SAN ANTONIO – An arrest affidavit obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders on Sunday is providing new details as to what authorities saw in the home of a 29-year-old woman reported missing Friday, now presumed dead.
Andre McDonald, 40, is charged in connection with the disappearance of his wife, Andreen McDonald. Arrest documents for Andre McDonald describe how friends and family requested that law enforcement conduct a welfare check at the couple's home after Andreen McDonald failed to show up for work Friday.
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Friends and family told the deputy conducting the welfare check that they suspected foul play in McDonald's disappearance, records state. One friend even told deputies that Andreen McDonald had warned her many times that if she were to ever disappear, "it would be because (Andre McDonald) killed her."
According to court documents, McDonald's mother and friends met a deputy at the McDonalds' home in the 1000 block of Solitude Cove in north Bexar County around 1 p.m. Friday, when Andre McDonald was not home.
The affidavit states that when the deputy walked into the master bathroom of the home with Andreen McDonald's mother, the deputy noticed that the floor appeared to have been recently cleaned and that there was a red stain on a light switch. The red stain, court records note, was later determined to be human blood and hair. The floors were also found to have human blood.
RELATED: Man arrested in connection with wife's disapperance
Arrest documents state that the deputy also noticed a burn pile in the backyard, where it appeared that something had been recently burned. Upon closer inspection, a friend of McDonald's noted that they had discovered a zipper in the burn pit.
Andre McDonald arrived at the house as the group scoured the home for clues and told them that his wife was being treated at Baptist Emergency Hospital, the affidavit states. But when authorities followed up on his story, hospital officials said they did not have a patient by that name, court documents detailed.
When confronted by law enforcement about the discrepancy, McDonald said he didn't know where his wife was and that they had gotten into an argument Thursday night, according to an affidavit.
Deputies detained McDonald for questioning, but he declined to speak with investigators and requested an attorney.
On Saturday afternoon, an investigator noticed that the McDonalds' garage door had been ripped off its tracks, court documents state. The same investigator covertly followed McDonald to a gun shop, where McDonald purchased a firearm and a significant amount of ammunition, according to arrest paperwork and accounts from Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar.
Salazar explained Saturday that deputies took McDonald into custody after the gun purchase out of concern for his mental health. Salazar said McDonald had left the gun shop in such a hurry, he left behind the recently purchased firearm and his ID and that deputies were unsure if he had suicidal tendencies.
While McDonald was at the gun shop, other deputies arrived at the home and saw a shovel in Andreen McDonald's Porsche Macan, something that wasn't there during a previous search of the home, the affidavit states. Salazar alluded to this new evidence during a Saturday night news conference and said then that authorities obtained an additional search warrant for the home based on the observation of evidence that was "in plain sight."
While serving the first search warrant Saturday night, the affidavit states that investigators located what they believed to be more blood evidence in the couple's silver Chevrolet Malibu, as well as Andre McDonald's cellphone and his wife's old cellphone.
While executing the second search warrant, authorities discovered that Andre McDonald early Saturday morning had purchased two 5-gallon barrels of gasoline, a hatchet, heavy-duty trash bags, gloves and a shovel. Court documents indicated that deputies found two purchase receipts for the aforementioned items in the trash and that the receipts had been torn up.
Authorities also found a fire pit that wasn't there during previous searches. Court documents note that it appeared the fire pit had been recently used to destroy papers and other items. Additionally, as investigators searched trash cans at the home, they found "heavy coveralls" that appeared to have been worn and a claw hammer with "woody plant debris," the affidavit states.
Authorities said the tools listed in the torn up purchase receipts were found in Andreen McDonald's Porsche Macan. The affidavit described the shovel as having "fresh dirt" on it, as if it had been used recently.
Authorities arrested Andre McDonald on Sunday for "altering, concealing and destroying" evidence as authorities conducted an investigation into his wife's disappearance, the affidavit states.
While authorities have not yet located Andreen McDonald's body, deputies said they believe she was killed. Law enforcement spent Sunday scouring fields, creeks and drainage ditches in the Wilderness Oak area off of U.S. Highway 281 with cadaver dogs.
So far, Andre McDonald hasn't offered authorities much help in locating his wife.
Salazar said McDonald, a cyberwarfare specialist who has a background in engineering, was "kind of smirking, kind of laughing, like he got one over on everybody.
"I think it's pretty evident that we're not joking around with him because he's behind bars."
Court records obtained by the Defenders on Monday show that McDonald had filed for divorce from his wife in February 2017. In the petition for divorce, McDonald noted that the marriage had "become insupportable because of discord or conflict of personalities." He later withdrew the petition, online court records show.
The Bexar County Sheriff's Office announced there will be a search party for Andreen McDonald on Tuesday morning. Anyone wishing to participate is asked to visit the BCSO command post on Overlook Parkway for briefing at 9 a.m. Groups will be deployed afterward.