I knew she would never leave her kids in the middle of a hurricane. I always knew it was not going to be good. Crystal was gone and there were lots of reasons to worry. She had numerous lovers, men and women. She had a husband and boyfriend failing the polygraph. What the hell is going on. Hurricane harvey was moving in this direction. We were stuck in the house and we immediately went to social media. Someone knew where she was. Someone who liked to play games. He thought he was smarter than we were. Willing to trade one night of freedom. Let me go home and i will tell you everything. In exchange for the terrible truth. If he couldnt have her, nobody could. Hello, and welcome to dateline. Crystal mcdowell was a divorced mom, itching to start a new life when she vanished. Then, Hurricane Harvey decimated her texas town of brought the search for crystal to a halt. And the lead investigator forged ahead, covering a series of clues. As the floodwaters receded, he discovered the same deadly storm that slowed the investigation had also flushed out crystals killer. Here is Dennis Murphy with before the storm. The woman captured on Security Camera, moving goes like from one room to the next is 37yearold crystal, real estate agent. Its thursday, august 25, 2017. 7 35 a. M. , crystal gets into her black mercedes and backside of the driveway. Looks like shes on her way to work. Crystal never makes it that they. Text, phone calls, and emails go unanswered. When her extended family gathers later that evening to watch a boxing match, the cousin says they arent sure if they should be annoyed or concerned. It was the night at the meriwether and mcgregor via. My whole family is here my brother comes up and he is like, crystal is missing. In my head, im like what . Find her. And he is like, shes missing. No one has talked to her until 7 00 in the morning. That doesnt mean anything. Her phone could be broke. Shes busy. She works a lot. Her aunt, a Local Beautician was also dismissive when her son called to say crystal was missing. He said mom, have you heard crystal is missing . I am like, whatever. Shes not missing. I texted her and said hi, babe, where are you at . Tried to call her. No answer and thats when i started to worry. Blessed with a trifecta of looks, smarts, and charm, crystal was a favorite of real estate clients and coworkers. Her main passion was her two children. I love you. The love is obvious to see. The love her her husband was not a strong. After 10 years of marriage, crystal split with her husband but the remodel of her new home took longer than the diverse. This is where her life story gets complicated. While she waited to get the keys to a place of her room. She continued to live with her now exhusband. Like i said, complicated. Tell me about the divorce. Who wanted out . Crystal, for sure. So she gave him the walking papers. Yes. How did he take it . Not will. Even though their divorce, their spending nights together . Yes. They call the Sheriffs Department to report crystal missing. When we get a call like that, im going to take it serious. The first up was the house to see if the exhusband had heard from her. His Immediate Response was did something happen . Is there something i should know what . Then he threw a curve. He said crystal had a new boyfriend and there were nights when crystal just never came home. Awkward deal for any recent ex husband to share, but to the deputy, wasnt so much what mcdowell said but what he said how he said it. Im asking a general question. My instincts were kicking off that whole moment. The husband had a fishy story, response to what youre asking . Just to soulman arisen. Thats when the deputy asked for packed up to help figure out this mess. The detective got the call. The first thing i noticed that bothered me was they had been divorced for six months but he still wearing a wedding ring. Why . Thats not normal. What was his demeanor like as you were talking to him . Almost cocky. He put himself out there that he was smarter than we were. Just like that the search for Crystal Slingshot from a wellbeing check to a possible homicide which meant looping in the da. Early on, hours into it, when you went around the table with the investigators, who did you think the suspect was . A pitstop exhusband. When i heard she was divorced but still living with her ex husband, and she had a boyfriend, the first thing i thought was the husband did it. That seemed less certain after detectives spoke to crystal mikey boyfriend who struck them as being as offkilter as the husband. He was cooperative but had that air about him also. The husband gives us a special. The boyfriend is giving us cooperative. They were both cooperative but to the point that it was almost questionable. You wondered why they were so helpful . Yes, sir. What was going on . It was suspicious that the husband never reported crystal is missing, but the boyfriend whose house crystal stated the night before she disappeared, the place where these Surveillance Videos were recorded, he never filed a missing person report either. Crystals boyfriend did Something Else that attracted the attention of investigators. He gave the Surveillance Videos to the media before them. Coming up. Its being played on cable tv before you have seen it. That is correct. The jeweler was a Crime Suspect for me. And there could have been many more. She had numerous lovers throughout her marriage. Men and women. When dateline continues. Ti , take care of it with gold bonds age renew formulations of 7 moisturizers and 3 vitamins. For all your skins, gold bond. Try killing bugs the worryfree way. Not the other way. Zevo traps use light to attract and trap flying insects with no odor and no mess. They work continuously, so you dont have to. Zevo. Peoplefriendly. Bugdeadly. smelling ew. 