people better about relationships and what a healthy relationship is and what is psychological abuse healthy relationship is and what is psychological abuse >> that's what we hope someone gets out of this story. >> know what's healthy for you. >>, may be gone but for those who loved her, the young girl still sparkles. >> she would want to be out there. she would want us to be laughing and having fun. you can't cry all day. you still have to live life. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i am andrea canning. thank you isfor watching. . hello, i'm andrea canning, and this is "dateline."r les in the middle of a hurricane. hello, i am andrea canning, wais dateline.

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 couldn't 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 crystal's 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 37-year-old crystal, real estate agent. it's thursday, august 25, 2017. 7:35 a.m., crystal gets into her black mercedes and backside of the driveway. looks like she's 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 aren't 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, i'm like what? find her. and he is like, she's missing. no one has talked to her until 7:00 in the morning. that doesn't mean anything. her phone could be broke. she's 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. she's not missing.

i texted her and said hi, babe, where are you at? tried to call her. no answer and that's 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 ex-husband. 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 sheriff's department to report crystal missing. >> when we get a call like that, i'm going to take it serious. >> the first up was the house to see if the ex-husband 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, wasn't so much what mcdowell said but what he said -- how he said it. >> i'm asking a general question. my instincts were kicking off that whole moment. >> the husband had a fishy story, response to what you're asking? >> just to soulman arisen.

>> that's 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? that's 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 well-being 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 ex-husband. 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. >> crystal's boyfriend did something else that attracted the attention of investigators. he gave the surveillance videos to the media before them. >> coming up. >> it's 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 bond's age renew formulations of 7 moisturizers and 3 vitamins. for all your skins, gold bond. try killing bugs the worry-free 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 don't have to. zevo. people-friendly. bug-deadly. (smelling) ew. gotta get rid of this. ♪tell me why♪ because it stinks. ♪have you tried downy rinse and refresh♪

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they become centers of their communities. real solutions for kids and communities at aft.org they become centers of their communities. dennis murphy: baytown is a notch in texas's bayou belt. it's a land of pump jacks and refineries p-town is a notch and texas's 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 he's a well-known 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 hargrave's home. we know that because he gave us and other news organizations of footage, but the sheriff said hargrave didn't give it to his investigators. didn't even tell them about it, not at first. >> they really some of the video and pictures to the national media before our detectives headed. >> it's being played on cable tv before you've seen a. >> that's correct. >> that didn't 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 from's alibi. >> all that did is confirm what i already thought. i did not think he had anything to do with the. >> you weren't looking at the boyfriend. >> he would have had a motive.

the motive rests with the ex- husband. any logical person is saying, okay, they're divorced. she spends the night with new boyfriend and she comes home the next morning? ex-husband is supposed to be okay with that? no. i don't care who you are. you're 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 crystal's 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 jade's parents who introduce crystal to her eventual husband steve. >> my dad has been friends with steve, childhood friends, since forever. i've 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. he's 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. that's 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 she's 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 sheriff's 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 can-do mildewy tiles? can-do - these? - yup, it's the can-do can.

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dennis murphy: record breaking, epic, biblical, all words to describe hurricane harvey, meaning it was a storm like few had ever seen. record-breaking. 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 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. i've 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 mom's home with newborns. >> i have two screaming twins. half breast formula and formula. i was scared i'd run out of formula. >> with the county in peril, the search for crystal mcdowell was no longer a priority for the sheriff's office. >> i had no choice but to divert some of the resources to

