SAN ANTONIO – A judge will hear more testimony on Thursday as the defense team aims to get evidence dismissed in the murder trial of an Air Force major accused of killing his wife.
Andre McDonald is accused of the 2019 murder of his wife Andreen McDonald, whose remains were found four months after she disappeared.
A jury has been in place since Tuesday, but the 399th District Court Judge Frank Castro is hearing pre-trial testimonies to decide which evidence will be allowed in the trial.
On Wednesday, Andreen McDonald’s friend, Carol Ghanbar, gave pretrial testimony about the history of the McDonalds’ marriage. She was the first to report the woman missing after she failed to report to work on March 1, 2019, and nobody could get a hold of her.
Ghanbar said through her friendship with Andreen McDonald, she revealed her marriage was having problems and that arguments with Andre McDonald often got physical.
She said she went to the McDonalds’ home to look for Andreen McDonald and entered the house after nobody answered the door. She said she noticed blood and hair on a light switch in Andreen McDonald’s bathroom.
The defense cross-examined Ghanbar with questions about why she entered the home without permission and also about her conversations with Bexar County Sheriff’s Office investigators about the case.
Andreen McDonald’s mother, Maureen Smith, also took the stand. She was living at the home with Andreen and Andre McDonald.
Smith was working the night her daughter disappeared, but she allowed BCSO to go into the home when they arrived. The defense questioned her about giving permission for BCSO to search the home that she did not own.
Both Smith and Ghanbar testified that Andreen McDonald was having an alleged affair with a man in Jamaica and had visited him a little over a month before she disappeared.
The actual trial isn’t expected to begin until Monday, Jan. 23. If found guilty, Andre McDonald faces up to life in prison.
Watch Thursday’s proceedings in the video player above and follow along as KSAT’s court reporter Erica Hernandez live tweets from the courtroom.
To catch up on this case, watch “Open Court: The Trial of Andre McDonald” out now on KSAT Plus and KSAT’s YouTube channel.
To catch up on this case, watch “Open Court: The Trial of Andre McDonald” out now on KSAT Plus and KSAT’s YouTube channel.