The mother in Houston who disappeared the same day Hurricane Harvey hit did not go missing because of the storm, police have said.
Crystal McDowell, 38, 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.
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.’
The sheriff said police are pursuing multiple leads and suspect foul play was involved.
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
Chambers County Sheriff’s Office beefed up its search effort on Wednesday by enlisting a local equestrian unit to help them search an area near the Cedar Bayou river.
Speaking to ABC News, Crystal’s boyfriend Paul Hargrave said he is convinced foul play was involved.
He said the morning she went missing was a normal morning, and that she’d he remembers her saying ‘Alright, I’m taking off,’ before leaving to collect her children from her ex-husband’s house.
‘She did send me some text messages… a little after that,’ Hargrave said.
‘She had mentioned that she was going to stay at the house, the ex-husband’s house, with the kids or, depending on the traffic and how the weather conditions were, she was going to take them out.’
Crystal stayed at her boyfriend Paul Hargrave’s home on August 24 the night before she disappeared
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 her ex-husband Steve.
Steve claims 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.
Her uncle Jeff Walters has cast doubt on the authenticity of that message.
‘We aren’t sure she sent those messages to him. She never told me of plans to go to Dallas for the storm,’ he told Dateline.
He also said Crystal was still living at her ex-husband’s house while works on her townhouse were ongoing.
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
It is not clear how long the pair have been separated or how long she has been dating Paul.
Walters said he also heard from McDowell the morning she went missing, and that she had texted him about a her boyfriend put up for her.
Hargrave put up a billboard advertisement for McDowell’s real estate business, and showed ABC news texts from his girlfriend with a photo of the ad and a text saying ‘You are so sweet.’
He replied: ‘I love you and I’ll always support you.’
He said he started getting worried when he hadn’t heard from his girlfriend in a few hours, telling ABC that she normally replies back very quickly.
Three days later McDowell’s Mercedes was found flooded in a parking lot of a Motel 6 less than 10 miles from home, but she was nowhere nearby.
Sheriff Hawthorne said he doesn’t believe she parked it there, and that whoever did ‘hoped that somebody would take it.’
‘They left the car unlocked and they left the keys in the console,’ he explained.
Hargrave is convinced foul play is involved.
‘She wouldn’t just get up and leave her kids. She wouldn’t do that so I think something is horribly wrong,’ he said
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,’ Walters, who said he is like a second mother to the missing woman, explained.
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.
‘I’ve never been happier in my whole life than I am right now. God is so good,’ she wrote.
When friends begged for more information, she replied: ‘Details soon.’
Crystal’s boyfriend and uncle have pulled money together and hired a private investigator, they are offering a $15,000 reward to anyone who can help find her.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Chamber County Sheriff’s Office on 409-267-2500.
Two days before she vanished, Crystal said cryptically that she was ‘happier’ than she had ever been and she told friends she would give them ‘details soon’
A $15,000 reward is now being offered to anyone with information on her whereabouts