"Disturbing" items found in home of Air Force major after wife's disappearance, sheriff says
Police in Texas have arrested an Air Force major on charges of evidence tampering as they investigate the disappearance of his wife, who is feared dead. CBS affiliate KENS-TV reports Andreen McDonald, 29, was reported missing when she didn't show up for work at a local assisted living facility she owns Friday, according to the Bexar County Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff Javier Salazar said investigators executed a search warrant on the San Antonio home of McDonald and her husband, Andre McDonald, who works for the U.S. Air Force at Lackland Air Force Base. Salazar said authorities uncovered items including a shovel, an ax, work gloves and gasoline — which led them to believe McDonald was planning to dispose of a body, the station reports.
"We found some things really quite disturbing," Salazar said.
Andre McDonald, 40, was booked on a charge of evidence tampering Sunday afternoon because he had allegedly torn up a receipt for those items, which were recently purchased, reports the San Antonio Express-News.
Salazar said investigators believe the missing woman is "no longer living," the station reports. Salazar said investigators also suspect the couple's 6-year-old daughter, who is autistic and mostly non-verbal, may have witnessed the crime.
"To us, it's pretty evident that she saw something. She saw what happened to her mom," Salazar told the station.
Salazar described Andre McDonald as a person of interest in his wife's disappearance and said he refused to speak with investigators or help them find his wife.
As he was led away by deputies Sunday afternoon, McDonald told reporters, "I love my daughter, I love my family, that's it."
Authorities were using cadaver dogs to search for Andreen McDonald's body near Wilderness Oaks, a rugged area north of San Antonio with many creek beds and drainage ditches, the station reports.
"Quite frankly, there may be a body out laying in the woods that again, would help us bring closure to this case and to one little girl I feel that we owe answers to," Salazar said.