rescuing the citizens. >> you don't have the manpower. you don't 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 don't know if they found her cousin or her car yet but it's at motel 6. i'm like how do you know it's 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. >> jade's friend forwarded this picture of the car. >> it's the car. water. the water is right underneath the license plate. >> and its crystals? >> is crystal's car. i tell my dad that crystal's car is at motel 6. he is like, how do you know? i sent him the picture while i'm 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 sheriff's 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 crystal's 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. what's 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. >> that's 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 ex-husband sitting in a chair for his first formal interview. >> look, you are the ex-husband and we will take your story. i've got to rule you out as a suspect. >> he's cooperative, right? >> once you reached out, he was cooperative. >> he told the same story he told the deputies a week earlier. he hadn't seen crystal since thursday night when he left on a date. >> according to him, that's 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. let's take a lie detector test. >> he said he would be happy to. and? >> he failed. >> al-baghdadi flaunt? >> he couldn't have failed any worse. >> that would make him the prime suspect but it didn't 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 didn't 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 the husband and the boyfriend failing the polygraph. >> on the same day. >> i'm like, what the hell is going on? i couldn't believe it. maybe they are in it together? that really through a soft. through a soft. >> the skies may have cleared but that didn't mean new light shed on the investigation. everything seemed as dark and confusing as before. it looked as though the only way to solve the mystery was defined crystal. or, her body. >> coming up. caught on camera. a rider in the storm. >> we saw him riding a bike. we said that's what he did. . it's new olay body wash. silky indulgent moisture. bye bye, dry skin. hello glow in just 14 days. indulge. with olay body wash.

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world central kitchen announcing it will resume operations in gaza today. this comes a month after seven aid workers from jose andres nonprofit were killed in a

israel defense military airstrike. the idf said they mistook the workers for hamas gunmen. 10 people were injured after teenage gunmen opened fire. the shooter was apprehended and charged with attempted homicide. none of the victims suffered life-threatening injuries. life-threatening injuries. ar welcome back to dateline. i am andrea canning. after crystal mcdowell disappeared, investigators took a hard look at two of the men in her life. her ex-husband and her new boyfriend cooperated fully with police. both agreed to take a lie detector test, and they both failed miserably. authorities were baffled. a series of revealing clues would soon put the investigation into focus. once again, here is dennis murphy with before the storm. by tuesday, september 5, the sky was clear and water down.

with the break in the weather, texans took to ripping up carpets and hauling flooded cars to the salvage yard. there was no break in the hunt for crystal. she had been missing for 11 days and was now presumed dead. the bodies become evidence. >> she tells her story from the great. >> you need the remains. >> got to have the remains. >> but where were they? the receding floodwaters would almost certainly of swept it out to the gulf of mexico. a call one out for volunteers for what many thought was a futile search. texas equussearch took the lead. on wednesday, september 9, more than 100 people systematically worked grids by foot, atv, and airboat. as light weaned, the equussearch founder was not hopeful. >> it didn't look good at all. >> while they work the wetlands

in search of crystal, the ranger worked to solve the dilemma of his investigation. he had two man in his crosshairs, the ex-husband and the new boyfriend. he needed to focus on one or the other. you started to ask question, who has a camera? >> that's right. >> he had them check businesses near the hotel six first surveillance fit video. >> a lot of people had some. >> hours upon hours of footage but buried deep within the investigation, they uncovered gold. images of the man they believe killed crystal mcdowell. the first clip was is footage recorded saturday, august 26, 6:37 a.m. the outer bands of hurricane harvey are starting to hit baytown. near the top of your screen, you could see the tail lights of crystal meth mercedes assets backed into the parking lot. >> we can see somebody walk

from the car. >> five hours later a different security camera at a gas station next to the hotel shows this blue car pull in. this would caught the eye of a watchful investigator because it's a rare mustang gt, just like steve mcdowell's. he couldn't have a more distinctive car. it's hard to mistake the vehicle. the driver who looks just like steve mcdowell does something odd. rather than pumping gas, he walks towards the motel 6 . >> appears to be looking at his wife's ditched car. >> investigators were certain that mcdowell ditched crystal's car and did so with the expectation it would conveniently disappear. nobody stole it yet? >> i think that's went through his head. [ bleep ] the car is still here. >> if mcdowell was acting alone, once he left the car,

