into the room to confront me. So when she comes into the room, you know, I turn 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 grabbed her head. I think we had like a clash of heads.

[Andreen McDonald]

We had a clash of heads. And I'm like, so you fucking headbutted her. Then that quote opened up a cut on her face and I'm like. Because of course the cut was already there. Right. Like zero accountability. So Andreen, now, he headbutts her.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

She's bleeding. She runs to the bathroom to sort of like assess the damage, that she turns on the lights to look at her face. That's how the blood got on the light switch.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Right.

[Andreen McDonald]

Because the cops were like, how did her blood get on the light switch? That doesn't make any sense.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

And this up, up until this point, this is the most truthful this piece of shit is. Yes, he headbutted her. There wasn't a clash of the heads.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Right.

[Andreen McDonald]

Like, give me a break. But like, I think that's exactly what happened. He. I think she was kind of stunned and wanted to see what happened. Hit the light switch. That's how we get the blood on the light switch. Switch. Now, when Andreen sees what happened to her, according to the piece of shit, this is when she now attacks. She's in a rage and she attacks him.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

And then we get another like trigger warning from 48 hours, which I super appreciate.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And it's a.

[Andreen McDonald]

It's real that this testimony may be disturbing to some viewers. And it 100% is.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

He's saying in self defense, he punches her, she falls, then he kicks her twice.

[Andreen McDonald]

He says, I remember grabbing her and tripping her.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

He's admitting on the stand that he tripped her and pulled her to the.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Ground, then kicks her twice and then hears her wheezing. Now in the moment when she's wheezing, according to him.

[Patrick Hines]

And then also, like in the background, I could hear like some footsteps, the.

[Andrew Russell]

Footsteps of their young daughter, Elena. McDonald said he left to put Elena back to bed. And when he returned about 30 minutes later, his wife was dead.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And when he comes back 30 minutes later, she. She's dead.

[Andreen McDonald]

Right. And I am sitting here stunned and reeling. I know on so many levels. And then thinking, I'm sorry, this is their defense.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

This is their defense.

[Andreen McDonald]

This is the only person the defense is calling. This man just sat there and told us that he beat his wife to death.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Yes. And also left her. Died.

[Andreen McDonald]

Part of it was an accident, right? Well, part of it was a fucking. Where's the accident part?

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Right, right.

[Andreen McDonald]

No, the accident is I got mad, she got mad. I stormed into the room, she came after me, tripped and fell, hit her head. That's the. That's the accident?

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

Y. Grabbing her and tripping her.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Yeah, he threw her to the ground where he kicked her to death.

[Andreen McDonald]

The second kick, I heard some type of wheezing.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

After the headbutt, which probably had her.

[Andreen McDonald]

Completely disoriented, he got on the stand and described in detail beating his wife to death. And this is the accident defense.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

We're still not done, fam. We're still not done. So he then says he didn't even bother calling 911 cuz she was already dead. His concern was getting the body out of the house so his daughter didn't see her mother laying on the ground.

[Andreen McDonald]

And I'm like, don't you dare invoke your daughter right now, you sick son of a bitch.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know.

[Andreen McDonald]

Fuck you. How dare you mention your daughter.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And if this story is true, the daughter, the six year old daughter is now asleep in the house by herself while he loads the body into the car, takes the body to the field, where he says, and this is so bad, fam stripped her naked to burn the clothes in the burn pit at home. Then what about the bloody hammer? He says, after the investigators left, he.

[Andrew Russell]

Went back to the field before dawn, angry and armed with the yellow hammer, a can of gasoline and a plan.

[Patrick Hines]

My plan was to hit the person that caused this whole circumstance.

[Andrew Russell]

You felt it was her fault, right?

[Patrick Hines]

It's absolutely her fault.

[Andrew Russell]

What did you do with the gasoline?

[Patrick Hines]

I poured it on her and then I used the lighter and set it on fire.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

He lights the body on fire and then when the body is like, when the fire is out, he beats the body to a pulp with the hammer.

