Murder accused says he got psychiatric help and slain second wife supported him
PORTLAND businessman Everton “Beachy Stout” McDonald allegedly told the police in a July 31, 2020 statement that whenever his second wife Tonia McDonald was suspected of being unfaithful, he would call her out for it, put an end to her extramarital affair, and then start the process of ironing things out with her.
Tonia was killed on July 20, 2020 and her burnt body, with stab wounds, was found in Sherwood Forest in Portland.
McDonald is charged with his wife’s murder and is currently being tried in the Home Circuit Court in Kingston, with co-accused Oscar Barnes.
On Friday the court heard that McDonald gave a very lengthy statement to cops in which he explained aspects of his love life, family life, financial status, and his health.
A clerk of court read out the statement.
“I had to see the psychiatrist every week. Tonia assisted me. In 2011, we got married. We had been living together since. We had one issue because of her unfaithfulness but we worked it out. I am very traumatised because I could never kill my wife. People said she participated in orgies, and I know she loved to party,” McDonald said in the statement.
The businessman also told cops that he was perturbed by people demonising his wife on social media.
“I can’t think of a reason why someone would want to kill her, but I didn’t kill her,” he said.
In another statement to cops on July 21, 2020 the businessman said that he and his wife were wealthy people who did not have to work and that there were issues that came up between them sometimes.
He said that his wife was not pleased after she allegedly saw nude photos of another woman in his cellphone.
“She put it on her status. She had a relationship with a policeman but I intervened. I had to drive to his house and I told him to leave my wife alone.”
McDonald said that he met Tonia in 2007 when he was driving past a shop owned by her mother. She was 20 years old then.
“We made a connection from then,” McDonald said in the statement.
He went on to share that he started to assist her by financing her evening classes and other aspects of her life. He claimed that they only started having sexual intercourse two years after they met.
McDonald also told the police that he is a businessman who operates more than one business in Portland and has been a businessman for more than 40 years. He owns two plazas and numerous other businesses, including supermarkets.
He said he is the father of four children and that he has a daughter who is a district attorney in New York and a son who is in the military.
He claimed that memories of the 2009 murder of his first wife, Merlene, always bring him back to a state of depression. He said he was not aware of Tonia having life insurance and said that he didn’t take out any for himself.
He also shared that his relationships with Tonia affected his first marriage to Merlene.
McDonald allegedly told the police that for 12 years prior to 2020 he had been on medication for diabetes, hypertension, and depression.
“Sometimes when I take the medication, I feel out of it. Sometimes I see six persons at once,” he said in the statement.