Officials: Man admits to slaying of ex-wife
Crystal McDowell had been missing for two weeks before her ex-husband came forward with a tearful confession. He told investigators he did it — he killed the mother of his children. He strangled her in the houseshehelpedpayfor.Then, authoritiessaid,hedumpedher body in a wooded area.
For two weeks, family had wondered what happened to the missing Realtor and former stewardess, the bubbly blonde friends described as “the life of the party.”
But on Saturday, after coming in for questioning by the Chambers County Sheriff’s Office, 44-year-old Steve McDowell led authorities to his ex-wife’s now-decomposing body, according to Sheriff Brian Hawthorne.
“We really don’t have any motive at this point in time,” he said.
The 37-year-old mother of two went missing on Aug. 25, after texting her new boyfriend that she was on her way to her ex’s house. When she failed
to show up for work, her friends knew something was wrong and the following day, her uncle reported her missing.
“For Crystal to just disappear and not make it to work is unheard of,” said longtime friend L.J. Adams. “My head right away went to Steve.”
Days later, Crystal’s flooded car turned up at a Motel 6 near Interstate 10, and authorities tracked her final cellphone ping to a marshy area of Baytown. The storm hampered initial recovery efforts, but once the skies began to clear, a dozen volunteers combed the area on foot and in ATVs.
As the case dragged on, the list of persons of interest ballooned to nine, including the ex-husband and the new boyfriend, local jeweler Paul Hargrave. Hargrave later provided surveillance footage of McDowell’s last moments at his house, and authorities said his alibi “exonerated” him.
The family called in a private investigator, and detectives questioned those who knew her best. Eventually, they brought in Steven McDowell and wound up with a full confession, Hawthorne said.
The couple had separated not long before the slaying, after Crystal filed for divorce early in the year, court records show.
She was granted the divorce three months before her disappearance, though Hawthorne said she was still staying with her ex while her Baytown townhome was remodeled.
Steve McDowell does not appear to have any prior criminal record or history of domestic violence in Texas, although Crystal also filed papers to divorce him back in 2008.
The couple’s children — ages 5 and 8 — were allowed to stay with their father following their mother’s disappearance but were put in CPS custody following Saturday’s arrest.
Despite pervasive online rumors to the contrary, Hawthorne said there is no reason to believe the children saw the crime.
In the months before her death, Crystal told friends the relationship had gotten “bad,” and Adams described it as “rocky.”
“Toward the end, she was telling her cousins and me through Facebook that she was getting a little scared of him,” he said. “Then he found out about Paul and he snapped.”
After authorities collared McDowell over the weekend, he was thrown in jail on $500,000 bail.
Funeral services for the slain woman are slated for Saturday in Baytown.