The answer would have to wait. Hurricane harvey is moving this direction. Were stuck in the house. Immediately we went to social media. What kind of things did you put . Pictures of her. Her license plate. Someone knew who she was. Willing to trade one night of freedom. He said im ready to talk. Let me go home. Tomorrow morning i will tell you everything. In exchange for the terrible truth. 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 and brought the search for crystal to a halt. An elite investigator forged ahead, uncovering a series of clues. And 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 ghostlike from one room to the next is 37yearold crystal mcdowell, a Real Estate Agent from baytown, texas. Its thursday, august 25th, 2017. At 7 35 a. M. , crystal gets into her black mercedes coupe and backs out of the driveway. On her way to work, but crystal never makes it. Texts, phone calls, and emails go unanswered. When crystals extended family gathers later that evening to watch a pay per view boxing match, cousin jay cherry says they arent sure if they should be annoyed or concerned. It was the night of the mayweather and mcgregor fight. My whole family is here. My brother comes up to me and is like, crystals missing. But in my head im like, what . Like, you dont youre like, find her. That doesnt make sense. Yeah. Hes like, no, shes missing. No ones talked to her since 7 00 in the morning. Im like, that doesnt mean anything. Her phone could be broke, these busy, she works a lot. Crystals aunt, a local beautici beautician, was also dismissive when her son called to say crystal was missing. He said, mom, have you order cryst crystals missing . Im like, whatever, shes not missing. I text and ask hey, babe, how are you . Where you at . I waited, blew it off, started watching tv, tried to call her, no answer. Thats when i started to worry. Blessed with a trifecta of looks, smarts, and charm, crystal was a favorite with both her real estate clients and coworkers. Her main passion, though, was her two children. I love you. The love she had for them is obvious to see. The love for her husband, though, wasnt as strong. After ten years of marriage, crystal split with husband steve mcdowell. But the remodel of her new home ended up taking longer than the divorce. And this is where crystals life story gets complicated. While she waited to get the keys to a place of her own, crystal continued to live with her nowexhusband. Like i said, complicated. Tell me about the divorce. Who wanted out . Which one of them . Crystal for sure. So she gave him his walking papers . Yes. How did he take it . Not well. So even though theyre divorced, theyre spending nights together. Right. Right. Now after 24 hours of silence, the family called the Chambers CountySheriffs Department to report crystal missing. Any time bwe get a call like that, take it seriously. Reporter first up was the mcdowell house to see if crystals exhusband had heard from her. His Immediate Response was, you know, did something happen . Is there . Ing i should know of . Then mcdowell threw a curve. He said crystal had a new boyfriend, and there were nights when crystal just never came home. An awkward tale for any recent exhusband to share. But to deputy hamis, it wasnt so much what mcdowell said but how he said it. In a real kind of strange tone of voice. Im just asking a general question. My instincts were kicking off that this whole moment. That the husband had sort of a fishy story or response what that you were asking him . Just the whole mannerism. Didnt appear to be acting normal per se. Thats when deputy hamis asked for back up to help figure out this mess. Detective Donnie Walters got the call. The first thing that bothered me was they had been divorced for six months. Yet hes still wearing a wedding ring. Why . Thats not normal normal behavior. What was his demeanor like as youre talking to him . Almost cocky. He put himself out that he was a lot smarter than we were. And just like that, the search for crystal slingshotted from a simple wellbeing check to a possible homicide. Which meant looping in da cheryl lee. Early on in the investigation, hours into it, when you went around the table with all your investigators, who did you think the suspect was . A pissed off exhusband. When i heard that she was divorced but still living with her exhusband and that she had a boyfriend, the first thing i thought was, the husband did it. But those suspicions seemed less certain after detectives spoke to crystals boyfriend who struck them as being as off kilter as the husband. He was coop ran cooperativ but had that air about him. The exhusband and boyfriend have given suspicion. It was cooperative to a point that it was almost questionable. You wondered why they were being so helpful. Yes, sir. So what was going on . It was certainly suspicious that crystals exhusband never reported crystal missing. But the boyfriend whose house crystal stayed at the night before she disappeared, the place where the surveillance videos were recorded, well, he never filed a missing person report either. Crystals boyfriend did Something Else that attracted the attention of investigators he gave those surveillance videos to the media before them. Coming up played on cable tv before your guys had seen it. That is correct. The bottom line is the jeweler was a prime suspect for me. And there could be many more. She had numerous lovers throughout her marriage, men and women. Women. Heres to the duers. To all the people who realize they can du more with less asthma thanks to dupixent, the addon treatment for specific types of moderatetosevere asthma. Dupixent isnt for sudden breathing problems. It can improve lung function for better breathing in as little as 2 weeks and help prevent severe asthma attacks. Its not a steroid but can help reduce or eliminate oral steroids. Dupixent can cause serious allergic reactions including