Crystal McDowell
9 min read
On August 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Southeast Texas. The mayor of Houston warned residents that there would be heavy rain and possible flooding. Harvey, a category four hurricane, ultimately produced 130-mile-per-hour wind speeds and dumped nearly 60 inches of rain in some areas. It holds the record as the most significant hurricane rainfall event in US history. Amid the historic flooding, local real estate agent Crystal McDowell disappeared.
Interstate 45 heading out of Houston
Credit: Richard Carson
Crystal
Crystal Ann Seratte was born on October 26, 1979, to parents Anthony Walters and Pamela Seratte. Unfortunately, they were drug addicts, and Crystal had a difficult childhood. Those who knew her parents teased that Crystal was named after crystal meth. When she was eleven, Anthony and Pamela died six months apart due to health issues deriving from their addiction. Chambers County District Attorney Cheryl Lieck said Crystal was abducted, sexually assaulted, and kept hostage in a chicken coop at thirteen. Luckily, she escaped, and relatives who lived in Baytown took her into custody.
Crystal and her Uncle Jeff Walters
Credit: CBS News
Crystal managed to find resilience and became the life of the party. She was described as a very loving and hard-working woman. In 2007 she married Steven McDowell. Crystal's Aunt Cindy explained that the pair were smitten when they first met and that she thought Crystal had met the man of her dreams. Steven was described as kind-hearted and a "big kid." However, the marriage became shaky when Crystal began working as a flight attendant. A year into their marriage, she asked for a divorce. Steve replied by threatening to kill himself, using emotional blackmail to guilt Crystal into staying in the relationship. Eventually, they had two children together; a boy, Madden, and a girl, Maui.
Steven, Crystal, Madden, and Maui McDowell
Credit: Crystal’s Twitter profile
Crystal was very social and outgoing, becoming a favorite among the Express Jet airlines crew. Because she flew all over the United States, Crystal was acquainted with flight attendants and pilots everywhere. According to DA Lieck, Crystal had numerous affairs with men and women. Finally, after ten years of marriage, Steven and Crystal agreed to a divorce. Crystal began working as a third-generation real estate agent for her family's business at Virginia Malone Realty. Her beauty and charm brought in a lot of business, and she quickly became a top producer in Houston.
Although Crystal and Steven's divorce was finalized in June 2017, they temporarily shared a house while Crystal's townhome was undergoing renovations. Unknown to Steven, Crystal had started dating local jeweler Paul Hargrove. Crystal's Uncle Jeff was not a fan of her new boyfriend, but he said they seemed in love and were perfect together. Crystal and Paul had been dating for a few weeks and started discussing vacation plans. They bought tickets to Belgium in September, and Crystal had asked Paul to go on their family cruise. The only problem was that her ex-husband would be there, too. Paul told her he would love to go but would feel awkward, so Crystal uninvited Steven. Unsurprisingly, he did not take the news well, and Crystal confided in a friend that she was starting to fear him. Yet, two days before her disappearance, Crystal wrote a Facebook post saying, "I've never been happier in my whole life than I am right now... God is so good."
Crystal and her boyfriend Paul Hargrove
Credit: Associated Press
Missing
On August 25, Crystal was scheduled to show a home in Crosby, but her clients canceled due to the impending storm. Crystal left Paul Hargrove's house around 7:10 am to pick up her children from Steven's. He lived less than 18 miles away, but she was concerned about traffic from Hurricane Harvey. At around 8:30 am, she texted Paul to inform him that road conditions were good. When Crystal stopped responding to his texts, he got worried.
Paul called her uncle Jeff and asked if he had heard from Crystal. Jeff Walters had not heard from his niece and stated she was not active on her social media platforms. When Jeff contacted Steven, he said Crystal had sent a text at 7:01 am which said, "On my way. Do you have water? Looks like I may stay here with the kids. It seems just like rain." Steven then told Jeff he received another message from her saying she changed her mind and planned to take the kids and head to Dallas, but she never arrived. When no one heard from her by the next day, Jeff called the police and reported Crystal missing.
