Hurricane Harvey Nearly Prevented the Recovery of Crystal McDowell's Body
What happened to Crystal McDosmartly? The mom of two disappeared just hours sooner than Hurricane Harvey hit Texas.
The June 5 episode of Dateline revisits the murder of Crystal McDowell, who disappeared simply hours ahead of Hurricane Harvey hit her Houston, Texas suburb in August 2017.
Due to the overwhelming destruction caused by the Category 4 hurricane, the seek for Crystal proved to be an onerous task and remained unsolved till the culprit led investigators to her body 15 days later.
What took place to Crystal McDoneatly?
The realtor’s ex-husband, Steven McDowell, strangled her to demise all the way through an issue on the morning of Aug. 25. Crystal had returned to his house, where she was staying temporarily with their two younger children, after spending the night time together with her boyfriend.
Steven admitted to police on Sept. 9 that he put her in a chokehold after she informed him that she didn't want to be with him or have anything to do with him. "I didn't mean to hurt her," he stated all the way through his confession. "I love her. I would do anything in my life to bring her back."
Crystal’s aunt, Cindy Seratte, instructed 48 Hours that there were all types of red flags all through the pair's 10-year marriage. "He had such a passionate love for her. It was almost unhealthy," she famous.
Around their first wedding ceremony anniversary in 2008, Crystal filed for divorce, however known as it off once Steven started making threats. "It was always, 'Well if you leave me, I'm just gonna kill myself,'" Crystal’s good pal, L.J. Adams, defined.
She stayed with him for nearly a decade, however the duo sooner or later were given divorced in June 2017, simply two months ahead of Crystal’s demise. "[Steven] was distraught, had always been distraught every time she tried to leave him," D.A. Cheryl Lieck published.
Three days after Crystal had long gone lacking, her Mercedes was present in the parking space of a Motel 6, main investigators to check the safety cameras on surrounding companies. Steven was once spotted at the Shell fuel station subsequent door, and a couple of days later, footage turned up appearing him stepping out of her automotive.
On Sept. 8, 14 days into the search for Crystal, Steven confessed to his college-aged daughter that he had murdered her former stepmom. "I asked him, 'Do you know where the body is?' And he just looked away from me and just, like, bawled his eyes out," Krysta McDosmartly recalled to 48 Hours.
The following day, Steven introduced police to a densely wooded house no longer a long way from his house the place he had buried the mom of his two youngest kids. Sheriff Brian Hawthorne described the terrain as "pretty tough," including, "It was a lotta work just tryin' to clear the trees and the limbs so that we could bring the body out."
During his trial, Steven McDowell claimed Crystal's demise was once a tragic coincidence.
The 46-year-old testified that his ex-wife’s strangulation was the consequence of a spontaneous hug that spiraled out of keep watch over. Needless to say, the jury didn’t purchase his outrageous clarification.
Following 5 days of testimony, they took simply three-and-a-half hours to seek out Steven in charge of murder and sentenced him to 50 years in prison. Crystal’s uncle, Jeff Walters, believes he should’ve gained a harsher punishment.
"He took her from us, and he deserves worse," the grieving relative stated. "He said he was going to destroy her so she couldn’t be with anyone else. I think it is wrong and he should stay there for the remainder of his life. I hope he suffers through it."
New episodes of Dateline air Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.
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