[Andreen McDonald]

And now part of it is true, he beat her to death. But then the cops are like, wait, it doesn't match up with your story about the accident with the bloody hammer, like, what? And Andre's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I can explain.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

After the cops searched the home initially, Andre leaves the house and that's when he goes.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I don't know what to believe. My worst fear, I don't think that if you're going to buy a hammer, you're not. I don't want to get too graphic here and I don't want to guess things that didn't happen, but my, my idea is that, that you wanna use a hammer to her body. I don't think you wanna do that. When she's Already dead is all I'm saying.

[Andreen McDonald]

Well, when they ask him that on the stand, on the stand in his own defense, by the way, he says, Cause they're like, okay, so you went. And then just like after she was out there and the cops are searching your house, you go and beat her more. He says, my plan was to hit the person that caused this whole circumstance.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

And they're like, so you're saying this is Andreen's fault? And he goes, this is absolutely Andrew. Andrew's fault. And that I really like, I sort of got actually like outside of myself.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

It is. Because it's important to understand the way he says it. He says it so angrily.

[Andreen McDonald]

He's still mad.

[Mandy]

Yes. Yeah, he's.

[Andreen McDonald]

Because he's still mad at her.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

And like, it's never going to stop, he's never going to stop hating her.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And this like, piece of shit defense team. Because this is all on, this is all under cross examination from the prosecution that he's saying all of this. The defense fence is saying they want us to believe that he lived in fear of her because she went to the gym every day. They literally show us videos of her. And she's a weight, she's weightlifting. She is a very strong woman.

[Andreen McDonald]

She can like lift him.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

So they have a video, £300 or whatever. Well, she's not lifting him, she's giving him a piggyback. And like, you see Andreen and she is a, she's a fit woman, but she's a thin, small woman. He's a big muscular man. It is not, there's no contest as to who's gonna win in a fight.

[Andreen McDonald]

I, I, I really, I was sitting in complete disbelief.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know.

[Andreen McDonald]

Like, wait, wait, I'm sorry. Her like, workout routine is on trial now.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Exactly.

[Andreen McDonald]

But this guy admitted he killed. Like, I don't understand, Right?

[Jillian Mazzavali]

No, because it doesn't make any sense.

[Andreen McDonald]

Because about, and he's mad about the other business.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Right.

[Andreen McDonald]

This has nothing to do with who's more physically fit. Like, what are you saying he said? He said under oath, on the sand, he looked right at you and calmly and coldly described how he beat her to death because he hated her and was jealous of her.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

And I'm gonna talk about her workout routine, right?

[Jillian Mazzavali]

No, you're gonna, after, after that you beat her to death. You want me to then believe that you lived in fear of her because she was. No, absolutely not.

[Andreen McDonald]

No.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Girl Rocket money is back. Tis the season to not get bamboozled by your subscriptions.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah. Okay, here's the thing. Yeah, we all have subscriptions that we forgot about. Don't get defensive. We all do it and they're designed that way.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know. I, Steve the other day was like, who subscribed to, like, the Arkansas Daily News? Turns out it's me because I needed it for a thing. I was reading, researching, and I signed up knowing that I would eventually cancel because I had Rocket Money. So I logged into my Rocket Money account. I was like, can you deal with this, please, Rocket Money?

[Andreen McDonald]

And they did so just to break it down. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bill so you can grow your savings.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Think about that. All the things we sign up for to get that free three day trial, like Rocket Money's got your back. They're going to not let you forget and they're going to cancel it for you.

[Andreen McDonald]

And when you see everything in one place, it's so helpful if you're working on a budget or whatever to be like, wait, what am I actually using? How much am I spending on this thing? Is it worth it to me? And then one click. And that's the thing. They make it hard for you to unsubscribe. And so Rocket Money does all that heavy lifting for you.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And in addition to that, fam, Rocket Money will even try to negotiate to lower the bills for you, sometimes by up to 20%. To me, that's the greatest thing.

[Andreen McDonald]

That's priceless.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Unbelievable.

[Andreen McDonald]

They automatically scan your bills to find opportunities to save and then you can ask them to negotiate for you, which means everyone, I'm spelling it out. They will deal with customer service so.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

You don't have to fam. Rocket Money has over 5 million users and has saved a total of $500 million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up to 740 bucks a year when using all of the app's features.