Credit: CBS News
Investigation
The Chamber's County Sheriff's Office began a missing person investigation, but the department and many others in the Houston area were overwhelmed with storm responses. The flooding caused many roads to close, and some areas were completely inaccessible. Homes, businesses, and vehicles stood engulfed in several feet of water. However, detectives knew early on that Crystal's disappearance had nothing to do with the storm.
Cars are flooded as floodwaters rise in Houston.
Source: Associated Press
Investigators immediately looked into Paul Hargrove as a suspect. He was the last person to see Crystal that morning and did not report her missing himself. Police brought Paul in for questioning, and he explained that her ex-husband had recently become upset with her because she had uninvited him from the cruise her family was taking. Paul suggested they talk to Steven because Crystal had mentioned she was afraid of him finding out about their relationship.
On August 29, someone texted Crystal's cousin, Jade Seratte, a picture of a Mercedes matching the description of Crystal's car and plate number after seeing a flyer. The vehicle was submerged in water outside a Motel 6 in Belville, near Interstate 10. Due to the flooding, investigators had to borrow an airboat doing rescues to reach it. Oddly, the Mercedes was left unlocked, with the keys sitting on the dash. Whoever left the car in the parking lot expected someone to steal it but did not anticipate the heavy flooding. Investors brought in a tow truck to retrieve the vehicle for processing, but the flood water destroyed any DNA evidence.
Crystal’s Mercedes
Credit: 48 Hours: Storm of Suspicion
Police began gathering surveillance video from businesses near Motel 6. A Shell gas station next door to the motel captured footage of Crystal's vehicle being backed into the parking lot at 6:37 am on August 26. Five hours later, Steven McDowell is spotted pulling his rare Mustang next to the gas pump. Instead of filling up his tank, he puts what looks like clothing into the trash can and peeks to see if the Mercedes is still there. The police also discovered footage of a hooded figure riding a bicycle near the drop-off scene. In addition, surveillance video from a nearby Walmart showed a man matching Steven's description purchase a bike with cash. Investigators recovered the trash can, but its contents had floated out and washed away from the flood.
Steven
Investigators began looking closer into Steven and Crystal's past relationship. They discovered that on March 20, a few months before their divorce was finalized, Crystal had called the police. She received a phone call from her children's school that they were not in class that day. She told the police that Steven had threatened to kill the children and himself. A search began, but no one could locate Steven. The next day, he returned with the kids unharmed, and Crystal chose not to press charges.
Credit: CBS News
Despite the promising footage of Steven near the crime scene, they had no direct evidence connecting him to the crime. Steven voluntarily came in for questioning each time, but his demeanor was arrogant and aloof. Steven kept insisting he didn't murder his wife, and investigators began a ploy to wear him down. Day after day, they told him they were getting closer and gathering more evidence.
Eventually, Steven began to deteriorate. His face was sunken, and you could tell he hadn't been eating or sleeping. Meanwhile, Steven still had his children in his care, and the authorities working on the case were deeply concerned for their safety. Finally, on September 8, fourteen days after Crystal vanished, DA Cheryl Lieck decided she wasn’t taking any more chances. She had been in touch with Family and Protective Services and convinced them to remove the kids from Steven's home that evening and place them with Crystal's Aunt Cindy.
Credit: CBS News
While Steven was in the interrogation room, Lieck told him the news and said he wouldn’t be able to see his children until he took them to his ex-wife’s body. Steven collapsed and told investigators that he wanted to go home but would return in the morning to confess everything. Shockingly, the police let Steven leave and risked him committing suicide or fleeing before Crystal's death was solved. But when police knocked on his door the following day, Steven answered and willingly got in the cruiser to head to the station.