he would've been on foot miles from his house. >> for two weeks were going how did he do this? how did he get back home? >> they pulled security camera footage along all the roads in the area and they found this video of a man riding a bike in the driving rain along the i-10 feeder road. it was time stamped 7:05 a.m. 25 minutes after crystal's car was dropped off. that is when the pieces fell into place place >> we saw bicycle in the garage when we were at the house. it has unique make wheels. >> then he remembered, his alibi was that he had been shopping at this walmart across the freeway from the motel 6. he had the security camera footage pulled. a guy looking like stephen mcdowell, dressed in a sweatshirt is seen paying cash for a bike with unique wheels. minutes before crystals mercedes was abandoned. >> when we saw him riding the bike, we said that's what he

did. he walks across to walmart and bought the bike, red bull, and a pack of cigarettes. >> the storm that brought the investigation to a halt also led to its biggest break. the floodwaters prevented crystal's car from being stolen which in turn led detectives to focus on the surveillance cameras are the motel 6. had that not happened, they never would've found these videos of mcdowell. >> his plan fell apart because of the rain. >> he was a victim of hurricane harvey too. when confronted with the evidence, mcdowell denied it was him. >> i want to show you that. i'm guessing -- >> it doesn't really prove anything to me. >> mcdowell eventually admitted this footage at the gas station was him, but the walmart clips, no way, he said. by now, investigators were convinced mcdowell was crystal's killer. as for the boyfriend?

an innocent man who had nothing to do with crystals disappearance. the da had enough evidence to charge mcdowell with murder, but she believed she needed one more piece of evidence to ensure a conviction. >> i one of that body? >> why is that important? >> it's easier to try murder trial when you have a dead body. it just is. you know, she deserved to be found. you know? she deserved to be found. her kids deserved for her body to be found. the family deserved for her to be found. >> investigators believe mcdowell knew where the body was but steadfastly denied any involvement in crystals disappearance. after an hour getting nowhere, he was allowed to go home to his children. know the district attorney and the ranger had a new problem. >> i found folks i had interviewed through the week that said he talked about

murder-suicide. sometime earlier. >> right after the divorce, mcdowell had reportedly threatened to destroy the entire family. >> i'm gonna kill myself. i'm going to kill the kids. >> you will be blamed for the rumination of my life. >> yes. >> they were worried he would bring the world crumbling down around him. >> coming up. a prosecutor gets tough. >> we are not letting him see his children until he takes us to the body. >> a gamble that pays off. >> when dateline continues. ti o venus for pubic hair and skin with a patented irritation defense bar for a smooth shave with blades that barely touch skin

dennis murphy: worried that steven mcdowell might snap and kill his children, along with himself, district attorney cheryl lieck turned to an old high school classmate for help, crystal's aunt cindy. worried that stephen mcdowell might snap and kill his children along with themselves, the district attorney cheryl lieck turned to a classmate for help. aunt cindy. >> cindy, she was good enough to stay close. >> cindy said she felt duty- bound to watch the kids, five and eight at a time, is rangers closed in on steve. >> i told my husband and i'm going over there. he said that's not a good idea. i was worried he was going to kill the kids. >> what was in your head? >> protect the kids. i know if i could stay close, talk to him. that's what hairdressers do best.

keep him calm. >> is he frightening you? >> no. i carried a gun the whole time. i had a gun i made the whole time. >> why? >> i felt he could snap. the texas rangers were getting under his skin. >> mcdowell return for further questioning. >> he was losing weight before your eyes. >> they laid out the evidence against him. the polygraph. the videos. the lies they caught him and but mcdowell held tight and would not confess. by evening, they were getting nervous. >> i can't get the kids off my mind. >> she decided to put the kids in custody with child protective services. when the children were safely secured, she sent a message to their day. >> we are not letting him see his children until he takes us to the body. i said i am done. he's not going to get away with

