License plate. Someone knew where she was, someone that liked to play games. He thought he was smarter than we were. Willing to trade one night of freedom. He said im ready to talk. Let me go home and tomorrow morning ill tell you everything. In exchange for the terrible truth. If he couldnt have her, nobody could. Crystal was a young mom and brought the search for crystal to a halt, but an investigatior brought a series of clues and as flood waters 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 ghost like from one room to the next is 37yearold Crystal Mcdowell, a real else state 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. Looks like shes on her way to work, but crystal never makes it to the office that day. Texts, phone calls and emails go unanswered. When crystals extended family gathers later that evening to watch a paper view boxing match, Cousin Jade Cherry says they we arent sure if they should be annoyed or concerned. It was the night of the that doesnt make sense. Hes like no, like, shes missing. No one has talked to her since 7 00 in the morning. I was like that doesnt mean anything. Her phone is her phone could be broke. Shes busy. Crystals Aunt A Local Beautician was also dismissive when her son called to say crystal was missing. He calls me and said mom, mom, have you heard crystal is missing . Im like whatever. Im like shes not missing. So i text her and ask her, hey, babe, how are you . Where you at . I waited and blew it off and started watching tv. Tried to call her. No answer and thats when i started to worry. Blessed with looks, smarts and charm, crystal was a favorite with real estate clients and coworkers. Her main passion was her two children and the love she had for them was obvious to see. The love for her husband wasnt as strong. After ten years of marriage, crystal split with her husband but the remodel of her new home ended uptaking longer than the divorce. And this is where crystals life story gets complicated. While she waited to get the keys of a place of her own, crystal continued to live with her new exhusband. Like i said, complicated. Tell me about the divorce, jade. Who wanted out . Which one . 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. After 24 hours of silence, the family calls the Chambers County sheriffs department. Any time we get a call like that we take it serious. Deputy cody was at the Mcdowell House to see if crystals exhusband steve heard from her. His Immediate Response was did something happen . Is there something i should know of . Then mcdowell through him a curve. He said crystal had a new boyfriend and there were nights when crystal just never came home. An awkward tail for any recent exhusband but not what mcdowell said but how. In a real kind of strange tone of voice and im just asking a general question. My instincts were really kicking off that whole moment. The husband had sort of a fi fishy story. Mannerism. Didnt appear to be acting normal per se. Thats what Deputy Hammis asked for backup to figure out the mess. Detective Donnie Walters got the call. The first thing i notice that bothered me is they were divorced for six months but yet, hes still wearing a wedding ring. Why . Thats not normal. Not normal behavior. What was his demeanor like as youre talking to him . Almost cocky. He put his selfout that he was a whole lot smarter than we were. And just like that, the search for Crystal Slingshoted from a simple well being check to a possible homicide which meant looping in d. A. Cheryl lieck. Early on in this investigation, hours into it when you went around the table with investigators, who did you think the suspect exhusband. When i heard she was divorced but still living with an exhusband and had a boyfriend, my first thought is the husband did it. Those suspicions seemed less suspicious when they spoke to the boyfriend. He was corporative but had that era about him also. The husband has given suspicion and the new boyfriend even though they were both being very corporative, it was corporative to a point it was almost questionable. You wonder 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. Its being played on cable tv before your guys have seen it . That is correct. Bottom line is the jeweler is a Prime Suspect for me. And there could be many more. She had numerous lovers throughout her marriage, men and women. When dateline continues. Did you know most dish soaps dont remove all the grease, even with scrubbing . Whaaat . I just cleaned those. Try dawn platinum. It removes 99 of grease and food residue. Thats why dawn is trusted to save wildlife affected by oil. Dawn platinum cleans to the squeak. tonya smoking damaged my heart. Now i have a batteryoperated heart pump. My tip is stop thinking this can only happen when you get old. My Heart Failure happened at 38. announcer you can quit. For free help, call 1800quitnow. Hey hon. Hey dad. sniffs that smell could be 8,000,000 odor causing bacteria. Good thing adding lysol laundry sanitizer kills 99. 