A Queens woman who allegedly fatally shot her boyfriend and set his body on fire was arrested after police noticed during an interview that she had a broken fingernail and matched it to a fingernail found at the scene.
Dawn Mcintosh, 46, was arrested and charged with the murder of boyfriend Shawn McWhorter, 43, whose burnt body was found in an Astoria alleyway early Saturday morning. Police say Mcintosh got into a fight with McWhorter and then shot him—she then allegedly called her 21-year-old son, Donte Watkins (initially identified as her brother) and her 15-year-old daughter to help her move the body.
Cops say Mcintosh and her children initially tried to move McWhorter's body into his Jeep, but found his body too heavy. Mcintosh allegedly proceeded to set the body on fire and left the scene. Police were called to the scene at around 7 a.m., and McWhorter was pronounced dead—his body was so badly charred, they were only able to identify him by a "Sugar Sha" tattoo he had on his arm. They also found the fake fingernail at the scene.
Later, when police questioned Mcintosh, they noticed one of her fake fingernails was missing. “It’s a very unusual case,’’ NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told the Post. “On his body, we find a fingernail. We notice that when we talk to his girlfriend, she is missing a fingernail. We take her into custody and start speaking to her, and she makes the admission that she actually killed him.’’
Mcintosh allegedly told police that McWhorter cheated on her and owed her money. McWhorter's mother, Barbara McWhorter, told ABC 7 that Mcintosh was a "stalker."
