In the late summer of 2015, the life of 43-year-old Shawn McWhorter came to a brutal and tragic end in Queens, New York. His death, the result of a violent domestic dispute, would unravel a grim story of infidelity, anger, and a desperate attempt to conceal a heinous crime.
On the morning of August 29, 2015, firefighters responded to a call about a fire in an alleyway in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens.
There, they discovered the burning body of a man, later identified as Shawn McWhorter. An initial investigation at the scene revealed that McWhorter had been shot before being set on fire. The New York City Medical Examiner's office would later confirm that a gunshot wound was the cause of death, ruling it a homicide.
Suspicion quickly fell upon McWhorter's girlfriend, 46-year-old Dawn Mcintosh. During an argument over McWhorter's infidelity, Mcintosh shot him. In a desperate bid to cover up the murder, she enlisted the help of her 21-year-old son, Donte Watkins, and her 15-year-old daughter, Zanasia McIntosh, who both lived with her. The initial plan was to move McWhorter's body, but when they found him too heavy to lift, they resorted to setting him on fire. A crucial piece of evidence that led investigators to Mcintosh was a fingernail found on McWhorter's body, which was missing from Mcintosh's hand when she was questioned by police.
Dawn Mcintosh was arrested and charged with murder, criminal possession of a weapon, and tampering with physical evidence. Her son, Donte Watkins, was also arrested and charged with tampering with physical evidence for his role in attempting to dispose of the body. While her daughter Zanasia was present during the attempt to move the body, prosecutors announced that she would not face any criminal charges.
In August 2020, Dawn Mcintosh pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter. She was sentenced to 24 years in prison, followed by five years of post-release supervision. During the sentencing, a letter from McWhorter's son was read aloud in court, expressing the profound and lasting pain caused by his father's murder. McWhorter's mother also spoke, conveying the immense suffering her family had endured. While Mcintosh expressed remorse, calling herself a 'broken woman' who made a 'horrible mistake,' the sentence brought a measure of closure to a case marked by its brutality. Online sources available do not detail the final outcome of the charges brought against Donte Watkins.