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Org they become centers of their communities. Dennis murphy baytown is a notch in texass bayou belt. Its a land of pump jacks and refineries ptown is a notch and texass bayou belt. A land of refineries the size of cities. Fortunes ebb and flow with the price of crude and in august 2017, the price per barrel was on the rise. Banks were lending. Houses were being flipped and luxury items like diamonds were in demand. The oldest and biggest jewelry store. Paul hargrave manage the store and he was crystal stayed the night before she went missing. Seem to be a casual dinner like any of us would have been a nice restaurant in houston. The Chambers County chair of. Her companion that night, how would you describe . A new boyfriend . Yes, a new boyfriend. And hes a wellknown name. Correct. The Jewelry Stores been there for 50 plus years. She has dinner then goes home to spend the night at his place . That is correct. He was getting in the shower and she had gotten dressed and left. That makes him the last person known to see her alive. It puts him as a person of interest. The Investigative Status was soon upgraded. Remember the Security Camera footage of crystal leaving for work. Those videos were recorded at hargraves home. We know that because he gave us and other News Organizations of footage, but the sheriff said hargrave didnt give it to his investigators. Didnt even tell them about it, not at first. They really some of the video and pictures to the National Media before our detectives headed. Its being played on cable tv before youve seen a. Thats correct. That didnt sit well with the share. Bottom line is the jeweler was a Prime Suspect. But the da had the opposite leak when i came to the surveillance footage. She thought the videos backed up the boy froms alibi. All that did is confirm what i already thought. I did not think he had anything to do with the. You werent looking at the boyfriend. He would have had a motive. The motive rests with the ex husband. Any logical person is saying, okay, theyre divorced. She spends the night with new boyfriend and she comes home the next morning . Exhusband is supposed to be okay with that . No. I dont care who you are. Youre not okay with it. The da was looking hard at the husband and the sheriff was betting on the boyfriend. It had to be one or the other, right . Maybe not. Did i mention the crystals life was complicated . Her name is crystal because they named her after crystal meth. Her parents both died when she was 11. They died within six months of each other from aids, from drug use. At one point, around 13, she was abducted by a man and he kept her hostage, captor and a chicken coop. Sexually assaulted her. She managed to escape. Eventually ended up down here in baytown with her grandmother and paternal aunt. Crystal eventually ended up living with her cousins family and somehow clawed her way back from the abuse she suffered as a child which could explain others photos and videos crystal took with her own daughter. She may have wanted the world to see just how much her own little girl was loved, wanted, and protective. When i think of crystal, think of loving. She was very loving and a hard worker. Those of the two things i think of. It was jades parents who introduce crystal to her eventual husband steve. My dad has been friends with steve, childhood friends, since forever. Ive always grown up around steve. Tell me about steve. Who do you remember . He is like a big kid. And like a big kid, he left his toys. Video games and mustangs. I remember the day she met him. Very smitten. I found somebody i love, aunt cindy. Hes funny. We talk a lot and i thought she met the man of her dreams. And then you met him. Then i met him. What did you think . I thought he was the kindest person i ever met. We were always at the house playing. They are goofy and silly and would go on trips and things like that. The troops or a job perk. Shortly after her marriage to steve, she landed a Flight Attendant position with express jet and with her outgoing personality, she was soon an airline favor. Thats when her life became even more complicated. She had numerous lovers throughout her marriage. Men and women. She was very social. Because she traveled all over the united states, she had Flight Attendant friends and pilots all over the country. There were a lot of players and a lot of Different Directions we found ourselves going in the first week. And shes with people here and there, you have an angry husband . Angry wife . That is correct. That was some of the avenue we were looking at was other angry spouses. Crystal mcdowell had been missing two days by the time the Sheriffs Office had uncovered all of these promising leads to pursue. Suddenly, pursuing leads became next to impossible. As Little Baytown suffered a disaster of epic proportions. It was a biblical storm. I felt i was on no was our. Coming up. It kept raining. It changed everything. Hurricane puts a Homicide Investigation on hold, but never ever. Immediately, we went to social media. We put pictures of her. Her license plate. When dateline continues. T cando Mildewy Tiles . Cando these . Yup, its the cando can. Nothing kills more germs on more surfaces