i'm not telling you where she's at if i can help you. i'm sorry. you're not going to get away with the. you kilter and you don't have the right to leave her somewhere where nobody is ever going to know if she's going to wash up somewhere, and everybody loves her, wondering where is she? >> that night and exhausted mcdowell asked the ranger and his partner to present a counter offer to the . >> he said let me go home and tomorrow morning i will tell you everything. i will take you to where crystal is at. >> with a verbal agreement, they allowed mcdowell to walk out of the sheriff's office knowing it was a risky decision. did you feel worried about letting him walk? >> yes, i did. i was fixing to break. i thought he was going home and would take himself out. >> on september 9, the rangers

went knocking on steve mcdowell's door not sure what they would find. but to jeter's surprise, he answered the door. >> he said i'm ready to talk. >> mcdowell was back in the chair and made good on his promise to talk. mcdowell said he knew crystal had a string of affairs. >> and you confronted her at different times about those affairs? >> i confronted her. and she told me to stay out of her business. she says that i'm not dominant enough. >> pretending to be sympathetic, the ranger slowly teased out the details of crystals death. it was slow and brutal. were you fighting when that happened? >> yeah. >> is at when she told you she didn't love you anymore? >> yeah. >> and did you snap? did you mean to suffocate her? >> no. >> it just happened? >> i did not mean to hurt her. i loved her.

>> how did you suffocate her? >> squeezed her. put my arms around her neck. >> like a choke hold or something? did she say anything when that was going on? did she fight? >> she said i was scaring her. >> how did you eventually know she was no longer alive? >> mcdowell said he raptor and trashbags and hated her body in the trunk of the mercedes. he dumped her body the following morning, but before he revealed where, mcdowell said he wanted a deal. >> he wants the death penalty off the table. >> what's the -- that the da has to go through? >> we don't fine crystal without his help. >> it's flat not going to happen? >> this is a whodunit and now we know who done it. now, take me to where she is

at. >> district attorney cheryl lieck was on the same page. with jeter as a go-between, she forewent the death penalty. >> he agreed, i will take you to her location. >> they retrace mcdowell's route which led to this blacktop known as needlepoint road. >> it's heavily wooded. >> would you ever have gone down that road? >> never. it was four, five feet underwater. >> at a seemingly random spot, mcdowell said stop. this is the place. they set off on foot. >> within a short period of time, we found what we believe to be the remains of crystal mcdowell. there was not much left of her. she was pretty much decomposed. >> steve mcdowell had confessed and given up the body, so case closed.

not in texas be because a murder defendant can create -- claims sudden passion that the victim played a role in their death by provoking the killer. mcdowell wanted to make that argument hoping he could reduce his sentence. >> i could tell the jury, if you find the story of sudden passion, then the maximum you can give him his 20. he can't get out in as little as two. >> what were the district attorney was there were some in law enforcement that thought it was a sudden passion case. law enforcement pressure from this taken the case it's a poor henpecked guy and he snapped. we are in manslaughter country. why are you going for the full ride? >> i don't care how henpecked somebody might be your they say they are, which he was not a my opinion, that was a ploy. it's no excuse to kill anybody.

>> a popular prosecutor who is a single mom, she built a reputation as a fierce advocate for women and children. in this case, she was going to be the case -- the voice of crystal mcdowell. >> she was begging him, please stop fighting. please stop using the kids as pawns. you abused me long enough. please, please, please, i am exhausted and cannot fight with you. >> to cheryl lieck, was a case of premeditated murder. the question, what all 12 members of a jury see it that way? >> coming up. two shockingly young witnesses take the stand. >> why did you bring the kids in? >> they wanted to talk about it. irds singing] for nourished, lightweight hair, the right ingredients make all the difference new herbal essences sulfate free is now packed with plant-based ingredients your hair will love. like pure aloe. and camellia flower oil.