Confession
Steven told investigators that Crystal arrived at his home on the morning she disappeared. While the children were upstairs sleeping, they got into an argument. Steven was angry about their divorce and that she had stayed out all night. She told Steven that she didn’t love him and wanted nothing to do with him. Steven reacted by approaching her from behind and putting her in a chokehold. Crystal said, "you're scaring me," but he kept squeezing until she went limp.
Credit: CBS News
Steven then placed a bag over her face, tied her up, put her in a trash bag, and stored her body in the trunk of the Mercedes. Early the following day, on August 26, Steven disposed of Crystal's body while the children were still sleeping. Steven also tossed her phone and got rid of her car. “I did not mean to hurt her,” he said in the interrogation tape. “I love her.” When the police asked Steven where the body's exact location was, he had a proposition.
If prosecutors removed the death penalty from his sentencing, he would lead them directly to Crystal. “We don’t find Crystal without his help,” remarked Texas Ranger Steven Jeter when asked why authorities approved the deal. Steven led them to a densely wooded area off Needlepoint Rd not far from his house. The terrain was rough, and the search crew had to clear away trees and limbs before reaching Crystal's decomposing remains.
Credit: CBS News
Trial
Steven remained in jail on a $500,000 bond for nearly two years. Then, finally, his trial began in June 2019. He shocked everyone when he testified he had accidentally hugged his ex-wife to death after they made love. Steven and his attorney attempted to convince the jury that Crystal's death was a crime of passion. In Texas, the charge is anywhere from two years behind bars to a maximum of 20 years in prison. Luckily, DA Cheryl Lieck had something up her sleeve. She showed the courtroom a video testimony from Steven and Crystal's five-year-old daughter, Maui.
Maui was in the bathroom when she heard her parents arguing on the morning of her mother's disappearance. Maui said her father was upset about the divorce and pushed her mother onto the bed. Then, he started to hit Crystal and strangle her. Crystal had then tried to say, “Help,” but Maui couldn’t hear her. "She looked at me sadly," said the young girl in her testimony. Steve warned Maui to go to her room and not tell anyone what she had seen.
Credit: CBS News
Where is he now
After five days of testimony, evidence, and arguments, it took the jury only three and a half hours to reach the verdict that Steven was guilty. The next day, he was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Steven is being held in Anderson County at the H.H. Coffield Unit. His projected release date is September 2067, but he will be eligible for parole in 2042.
Credit: Chambers County Sherriff’s office
In 2019, Madden and Maui went to live with Crystal's high school best friend, Mandy Avalos, in Las Vegas, Nevada. “I am going to adopt them as soon as I can get the paperwork signed. It’s almost like they have always been mine. Crystal always referred to them as our babies," Mandy told reporters.
Mandy Avalos with Madden and Maui
Credit: Outsmart Magazine
Sources
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/08/27/harvey-is-causing-epic-catastrophic-flooding-in-houston-why-wasnt-the-city-evacuated
https://archive.org/details/MSNBCW_20220612_070000_Dateline/start/900/end/960
https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/photo-timeline-the-search-for-crystal-mcdowell/9/
https://www.chillingcrimes.com/blogs/news/crystal-mcdowell
https://www.oxygen.com/dateline-secrets-uncovered/crime-news/crystal-mcdowell-disappears-days-before-hurricane-harvey
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/baytown-tx/crystal-mcdowell-7552481
https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/murder/ex-husband-of-realtor-who-went-missing-before-hurricane-harvey-charged-with-murder
https://heavy.com/entertainment/2020/08/steven-mcdowell-update-crystal-killer-prison/
https://thecinemaholic.com/48-hours-where-are-crystal-mcdowells-kids-now/
https://www.outsmartmagazine.com/2019/08/baytown-womans-murder-case-is-solved/#:~:text=THE%20KIDS%20ARE%20ALRIGHT%3A%20Crystal,plans%20to%20adopt%20the%20youngsters.