9 of bacteria that detergents leave behind. Clean is good, sanitized is better. Looking for a Bladder Leak Pad that keeps you dry . All of the things that youre looking for in a pad, that is always discreet. Look at how it absorbs all of the liquid. And locking it right on in you feel no wetness. Oh my gosh totally absorbed i got to get some always discreet [ Tires Screeching ] jordana, easy on the gas. I gotta wrap this commercial, i think im late on my payment. Its okay, the general gives you a break. Yeah, we let you pick your own due date. Good to know, because this next scene might take a while. For a great low rate, go with the general. Nice footwork. Next scene might take a while. Man, youre lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. Now you can stream all your games like its nothing. Yes [ cheers ] yeah woho running up and down that field looks tough. Its a pitch. Get way more into what youre into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. When i first learned about my dupuytrens contracture, my physician referred me to a Hand Specialist. And im glad he did, because when i took the tabletop test, i couldnt lay my hand flat anymore. The first Hand Specialist i saw only offered surgery. So, i went to a second Hand Specialist who also offered Nonsurgical Options which felt more right for me. So, what id say to other people with dupuytrens contracture is this dont wait find a Hand Specialist trained in Nonsurgical Options, today. Baytown is a notch in i found mine at findahandspecialist. Com. Texasbayou belt. Its a land of pump jacks and refineries the size of cities. Fortunes ebb and flow with the price of crude and in august of 2017, the price per barrel was on the rise. Banks were lending and houses were being flipped and luxury items like diamonds were in demand. Baytowns oldest and biggest Jewelry Store robsons. Paul hargrave managed the store and he was crystals date the night before she went missing. Seemed to be a causal dinner like any of us would have at a nice restaurant in houston. Chambers county sheriff ryan hawthorne. Her companion that night, a new boyfriend . Yes, very knew Bnew Boyfrien wellknown name, big jeweller. The store has been there for 50 plus years. So shes had dinner that night and then she goes home to spend the night at his place. That is correct. He told us the last time he had seen her is he was getting in the shower, and she had gotten dressed and left. That makes him the last person known to have seen her alive. Correct. Which puts him in an investigative jam. It puts him as a person of interest, thats for sure. But hargraves Investigative Status was soon upgraded. Remember that 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 the footage but the sheriff said hargrave didnt give those videos to his investigators, didnt even tell them about it, not at first. Irst they released some of the video and pictures to the National Media before our detectives even had it. Its being played on cable tv before your guys have even seen it . Thats correct. That didnt sit well with the sheriff. The bottom line was the jeweler was a Prime Suspect for me. But d. A. Leak had the opposite take when it came to the surveillance footage. She thought the time stamped videos backed up the boyfriends alibi. All that did is confirm what i thought, he didnt do it. You werent looking at the boyfriend . No, he didnt is a motive. The motive rests with the exhusband because any logical person is saying okay, theyre divorced. She spends the night with new boyfriend and she comes home the next morning . And exhusband is 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. 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. Sexual assaulted her. How awful. She managed to escape and eventually ended up down here in boy to baytown with her grandmother and a paternal aunt. Crystal eventually began living with jades family and somehow clawed her way back from the abuse she suffered as a child which could explain the photos and videos crystal took with her own daughter. She may have wanted the world to see how much her own little girl was loved, wanted and protected. When i think of crystal, i think of loving. It 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 that introduced crystal to her husband steve. My dad has been friends with steve since childhood Friends Forever since high school so ive always grown up around steve. Tell me about steve, first. Who is the guy you remember . Like a big kid. Like a big kid he loved his toys, video games and muscled ford mustangs. I remember the day she told me she met him. Tell me that story. Very smitten. I found somebody i love aunt cindy. Hes perfect. Hes funny. We talk a lot. I thought she met the man of her dreams. You met him. What did you think . The nicest, most kind hearted passionate person i ever met. All of us kids were there playing and 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 out going personality, kis l was soon an airline favorite. And thats when her life became even more