Updated Tuesday, Sept. 1, 4:18 p.m.
An Astoria woman enlisted the help of her children this weekend to get rid of the body of her boyfriend, whom she shot twice after a dispute over infidelity and money, according to authorities.
Dawn McIntosh, 46, has been charged with murder, criminal possession of a weapon, tampering with physical evidence and endangering the welfare of a child alongside her 21-year-old son Donte Watkins, who has been charged with tampering with physical evidence, in connection to the death of 43-year-old Shron McWhorter.
If convicted, McIntosh, who was ordered held without bail at her arraignment on Tuesday, faces up to 25 years to life in prison and her son, held on $5,000 bail, faces up to four years in prison. Both were ordered to return to court on Sept. 15.
Police found McWhorter’s body on fire after receiving a 911 call regarding an unconscious man in the rear of a location on 14th Street in Astoria at about 6:57 a.m. Saturday. After the FDNY extinguished the flames, the victim was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Investigators also discovered that McWhorter had been shot two times, once in the chest and the other in the torso.
The victim’s body was also so badly burned that investigators could only identify McWhorter by a “Sugar Sha” tattoo on his left arm, according to published reports.
McWhorter, who is from Brooklyn, and McIntosh were in a relationship and had been arguing over problems of infidelity and money prior to the shooting, police said.
According to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, after shooting the victim McIntosh asked her children — 15-year-old Zanasia McIntosh and 21-year-old Watkins – for help in disposing of McWhorter’s body. Watkins is charged for trying to lift the body into his mother’s Jeep after she asked him to do it.
“The defendant is accused of a particularly heinous crime in which she fatally shot her boyfriend and then tampered with evidence by, among other things, setting the deceased’s body on fire. At the same time, it is alleged that she enlisted the aid of her teenage daughter and adult son in an attempt to cover up her involvement in the crime,” Brown said.
McIntosh allegedly then lit McWhorter’s body on fire, disposed of the firearm used to shoot him, washed the bloody clothes she had been wearing during the shooting, and moved McWhorter’s car from the crime scene to the street.
According to published reports, upon investigating the scene, authorities found a fingernail on the victim’s body and during questioning an investigator noticed McIntosh had only nine out of 10 fingernails.
McIntosh later provided information admitting to shooting McWhorter, police sources said.
Editor’s note: An earlier version, based on information provided by the NYPD, incorrectly identified Dawn McIntosh and Donte Watkins as siblings instead of mother and son, and also initially had the victim’s name as Shawn instead of Shron. We regret any confusion that may have resulted.