[Andreen McDonald]

It's crazy. So stop wasting money on things you don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to Rocketmoney.com obsessed.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

That's Rocketmoney.com obsessed Rocketmoney.com obsessed and we are. We have a subscription anymore. What? So after six days, the jury gets the case. 11 hours into deliberations, they send a note to the judge saying that they're hopelessly deadlocked. So the options are either murder, manslaughter, or not guilty by self defense. Now we have two of the jurors here and they are saying they want to be clear.

[Andreen McDonald]

At no point did Any juror think that he was innocent or that it was self defense.

[Andrew Russell]

The problem was wording, because people really.

[Andreen McDonald]

Picked apart the definitions of murder and recklessness.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

They got stuck on the definitions of the murder, regular murder, and reckless murder.

[Andreen McDonald]

I just. I don't understand. He told you himself.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

His actions then and now prove it. He blames her on the stand. He blames her. He desecrated her body.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

After she died. That is someone with anger and hate in their hearts.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

This is an example of the jury getting it really wrong.

[Andreen McDonald]

And he lied for months.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Right. Because it's sort of like we're hung up on the definite. So either the difference between murder and reckless murder is manslaughter or murder, and it's a difference of 20 years or 50 years or whatever.

[Andreen McDonald]

A life sentence.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Right, exactly. And, you know, at the end of the day, ultimately, nine jurors believed his story. Nine jurors. One of them says, we had no other evidence, so we had to believe what he said because his was the only story that we got. So nine of them believe his story and wanted manslaughter. Three of them wanted murder. Ultimately, he's found not guilty of murder, but the lesser charge of manslaughter and.

[Andreen McDonald]

Get to 23 murder holdouts were basically, like, bullied into agreeing with everyone else.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

Because shaking right now. I don't know if you can see it. I'm really like, this is. It's because I'm really struggling to understand the hemming and hawing of. And I'm really trying to, like, reconcile it within myself.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Well, her family is doing the same thing. The family's saying everything you're saying, which is, they told us on the stand that he killed her. They told us how he did it.

[Andreen McDonald]

And how angry he is even now on the stand. This is absolutely her fault. So I'm just trying to think of, like, all the shit we've said over the years on the show about, like. I don't. I don't know, just everything we've said, and I'm just like, what? Sitting in that jury room, like, I just. I feel insane. I'm like, how do you. Nine of you. I know, were, like, unsure about. About the reckless. I. I just. I can't. I'm, like, really having a hard time.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Well, and interestingly, it was six men and six women on the jury. The three holdouts for murder were men, which means six women were saying manslaughter.

[Andreen McDonald]

I just. It's. It's crazy to me. It's crazy to me.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know, it's crazy.

[Andreen McDonald]

Like, I'm having, like, a physical reaction.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

No, I know. It's. It's. This was a really hard. This was a really hard day. I'm gonna say it again. We did two really hard ones back to back. This was a really, really tough one.

[Andreen McDonald]

And now, like, after the verdict, another thing I hated is that the cops give Andreen's father.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I did present Mr. Anderson with a gift. I asked my deputy to remove the handcuffs from.

[Patrick Hines]

From Andre as they.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

They put him back into the cell. And I gave. I presented those cups to. To Mr. Anderson. I wanted them to feel some sort of connection to at least sending him away to prison. They want Andreen's father and family to have some connection to him being locked up. But it. The way that the. The deputy who did it holds a press conference to say that he did.

[Andreen McDonald]

It, I find it really gross.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

It doesn't feel like he did it for the family. He feels like he did it for the media coverage.

[Andreen McDonald]

And, like, what is more. I mean, it's a pretty big reminder.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Yeah.

[Andreen McDonald]

Of the worst thing that happened to this family and the fact that there.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Wasn'T real justice here. You know what I mean? It's like this wasn't a win. Like, manslaughter doesn't feel like a win to me.