anaphylaxis. Get help right away if you have rash, shortness of breath, chest pain, tingling or numbness in your limbs. Tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection and dont change or stop your asthma treatments, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. Are you ready to du more with less asthma . Talk to your asthma specialist about dupixent. If your financial situation has changed, we may be able to help. There he is. Oh, wow. Youre doing, uh, youre doing really great with the twirling. Dad, if you want to talk, i have a break at 3 00. Okay, okay. Im going. Im gone. Like like i wasnt here. [ horn honks ] keep keep doing it, buddy. Switch to progressive and you can save hundreds. You know, like the sign says. Baytown is a notch in texas bayou belt. Its a land of refineries the size of cities. Fortunes ebb and flow with the price of crude. In august, twec2017, the price barrel was on the rise. Banks were lending, houses were being flipped, luxury items like diamonds were in demand. Baytowns oldest and biggest Jewelry Store rob dozens sops. Paul hargrave managed the storement he was crystals date the night before she went missing. A casual dinner like any of us would have in a nice restaurant over there in houston. Chambers county sheriff Brian Hawthorne her companion, is he a new boyfriend . Yes, very new. Hes a guy with a wellknown name. Jeweller . The Jewelry Store has been there for 50plus years. Shes had dinner that night and goes home to spend the night at his place . That is correct. He told us the last time he had seen her as he was getting in the shower and show had gotten dressed and left. That makes him the last person to have seen her alive which puts him in an investigative jam, right . It puts him as a person of interest. The investigative status was soon upgraded. Remember the footage of crystal leaving for work . Those videos were recorded at hargraves home. We know that because he gave us and other news organizations the footage. The sheriff said hargrave didnt give the videos to his investigators, didnt tell them about it not at first. They released some of the video and pictures to the National Media before our detectives had it. Its being played on cable tv before your guys have seen it . That is correct. The bottom line is the jeweler was a prime suspect for me. But the d. A. Had the opposite take when it came to the successful footage. She thought the timestamped videos backed up the boyfriends alibi. All that was did confirm what i already thought. I didnt think he had anything to do with it. I didnt. You werent looking at the boyfriend . No. He wouldnt have had a motive. The motive is going to rest with the exhusband because any logical person is saying, okay, theyre divorced, she spend the night with new boyfriend, and she comes home the next morning . And exhusbands supposed to be okay with that . No. I dont care who you are, youre not okay with that. So the d. A. Was looking hard at the husband while the sheriff was betting on the boyfriend. It had to be one or the other, right . Well, maybe not. Did i mention that crystals life was complicated . Her name is crystal because her parents named her after crystal meth. Youre kidding. No. And 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 kept her in a chicken coop. Youre kidding. Sexually assaulted her. How awful. She managed to escape. And then eventually ended up down here in baytown with her grandmother and a paternal aunt. Crystal eventually ended up living with her cousin jades family, and somehow clawed her way back from the abuse she suffered as a child. Which could explain all those 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 protected. When i think of crystal, i think of loving. Was very, very loving, and a hard worker. Those are the two things i think of when i think of crystal. It was jades parents who introduced crystal to her eventual husband, steve. And my dad has been friends with steve since childhood friends since forever, through high school. Ive always grown up around steve. Tell me about steve, whos the guy you remember . Very childlike, like a big kid. And like a big kid, he loved his toys. Video games and muscled ford mustangs. I remember the day she told me she had met him. She was tell me that story. She was very smitten. I found somebody i love, aunt cindy. Hes perfect. Hes funny. We talk a lot. And i really thought she had met the man of her dreams. And then you met him . What did you think . I thought he was the nicest, most passionate, kind person id ever met. We were always at their house playing, all of us kids were over there. And theyre goofy and silly and would go on trips and things like that. The trips were a job perk. Shortly after her marriage to steve, crystal landed a Flight Attendant position with express jet. And with her outgoing personality, crystal was soon an airline favorite. And thats when her life became even more complicated. She had numerous lovers throughout her marriage, men and women. She was very social. And because she traveled all over the United States with express jet, she had Flight Attendant friends and pilots all over the country. So there were a lot of players and a lot of Different Directions that we found ourselves going in the first week. If shes been intimate with people here and there you got to wonder, we got an angry husband here, angry wife . That is correct. In fact, that was some of the avenue that we were looking at was other angry spouses. Crystal mcdowell had been missing just two days by the time the Chambers CountySheriffs Office uncovered promising leads to pursue. Suddenly, pursuing leads became next to impossible. As little baytown suffered a disaster of epic proportions. It was a difficult storm. It really was. I felt like i was on noahs ark. Coming up kept raining and kept raining. It just kind of changed everything. A hurricane puts a homicide case on hold, but not forever. Immediately we went to social media. What kind of things did you put up . We put pictures of her, her license plate. Ate. 