complicated. She had numerous lovers throughout her marriage. Men and women. Shes 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. There were a lot of players and a lot of Different Directions we found ourselves going in the first week. If shes been intimate with people there and there, do we have an angry husband, angry wife . That is correct. That is some of the avenue we were looking at is other angry spouses. Crystal mcdowell had been missing two days by the time the Chambers CountySheriffs Office uncovered promising leads to pursue. But suddenly, pursuing leads became next to impossible. As Little Baytown suffered a disaster of epic proportions. It was a biblical storm. It really was. I felt like i was on noahs ark. Coming up. It just kept raining and kept raining. It changed everything. A hurricane puts a Homicide Case on hold but not forever. Immediately, we went to social media. What kinds of things did you put on it . Pictures of her, her license plate. When dateline continues. Ay, again, this is a status bar. This is a search bar. Lets know the difference, okay . Social media, it can be overwhelming for a young homeowner turning into their parents. What does it mean to slide into someones dms . Mm. It sounds like a lot of fun. Okay, were not ready for that. As a team, well get there. It might be a fruit emoji, but that doesnt mean theyre talking about fruit. Oh. Progressive cant save you from becoming your parents, but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto with us. Do you really think we need 47 photos of fun dinner at pams . Yes. No. Ever notice how stiff clothes can feel rough on your skin . For softer clothes that are gentle on your skin, try downy free gentle. Downy will soften your clothes without dyes or perfumes. The towel washed with downy is softer, and gentler on your skin. Try downy free gentle. Thats some bad luck brian. And i think im late on my car insurance. Good thing the general gives you a break when you need it. Yeah, with flexible Payment Options to keep you covered. So today is your lucky. Day [crash] so today is your lucky. Day for a great low rate, go with the general. Recordbreaking, epic, [crash] so Dennis Murphy record. Day breaking, epic, biblical, 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 and once it hit usen and baytown, it weirdly just stopped. It just kept raining and kept raining, half of the county was going under water at 5 00 in the morning and we were already doing highwater rescues. It seemed like nobody was talking about a missing woman any longer. The community and everyone in it was fighting to survive. What was the scariest moment for you in harvey . When the water started coming down my walls in my house and it was overflowing and i was watching to see which way it was going to come in first, the front door or backdoor. Ive never experience that before. It just never stopped. There were boats actually traveling the roads and the only communication we have is through our phones. Thank god our phones were working. Crystals Husband Jade Cherry was stranded in her moms home with a pair of newborns. I have two screaming twins 4 months old half breastfeeding, half formula. I wasnt making milk, scared to run out of formula. The search for crystal was no longer a priority for the Chambers County instruct the Sheriffs Office. I had no choice but to rescue citizens. You dont have the manpower and resources for an event like this. When you have this kind of storm and devastation, you can never have enough manpower. So jade picked up the slack. House bound with twins she did the only thing she could think of to find crystal. Immediately, we went to social media. What did you put up . Pictures of her, her license plate. Because her car was missing. Yes. Nice car. Beautiful black mercedes and were posting and sharing and im repeatedly like keep sharing it, keep sharing it. Jade was crowd sourcing 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 your cousin or her car yet but her car is at motel 6 off 146. Im like how do you know that its 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 is 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. And its crystals car. The first thing i did was call my dad and tell my dad crystals car is at motel 6 on 146. He said how do you know . His reaction is the same, this is her car. This is her car. With the roads and fields flooded, jades family could only get to the motel 6 by boat, same with the detectives from the sheriffs deputy. We had a an airboat doing rescues to get up to the hotel. So this motel 6 is going under. It completely under. Out on i10. Get in the airboat and sure enough, there is the car. Finding crystals car was a huge break, but one wrapped in a riddle. Did crystal leave her mercedes at the motel 6 or did someone else . You can tell it had been happen hazardly parked. And the keys inside. Yes. Come and get it, i want somebody to take this car because something happened. This is a tasty prize. Absolutely. Steal me. Absolutely. N