The mystery of a missing realtor mother of two has emerged from Hurricane Harvey, and it seems unlikely to have been caused by the storm, according to police.
Crystal McDowell, 38, left her boyfriend’s house in Baytown, Texas on August 25 to pick her little boy and girl up from her ex-husband’s home 18-miles-away.
‘She texted me to say road conditions were good around 8:30am,’ her boyfriend Paul Hargrave told CBS. That was the last communication anyone would have with Crystal, 24-hours before the catastrophic storm would touch down with full force.
Crystal McDowell, 38, was last seen the morning of August 25 and mysteriously vanished a day before Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas
Crystal McDowell with her ex husband Steve McDowell and their two kids
Crystal missed an appointment to meet with clients Friday afternoon. Her uncle Jeff Walters, who works at the family’s realty company, reported her as a missing person on Saturday.
Her uncle says he spoke to Crystal’s ex husband Steve McDowell searching for answers as to what could have possibly happened to her.
‘He showed me a message on his phone where she said she was going to get the kids and go to Dallas. I have reservations about believing that she sent that message,’ Walters said to CBS.
Crystal’s car was found submerged in the parking lot of a Motel 6 between her boyfriend’s house and her ex-husband’s house
Crystal is seen on surveillance video leaving her boyfriend’s home Friday morning, August 25
Walters, who says he’s raised her as his own daughter, was heading to Dallas to be with their elderly aunt, and that if Crystal wanted to come along she would have said so.
‘Our main objective is just to get Crystal back home,’ Walters told Inside Edition.
Both Walters and Hargrave posted frantically on social media to see if anyone saw Crystal.
Meanwhile the storm was now ravaging Texas and police efforts were thwarted until the natural disaster had let up.
They caught a break when someone said they saw Crystal’s Mercedes with the matching license plate, submerged in water at a Motel 6 in Mont Belvieu, located between her boyfriend and her ex-husband’s home.
‘I think that there was probably some animosity between boyfriends and the husband. The husband might think that the boyfriend had something to do with it,’ Brian Hawthrone of the Chambers County Sheriffs Office told CBS News.
‘The boyfriend might think that husband has something to do with it. Which is exactly what we are faced with right now.’
Crystal texted her boyfriend Paul Hargrave (right) about taking her kids out on that Friday, and sending him a thank you for promoting her on his store’s billboard
Hargrave checked in around 1pm and didn’t hear back from Crystal
Speaking to HLN Sheriff Hawthore got in depth as to two black bags Crystal had in her possession on that Friday.
Her boyfriend’s surveillance video at his home shows Crystal leaving with what appears to be a large black overnight bag.
There are multiple vantage points at Hargrave’s home as he is a jeweler and, he explains, the nature of his business requires security.
Missing person fliers for Crystal McDowell are being circulated online and on the Sheriff’s website
Crystal, her family says, keeps her real estate paperwork in a black briefcase in her car, according to HLN.
Sheriff Hawthorne tells HLN ‘There was a black bag found next to the computer at her ex husbands house. That is correct. It had real estate documents and items, it was a black briefcase, it was not like a Coach clothing bag. It was not something a woman would use as an overnight bag.’
Hawthore adds: ‘As the Sheriff I will tell you personally think there is some wrong doing in this. I think there is a suspicious nature. I don’t think she has left on her own. I think there has been foul play at this point.’
Crystal’s family fears the very worst, that the natural disaster of Hurricane Harvey could have been used to cover up a sinister crime.
Crystal Seratte McDowell is 5’4″ and weighs approximately 110 pounds with blonde hair and green eyes. Anyone with information should call the Chambers County Sheriff’s Office at 409-267-2500.