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 slow moving. Once it hit houston and baytown, it weirdly just stopped. Just kept raining and kept raining. Half of the county was under water. 5 00 in the morning and we were doing highwater rescues. It seemed no one was talking about a missing woman any longer. The whole community and everyone in it was fighting just to survive. What was the scariest moment for you in harvey . Well, when the water started coming down my walls and my house, and it was overflowing. And i was watching to see which way it was going come in first, the front door or back door. Ive never experienced that before. It just never stopped. There were boats actually traveling the roads. The only communication we had was through our phones. Thank god our phones were working. Crystals cousin, jade cherry, was stranded in her moms home with a pair of newborns. Intwo screaming twins i have two screaming twins, four months old, half breastfeeding, half formula. Wasnt making breast milk, scared to run out of formula. With the entirely county in peril, the search for crystal mcdowell was no longer an investigative priority for the Sheriffs Office. I had no other choice but to divert some of the resources to rescuing our citizens. You dont have the manpower, you just dont have the resources for an event like this. When you have this kind of a storm and devastation, you could never have enough manpower. Jade picked up the slack. Housebound with twins, she did the only thing she could think of to find crystal. Immediately we went to social media. What kind of things did you put up . We put pictures of her, her license plate. Because her car was missing. Yes. Nice car . Beautiful black mercedes. Were posting and sharing. And im just repeatedly like keep sharing it, keep sharing it, keep sharing it. Jade was crowdsourcing the search for crystal, and what do you know i get a text from someone, and it says, hey, jade, if they found your cousin or her car yet, but her car is at motel 6 off 146. Im like, how do you know that is her car . Do you have a picture of it . And she said, my friend posted it on snapchat and was like, wow, like this mercedes about to be flooded. I would be so mad if this was my car. Jades friend then forwarded this picture of the car. Its just the car and water. And the water is right underneath the license plate. And its crystals . Its crystals car. I called my dad and tell him the car is at motel 6 on 146. He was like, what . How do you know . I sent him the picture while i was on the phone on and holy crap, this is her. With the roads and field flooded, the family could only get to the motel 6 by boat. Same with the detectives with the Sheriffs Department. An air boat was doing rescues to get up to the hotel. The motel 6 is going under, too . Out on i10 . Yes, sir. Get in the airboat, make a route around the hotel, and theres the car. Finding the car was a huge break, but one wrapped in a riddle. Did she leave the herself or someone les . The keys were in it come and get it. I want somebody to take this car because something happened. A taste i prize, steal me. Nobody seemed to have taken the bait. Well, there was a couple that tried, but the water was too high. Crystals car was later towed to a garage where a csi team went through it. Forensically what happens in the case . If the crime scene techs were going to process the vehicle, did they come up with anything . Nothing. Thats when dateline posted a missing in america report, viewed more than 100,000 on line. But 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 his county in shambles, sheriff hawthorne knew he needed an outside assist on the mcdowell case and put out a call for help. One answered by texas Ranger Steven jeter. So what do you do . Ground zero. Went back in like nothing had been done before. On day one of this investigative reboot, jeter had exhusband mcdowell sitting in a chair for his first form aal jud formal interview. Ive got to rule you out as suspect. Hes a cooperative guy . Yeah, very cooperative. He told jeter the same story he told deputies a week earlier. He hadnt seen crystal since thursday when she left for her date. According to him that was the last time he saw him alive. You woefully undermat a ranger if you see an elite figure in hat and boots. He went through training on how best to interview a suspect. Tell me about what youre seeing as much as what hes saying to you, ranger. Probably lack of concern or sincere concern. Even for what we know as an exwife. I asked him, lets take a lie detector test. Mcdowell said, sure, hed be happy to. And . He failed. How badly did he flunk the poly . He couldnt have failed any worse. Which naturally would have made mcdowell the prime suspect except that it didnt jibe with Everything Else jeter was hearing about him. From the family members that he had been talking to, you know, they were all in steves corner. They all thought that steve treated crystal right and was a good person for crystal. And all agreed that steven was an involved and loving dad. According to jeter, crystals boyfriend, paul hargrave, was the one the family pointed fingers at. They didnt know anything about him. He was the boogieman. Then the boyfriend was brought in for questioning. And he, too, cooperated. Handed over those videos, his cell phone, and agreed to be strapped to the polygraph. And . Failed miserably. He did, too . Yes, sir. Thats a dilemma. You have the husband and the boyfriend failing the polys. Both on saturday. Im like, what the hell is going on . I just i couldnt believe it. And i thought, well, maybe theyre in it together. You know, that really threw us off. Really threw us off. The skies may have cleared, but that didnt mean any new light was shed on the investigation. Everything seemed just