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plus odor protection. welcome back. steve mcdowell confessed to strangling his ex-wife, crystal. swelcome back. steve mcdowell confessed to strangling his s wife crystal, and as part of a plea deal, showed detectives were he hit her body. they were is not much doubt he was a killer, but prosecutors prove it was premeditated? they were ready to use everything in their arsenal including stunning testimony from the most innocent of victims. here is dennis murphy with the conclusion of before the storm. >> after a year of court hearings and hearings, stephen

mcdowell went on the trial for the murder of his ex-wife. d.a. lieck made sure she was armed with evidence depicting the extent to which mcdowell tried to cover up the crime. she showed his confession. the video of him dumping crystal's mercedes and buying the bicycle at walmart. later checking on the car to see if it had been stolen. but, the video that really got the court's attention, we recorded testimony of the two children. why did you bring the kids in? >> i didn't want to. i spoke to the guardian and i said, look, if you don't think this is going to be something they can handle, i will not put them on the stand. it's not worth it to me, but they wanted to talk about it. >> it's being their mother's murder. their daughter said she saw it happen. no cameras were allowed in

court so we turn to the transcript on the daughter's ski testimony. she told the court, they were arguing about her going with another man. she said, i will take my children with me. he pushed her on the bed and said no you are not. then he put his hands like that. the daughter demonstrated by putting her own hands over her nose and mouth. the daughter continued. she tried to put her hands and feet up so dad wouldn't have so much weight on her, and then he glanced at me and then mom glanced at me and tried to say, help. when he was done, he told me to go in my room. do not tell anyone. dampening testimony from a trial. the defense tried to undercut it, contending that daughter had heard about the killing from relatives, and made up a story to fill in the blanks. in rebuttal, the defense of the run star witness, steve mcdowell. did he do himself any good? who did the jury meet? >> a conniving, many pitch-out to have crybaby.

>> he told a new and strange story about how we killed crystal. nothing more than a freak accident. in the midst of their argument, he said, crystal got hysterical. i just wanted to hug her i told the court. i wanted to quit going back and forth because it was going nowhere, and i was frustrated and upset. i was met.'s lawyer asked, what happened next? he responded she became limp and fell. d.a. lieck could not believe what he was hearing -- she was hearing. >> that was new to me. we were looking it up, googling it, dinner that night going, how do you hug somebody to death? >> when it went to the jury, they thought an outright acquittal seemed unlikely. a hung jury was a distinct possibility. >> just one. that's all it needs. if one believes his story, we are cooked. >> sure enough, one of the

jurors asked to see the confession tape again. does that make you nervous? >> it always makes me nervous. >> after re-watching the confession, the jury came back with a verdict. guilty. now came the penalty phase when the jury would decide if it was a premeditated killing are one of sudden passion? how stressful was is for you? >> it was real stressful. when you get a case like this where you have the perpetrator who can convince even some members of law enforcement that he might've been the victim, and all of this, then you worry about what will the jury thing? >> forgive the thought, but i do not get seen as a hard woman? >> i don't know. >> you could be judged. >> absolutely. i think i'm seeing like that by

a lot of jurors. if i tried to be anything different than i am, it would come across as insincere. >> that authenticity apparently resonated with the jury. they rejected the sudden passion argument and found that crystal's murder was premeditated. they sentenced steve mcdowell to 50 years in prison. aunt cindy was not in court that day. she distracted the kids with a trip. >> we went to the movie and had a good day. >> so the kids didn't know dad was going away virtually forever? >> they knew he got 50 years and it was almost really. the death penalty for this kind of stuff, but it's better than 20 or two. >> crystal's children are being raised by an old friend. >> she makes them stay focused in school. they have regiments. she loves them. she truly loves them and is

honored to raise them. >> they are phenomenal kids. >> as for crystal, d.a. lieck hope she'll be remembered as a loving mom . >> she wanted a family. she wanted the family she never had. she wanted children. she wanted to love something unconditionally and have somebody love her unconditionally. >> she was still looking for that love into the hours before the winds began howling and the waters rose. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i am andrea canning. thank you for watching. hello. i am andrea canning. this is dateline. >> i called my mom immediately. i just cried.