Texas A&M Student Tynesha Stewart Still Missing, Presumed Dead, ex-boyfriend Leads Investigators to Garbage Bins
All Current Updates can be read HERE.
Tynesha Stewart, a 19 year old freshman student at Texas A&M has been missing since last Thursday, March 15, 2007. Tynesha Stewart was last seen between 3:00 and 4:00 pm at her former boy friend,Timothy Shepherd’s, apartment located off of F.M. 1960 on Red Oak Drive. However, it appears that Timothy Shepherd has unofficially confessed to the murder.
Tynesha Stewart
Timothy Shepherd, Stewart’s ex-boyfriends, previously denied having anything to do with her disappearance but led authorities to a garbage bin at the Polo Club Apartments off Kuykendahl Road in northwest Harris County Wednesday afternoon. Investigators did not find a body in the garbage bin, which they speculate was last emptied on Friday. (My Fox Houston)
Texas Equusearch has been involved in the search for Tynesha Stewart.
On Wednesday, Texas EquuSearch volunteers along with friends and family focused their search for Stewart on area creeks. “I was not aware until this morning that they actually did have crime scene in his apartment and had taken some things from the apartment,” EquuSearch volunteer Cindy Wisdom told FOX 26 News.
As per our conversation with Tim Miller, Founder of Texas Equusearch, they plan to search the landfill if all goes according to plan. The trash bins that the ex-boyfriend lead police to had previously been picked up and removed. This creates the arduous task of doing a land fill search.
Video of ex-boyfriend confessing to Stewart’s murder and where he put her.
The ex-boyfriend of Tynesha Stewart lead investigators and community activist Quanell X to dumpsters where he claimed to have put her. However, the dumpsters had been picked up since the event occurred.
The ex-boyfriend of a missing Texas A&M student led investigators and community activist Quanell X to the 14600 block of Ella in northwest Harris County, where he pointed out a Dumpster that investigators now believe might have been used to dispose of her body.
The ex-boyfriend has not made any confession, but investigators took custody of the Dumpster and plan to search area landfills for the woman’s body.
Texas A&M University student Tynesha Stewart, 19, was last seen March 15. She was spending spring break at her mother’s apartment in the 17700 block of Red Oak when she left with her ex-boyfriend, authorities said.
Investigators had previously questioned Stewart’s ex-boyfriend, whom they have characterized as “cooperative.” (Houston Chronicle)
Tynesha Stewart has two uncles who play in the NFL, one for the Dallas Cowboys and the other for the Minnesota Vikings. One of whom arrives in Houston to help search for Tynesha.
UPDATE I: Ex-boyfriend charged in death of missing Texas A&M student
A murder charge was filed against the ex-boyfriend of a missing Texas A&M student after he led investigators to a trash container where he allegedly put her body, authorities said.
Timothy Wayne Shepherd, 27, was charged with murder Wednesday in the death of Tynesha Stewart, said Lt. John Denholm of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office homicide division.
Stewart, a 19-year-old college freshman, was last seen with Shepherd on March 15 while she was home for spring break visiting her mother.
Authorities said it will be difficult to find Stewart’s body because the trash bin has been hauled off at least twice since last week and taken to different locations. (The Eagle)
UPDATE II: Tynesha Stewart Strangled during argument over another Man
“They had a fight about their relationship, and her relationship with a new boyfriend,” said Lt. John Denholm with the Harris County Sheriff’s homicide division. “He said he choked her…He said he put her in a large plastic tote, and then put her in his car and took her to the Dumpster.” (Houston Chronicle)
There has been preliminary discussions as to a landfill search; however, they are usually immense in scale and costly. There is never a guarantee that a body will be found, nor any expectation as to the time it could take to perform.
Stewart’s body, which could be buried under an estimated 50,000 tons of waste and dirt, probably never will be recovered, he said.
Excavating the two landfills where Stewart’s body might be -, one is in the Atoscocita area and the other is in Brazoria County — would run at least $350,000, Denholm said.
And, he said, it would take time and would probably require approval from county officials because taxpayers would likely have to pay for it.
“Any expenditure like that would most likely have to be approved by commissioner’s court,” Denholm said.
Such approval, he said, could delay the search and drive excavation costs up further, as 5,000 to 6,000 tons of waste are hauled to the two sites per day.
Private companies charge $6 to $7 per ton to excavate.
“Even as we speak, hundreds of tons of trash have been dumped, just during this conversation,” he said.
Further complicating the recovery of the body are landfill regulations.
Denholm said Stewart’s family has been told the body probably will not be recovered.
UPDATE III: Family of missing Texas A&M student wants search conducted
Murdered and dumped, and right now there are no plans to even look for the body of a missing Texas A&M student. Meanwhile, her ex-boyfriend sits behind bars this evening, charged with her murder.
We know investigators have not yet searched the two landfills Tynesha Stewart’s body may be in. Tonight the question on Stewart’s mother’s mind is will they?
“We want her body so we can give her a proper burial,” said Gale Shields. “She’s not trash.” (ABC 13)
However, police are not sure whether they are going to do the search due to the shere volume and magnitude of the search.
We’ve learned that dumpster’s contents were likely taken to an Atascocita landfill or possibly to one in Angleton.
“I don’t know that we can positively say that any particular item as gone to either one of those landfills,” said Lt. John Martin of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
Because of that and the sheer volume of trash needed to be searched, sheriff’s officials say they are considering not searching the landfills at all. In addition, the search could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“You can see how this is going to be expensive, and there is little confidence that it would even turn up anything,” said Lt. Martin.