[Andreen McDonald]

No, I. Yeah, I don't. And, And, And. And Starlight Homes is now closed. Starlight Homes was a thing that people really, really needed, and the business went under because if he couldn't have it, nobody.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Yeah, I mean, I guess, you know, in the end, we learned that Andreen's mom and sisters are raising Elena, which is great, you know.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

And, like, Andre's mother is involved, you know, sort of tangentially in that. And it's. It all. It just all sucks. It's what we say every single time when the man kills the woman for whatever stupid fucking reason, and the kids are the ones that suffer.

[Andreen McDonald]

You know, I do have some updates, though.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Oh, wow.

[Andreen McDonald]

So he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for manslaughter, plus five years for tampering with evidence. So his appeals keep getting denied, so.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Well, that's good.

[Andreen McDonald]

That's good. And on March 8th of 2024, a San Antonio civil jury awarded 2,110 million dollars to Andreen's family in a wrongful death suit against Andre, which they'll never see.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Money they'll never see.

[Andreen McDonald]

But there's, like, another, like, on paper win, I guess, in some way. And like, that his appeals keep getting denied. So that's if we got to grab onto something.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

We'll take that today, girl.

[Andreen McDonald]

We'll take that.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Oh, my God, girl, we did it. What's up, 48 hours?

[Andreen McDonald]

It's Andrea McDonald. A millionaire vanishes.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Oh, this one was really tough. Well, fam, we love you. Join us over in the Facebook group. It's the True Crime Obsessed podcast discussion group. I'm sure there'll be lots of discussion about this episode over there.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yes.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Go chime in.

[Andreen McDonald]

Highly requested. I mean, people just want to be mad about it. Like, they just need a place to go with it. Like this. People were in my DMs a lot about this because this episode came out pretty recently.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Oh, is that right?

[Andreen McDonald]

So they were like.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Like, yeah, it's a.

[Andreen McDonald]

It makes you feel crazy.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

It does.

[Andreen McDonald]

It makes you feel crazy. And I feel like people will feel a little comfort, at least. Like, you are not crazy. Dear Love. Like, this was bananas.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Absolutely insane. What are we doing next, girl?

[Andreen McDonald]

Oh, God. Okay, so this is a bonus app, right? So this is coming out on Thursday. So tomorrow, Friday is episode one of. This is the Zodiac speaking on Patreon.

[Maureen]

Yes.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I'm so excited.

[Andreen McDonald]

Tuesday on the regular feed is Worst Roommate Ever. My BFF Tried to Kill Me, Season two, episode one, which we just recorded.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Right before this, which is why we're screaming.

[Andreen McDonald]

Oh, my God. We'd be screaming anyway. But, yeah, it's good. I'm gonna sleep soundly.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know I'm exhausted by it all.

[Andreen McDonald]

And then you get, like, one more bonus episode at the end of the year.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

That's it. We're down to one more bonus app.

[Andreen McDonald]

One more bonus set. But, like, not forever.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

No, no, just for this year.

[Andreen McDonald]

In a couple weeks, it's gonna be a break.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

We restart.

[Andreen McDonald]

Yeah, we're doing more bonus episodes for you.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Andreen McDonald]

So, like, this is the second to last. So you got this one and one more this year. But, like, don't worry.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Yeah. It means nothing to you. We're just thinking in calendars, and it's.

[Andreen McDonald]

Me and Natalie with the numbers. Like, this is episode 21.

[Mandy]

No.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

You guys are working so hard on it. It's amazing. You. It's a feat to behold, but we love you, fam. Thank you. Thank you for being here and, you.

[Andreen McDonald]

Know, take care of each other out there. I know we need you.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

I know it's. It's the month of Thanksgiving. Let's be nice to each other.

[Andreen McDonald]

Okay?

[Jillian Mazzavali]

All right, Bye.

[Andreen McDonald]

We love you. Bye.

[Jillian Mazzavali]

Sorry if we were really down today. All right, bye.

[Andreen McDonald]

Bye.

[Maureen]

I was happy, brighter, loved it here, but seeing it. It just felt makes me angry. I really have a hard time believing that the person that I've known for 25 years, my best friend and a roommate, could do what she did. But it was diabolical. It was evil. It was plotted and planned so perfectly. She found Jo a and tormenting me. I don't think I was human to her. I think if I had died, she would have sat in this house with my child, and I don't think she would have ever thought of it again.