than lysol disinfectant spray. Ugh. Cabin crew cross check. That yellows not gonna fly. Buckle up whoa Reality Checkup theres toothpaste white, and theres crest 3dwhitestrips white. Whitens like a 400 professional treatment. [pilot] prepare for nonstop smiles. Crest. terrie if youre a smoker. I have a tip for you. Make a video of yourself. Before all this happens. announcer you can quit. For free help, call 1800quitnow looking for a smarter way to mop . Try the swiffer powermop. An allinone cleaning tool, with a 360degree swivel head that goes places a regular mop just cant. Mop smarter with the swiffer powermop. Dennis murphy record breaking, epic, biblical, all words to describe Hurricane Harvey, meaning it was a storm like few had ever seen. Recordbreaking. Epic. Biblical. All words to describe Hurricane Harvey, meaning it was a storm like few had ever seen. Harvey was not only massive but slowmoving. Once It Hit Houston and baytown, it weirdly stop. It kept raining. Half of the county was underwater. We were already doing high water rescues. It seemed no one was talking about a missing woman any longer. The whole community was fighting just to survive. What was the scariest moment . When the water started coming down my walls in my house, and it was overflowing. I was watching to see which way it was going to come in first, the front door or back door. Ive never experienced that before. It just never stop. There were boats traveling the roads. The only communication was think got our phones were working. She was stranded in her moms home with newborns. I have two screaming twins. Half Breast Formula and formula. I was scared id run out of formula. With the county in peril, the search for Crystal Mcdowell was no longer a priority for the Sheriffs Office. I had no choice but to divert some of the resources to rescuing the citizens. You dont have the manpower. You dont have the resources. When you have this much devastation, you never have enough manpower. So jade picked up the slack. She did the only thing she could think of to find crystal. Immediately, we went to social media. What kinds of things to do put up . Pictures of her and her license plate. Because her car is missing. Yes. We are posting and sharing. I keep sharing and keep sharing it. Jade was crowdsourcing the search for crystal, and what do you know . I get a text from someone and it said hey, jade, i dont know if they found her cousin or her car yet but its at motel 6. Im like how do you know its her car . Do you have a picture . She said, my friend posted it on snapchat. Was like, this mercedes about to be flooded. I would be so mad if this was my car. Jades friend forwarded this picture of the car. Its the car. Water. The water is right underneath the license plate. And its crystals . Is crystals car. I tell my dad that crystals car is at motel 6. He is like, how do you know . I sent him the picture while im on the phone and his reaction was the same. This is her car. With the roads and fields flooded, jades family could only get to the motel 6 by boat. Same with the detect is from the Sheriffs Office. There was an error boat out during rescues, to get to the hotel. The motel 6 is under. Get in the airboat and make good around the hotel and sure enough. Finding crystals car was a huge break, but one wrapped in a riddle. Did Crystal Leave for mercedes at the motel 6 or did someone else . You could tell it was haphazardly parked. And the keys are inside. Whats going on . Come and get a. I want someone to take this car. Steel me . Absolutely. No one seem to take the bait . A couple tried but the water was too high. The car was towed to a garage and a team with through it. Forensically, what happens . If they process the vehicle, did they come up with anything . Nothing. Thats when dateline posted a missing american report. The story generated no usable leads. By the time the last remnants of the storm howled out of texas, a week had gone by. With the county in shambles, the sheriff knew he needed outside assist on the case and he put out a call for help. One answered by Texas Rangers steve. What do you do . Ground zero. Went in like nothing had been done before. On day one of this reboot, he had exhusband sitting in a chair for his first formal interview. Look, you are the exhusband and we will take your story. Ive got to rule you out as a suspect. Hes cooperative, right . Once you reached out, he was cooperative. He told the same story he told the deputies a week earlier. He hadnt seen crystal since thursday night when he left on a date. According to him, thats the last time he saw her alive. You a gunslinger and hat and boots. He went through extensive training on how best to interview a suspect by reading behavior and body language. Tell me about his demeanor . What you are seeing as much as he is saying . Probably lack of sincere concern. Even for what we know as an ex wife. Lets take a lie detector test. He said he would be happy to. And . He failed. Albaghdadi flaunt . He couldnt have failed any worse. That would make him the Prime Suspect but it didnt jive with everything he was hearing. From families they were talking to. They all thought steve treated Crystal Wright and was a good person for crystal. All agreed he was a involved and loving dad. According to the ranger, Paul Hargrave is the when the family pointed fingers at. They didnt know anything about him. The boyfriend was brought in for questioning and he cooperated. He agreed to be strapped to the polygraph. Failed miserably. You have