A family member revealed new details about a woman who was found dead inside her own car on the side of a highway in Texas on March 2.
Police officers were called to Highway 90 in San Antonio on Sunday and found a car that had been parked on the side of the road since the previous night. Inside was Annette Juarez, 37, shot dead.
Estella Juarez, the victim’s mother, said that her daughter was last seen around 8 p.m. on Saturday night. She was driving away from her house with her ex-boyfriend.
“He had threatened to kill himself if she didn’t go with him. So to keep him away from her children, she went with him,” Juarez told News 4. “His car was here (in front of her house), so in the morning it was gone. Obviously, he came back and got the car.”
Family describes final hours of woman found murdered on side of highway https://t.co/8nJNf54qew pic.twitter.com/e6H2zkiv4A
— News 4 San Antonio (@News4SA) March 5, 2019
Annette Juarez tried to avoid her ex-boyfriend after they broke up, at one point obtaining a restraining order, “but he kept coming around,” her mother said.
Estella Juarez wants the ex-boyfriend to turn himself in.
Police haven’t named him as a suspect in the case of yet.
BREAKING: Police say a woman was found dead inside this SUV parked on the shoulder of the Westbound lanes of Highway 90 near Harriman Place. It’s a suspicious death. Waiting on ME to arrive. There is obvious trauma. #kens5eyewitness pic.twitter.com/AxYCF20ylS
— Henry RamosTV (@HenryRamosTV) March 3, 2019
Death Ruled a Homicide
The revelations came after the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled that Juarez was killed.
The homicide ruling came on Monday, reported the San Antonio Express-News.
No witnesses have come forward but a person who lives in the area told police he saw the car parked with its hazard lights on late Saturday.
He didn’t see anyone in or around it, he added.
Texas Man Arrested After Wife Vanishes
A Texas man bought a shovel, an ax, gasoline, work gloves, heavy-duty trash bags, and a “burn barrel” after friends reported his wife missing and he tried to destroy the receipt for the purchases, police officials said.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said that an investigation into the disappearance of Andreen Nicole McDonald, 29, who went missing on March 1, led to her husband, 40-year-old Andre McDonald.
“We believe that Andreen McDonald is no longer living,” Salazar told reporters on Sunday.
Andre McDonald was arrested and charged with tampering with evidence in connection with her death, reported KENS 5.
Officials think McDonald planned to dispose of his wife’s body but didn’t get a chance to do so, prompting a search for her in ravines and creek beds.
McDonald works in cyberwarfare for the U.S. Air Force at Lackland Air Force Base.
Andreen McDonald didn’t show up to work on Friday. She’s described as 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighing 160 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.
Salazar said that she could have left the country on her own but authorities found personal items she likely would have taken with her if she left, leading them to believe she’s dead.
Andre McDonald declined to talk to police and authorities found surveillance footage of him buying a gun and ammunition at a gun store. “(He) departed the store in a hurry; so much so that he left the gun he just purchased and his identification behind in the store,” Salazar said.
They later found out he bought the items that are suspicious in the context of his wife going missing. “We found some things really quite disturbing,” Salazar said.
“There was quite a bit of effort that went into destroying that receipt to try to prevent us seeing where it was purchased and when it was purchased,” Salazar added, reported the San Antonio Express-News. “That led us to obtain a warrant of arrest for Andre McDonald for the charge of tampering with evidence.”
McDonald was filmed being booked into jail and he answered a question with a short statement, saying: “I love my daughter. I love my family. That’s it.”
