Crystal Seratte McDowell Seratte Family 
 
 Authorities in Texas believe remains found Saturday in a wooded area are those of missing realtor and mother of two Crystal Seratte McDowell, who disappeared the day before Hurricane Harvey hit the state. 
 
 Officials with the Chambers County Sheriff's Office also confirmed in a press release that Crystal's ex-husband, Steven McDowell, is being charged with murder in connection with Crystal's death. 
 
 Jeff Walters, Crystal's uncle, shared the news on his Facebook page Saturday night. 
 
 He and his wife raised Crystal after her parents died when she was 11, and the two worked together at Virginia Malone & Associates, LLC. 
 
 "She is a light in the heavens that can never be extinguished," Jeff wrote. "She is an Angel that watches over us all with that bright smile." 
 
 Related: Family Searches for Texas Realtor Crystal McDowell Believed Missing Before Storm 
 
 Steven McDowell Chamber County Sheriff's Office 
 
 Crystal was last seen the morning of August 25 leaving her boyfriend's home in Baytown, Texas. The alarm was sounded early that Friday when Crystal stopped responding to messages, calls and texts. 
 
 The 38-year-old was always prompt in returning messages, whether they were from a client or a family member. 
 
 Jeff told Dateline in the days after Crystal disappeared that he contacted Crystal’s ex-husband Steven, with whom she was sharing a residence in Baytown, Texas, while work on her townhouse was being finished. 
 
 “He said she had sent him a message saying she was coming to pick up the kids to go to Dallas, but she didn’t show,” Jeff told Dateline. “We aren’t sure she sent those messages to him, though. She never told me of plans to go to Dallas for the storm.” 
 
 Crystal was featured in Dateline's Missing in America's series shortly after she disappeared. 

 For two weeks family and friends of Crystal McDowell have waited for answers."This case was about trying to bring Crystal McDowell home and we've made that happen," Sheriff Brian Hawthorne of the Chambers County Sheriff's Office said.On Saturday, their worst fears were confirmed. Crystal's ex-husband, 44-year-old Stephen Wayne McDowell, is charged in her murder.The Baytown realtor's body was found by Chambers County investigators and the Texas Rangers in a wooded area in west Chambers County. Her car was found several days ago submerged in Harvey's waters at a hotel about seven miles from her home."Currently the kids are under the Department of Family and Protective Services, but she did make it to see her kids that particular day," Hawthorne said.McDowell, who was just about to turn 38, was last seen on surveillance video at her boyfriend's home. She was on her way to pick up her two children at Stephen McDowell's home.The Chambers County sheriff has not given a motive, but says there are a lot more details that will come out in the days ahead. 

 The ex-husband of a Texas real estate agent who has been missing since the day before Hurricane Harvey struck has been charged with her murder, according to published reports. 
 
 The news of the arrest coincided with the announcement by Texas law enforcement authorities that remains found in a wooded area are believed to be those of the Realtor, Crystal Seratte McDowell. 
 
 The mother of two was last seen Aug. 25 leaving the home of her boyfriend to head to Houston, where her ex-husband lives, to pick up the two children they share. 
 
 She was reportedly planning to go to Dallas with her children, ages 5 and 8, to ride out the storm. 
 
 Those close to her became worried when, uncharacteristically, she failed to respond to telephone calls and texts. 
 
 Her uncle, Jeff Walters, said in an interview with NBC’s “Dateline” that he had reached out to her ex-husband, Steven McDowell, to inquire about his niece. 
 
 “He said she had sent him a message saying she was coming to pick up the kids to go to Dallas, but she didn’t show,” the uncle told “Dateline.” “We aren’t sure she sent those messages to him, though. She never told me of plans to go to Dallas for the storm.” 
 
 The Chamber County Sheriff's Office said that Crystal McDowell, 37, was not a victim of the hurricane, and they are certain her death stemmed from a crime. 
 
 The real estate agent was seen on video cameras on her ex-husband’s property leaving his home. Sheriffs found the bag she used to carry her business papers inside her ex-husband’s house. 
 
 Surveillance cameras inside the ex-husband’s home captured her leaving the property. The Chambers County Sheriff’s Office had nine persons of interest, according to the local ABC affiliate, but then moved to arrest Steven McDowell on Saturday after they found the remains believed to be those of his ex-wife. 
 
 Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne told ABC News “Hurricane Harvey is not the reason Crystal McDowell is missing.” 
 
 Four days after her disappearance, which her uncle reported to police, her Mercedes-Benz was found in a flooded parking lot of a Motel 6. 
 
 Walters raised his niece after her parents died when she was only 11. 
 
 Walters said on his Facebook page on Saturday: "She is a light in the heavens that can never be extinguished…She is an Angel that watches over us all with that bright smile."
– One day before Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, Crystal Seratte McDowell disappeared after leaving her boyfriend's house in Baytown in the eastern part of the state. On Saturday, the Chambers County Sheriff's Office says it found the remains of the 38-year-old real estate agent in a wooded area—and have charged McDowell's ex-husband, Steven McDowell, with her murder, NBC News reports. Crystal McDowell was last seen leaving her boyfriend's house to go to her ex-husband's house, where she was living while work was being done on her own townhouse. Steven McDowell reportedly told concerned relatives that she sent him a message saying she wanted to pick up their two kids and take them to Dallas to ride out the storm, but never showed up. Relatives were skeptical. "She never told me of plans to go to Dallas for the storm," says her uncle. Surveillance video inside Steven McDowell's home showed Crystal at the property, and her bag of business papers was found inside the house, per Fox News. Days before Crystal McDowell's remains were found, police found her car in a flooded motel parking lot, but they say they're sure she wasn't a victim of the storm. The couple's children are now in the custody of the Department of Family and Protective Services, ABC reports.