The ex-husband of a Texas realtor who went missing just before Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf Coast has been charged with murder by local authorities.
Steven McDowell, 44, was placed into custody and arraigned on homicide charges Saturday after the body of Crystal Seratte McDowell, 37, was discovered in a wooded area in Chambers County.
Chambers County Sheriff’s Office said it had nine persons of interest before finally arresting Steven McDowell over the weekend, according to The Daily News.
Steven McDowell, 44, was arrested in the death of his 37-year old ex-wife, Crystal Seratte
Crystal McDowell was last heard from on August 25 when she left her boyfriend’s home to go to collect her children from her ex-husband in Houston.
She never showed up and later missed several business appointments, prompting her uncle to report her missing on August 26.
Four days after vanishing, the woman’s Mercedes was found submerged in flood water in the parking lot of a Motel 6. It was recognized by someone who had seen her family’s frantic social media appeals to find her.
Two weeks after she first disappeared, Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne told ABC News that ‘Hurricane Harvey is not the reason Crystal McDowell is missing.’
Crystal McDowell, 37, is still missing two weeks after going missing from Houston on August 25, a day before Hurricane Harvey hit
She was last heard from on August 25 when she left her boyfriend’s home to go to collect her children from her ex-husband in Houston. She is pictured with her boyfriend, Paul Hargrave
Now, nearly two weeks after she first disappeared, Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne told ABC News ‘Hurricane Harvey is not the reason Crystal McDowell is missing.’ Both he and Hargrave (right), believe foul play was involved
On August 29, her car was found submerged in flood water at a Motel 6 in Houston but she was nowhere to be seen
Crystal said she was on her way to her ex-husband Steve McDowell’s home to collect their children, five and eight
After she failed to show up to collect their children, Steve revealed that he received a text message from her phone in which she claimed she was going to Dallas
McDowell has two children, five and eight, with Steve.
At the time, Steve claimed she never showed up at his house to collect the children.
He also said he received a text message from her before she was due to arrive in which she described plans to take the children to Dallas to ride out the storm.
Sheriffs later found a black bag containing her business paperwork at Steve’s house.
She is seen leaving his house on surveillance cameras inside the home. Circled is the black bag she was carrying
After leaving her boyfriend’s home, she text him to say the roads were clear. She also sent a photograph of a billboard advert of her realtor business which he had installed at his jewelry store and thanked him. It was their last exchange
Crystal’s uncle Jeff Walters said he does not believe she sent the text claiming she was going to Dallas and suggested it may have been written by someone else
A Former FBI agent said that when dealing with this kind of case, police usually look at a few different things.
‘One thing is the immediate circle of people around them, an ex husband, former employee,’ he told ABC. ‘Then you have to come up with a timeline.’
According to her uncle, McDowell recently started working with him in real estate, and everything was falling into place.
‘She said herself she was the happiest she had ever been in her life,’ Jeff Walters said, adding that he is like a second mother to the missing woman.
Her parents died when she was 11, and after that she lived with him.
Additionally, in the days before her disappearance, Crystal made teasing reference to a happy new life on social media.