The body of a Texas woman who had been missing for months was found in her boyfriend’s refrigerator, badly decomposed, police say.
Heather Schwab’s mother Tammra went to police in June to report that her daughter had not been heard from in months and that she was in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend Chad Christopher Stevens.
The case seemed to be at a standstill until November 3, when Tammra went back to police to tell them that Stevens’ ex-wife and his daughter had important information about the disappearance.
He apparently told them that Heather was dead and buried in his backyard.
On November 12, McKinney police obtained a search warrant for Stevens’ home. Inside, they found a refrigerator in his kitchen covered in “excessive” amounts of plastic packaging. After that discovery, Heather’s body was found.
Heather Schwaub, 35, has been missing since June 2022, her body was found this month in a refrigerator at her ex-boyfriend’s house
Chad Christopher Stevens, 42, shown in his mugshot after Schwaub’s body was discovered in his kitchen
Investigators were seen removing the refrigerator from Stevens’ home this week
Stevens, 42, told police that Heather, 35, died at his home in June 2022 and that he didn’t know what to do with her body. He was arrested at the scene on suspicion of tampering with evidence.
Tammra Schwab told investigators that her daughter’s relationship was fraught with abuse and that Heather told her multiple times that she felt Stevens would eventually kill her. The mother and daughter had not spoken in a year.
“Tammra has stated several times in the past that Heather told her that Chad would kill her and hide her body somewhere,” part of the affidavit reads.
She added that the couple’s neighbor would let the concerned mother know when they had seen Heather in their community.
When police first interviewed the suspect in June, he told them that Heather had broken up with him a year earlier and that he did not know where she was now.
It wasn’t until November 4 that Stevens’ daughter, Briana, told police that she had gotten into an argument with her father two days earlier, which led to him threatening to kill her.
The daughter said she rarely spoke to her father, but decided to call him on November 2 to tell him she was pregnant.
Stevens showed himself leaving his home before being taken into custody
Officers take Stevens into custody on charges of witness tampering
“Briana advised that Chad was very upset and threatened to kill the baby if she did not have an abortion and even threatened to kill her,” the affidavit reads.
Briana told investigators that she told her father not to threaten others because “people will believe him and take him seriously.” He told her he took his threats seriously.
Around this point, Briana also said she knew Heather was missing.
“Oh, so you think I killed her?” he replied, according to the affidavit. Briana said Stevens went on a rant and started harassing his daughter about how she knew about his backyard even though she hadn’t mentioned his yard.
Stevens then said that “even if (he) had done something to Heather, he would only get five years in prison for hiding the body and he knew that because he had investigated it.”
His daughter and ex-wife made it clear during the conversation on November 2 that Stevens brought up his backyard several times.
At one point in the conversation, he sarcastically stated that Heather’s body was buried in the backyard, the complaint alleges.
During their search on November 12, investigators found many of Heather’s belongings, including her laptop and cell phone.
During their search of Stevens’ home, investigators found many of Heather’s belongings, including her laptop and cell phone
Stevens’ home, pictured here, was frequently boarded up with trash strewn across the backyard, neighbors said
Just three days before the search warrant was executed, Stevens was hit with an assault charge involving a separate relationship. That woman said she met Stevens in June 2022 and moved in with him three months later.
That woman claimed Stevens assaulted her when she left him in January 2023, reports WFAA.
According to police, Stevens went to great lengths to hide the refrigerator from someone else, to the extent of placing a large piece of rock in front of it.
“During the execution of the search warrant, a refrigerator, wrapped in large quantities of plastic wrap, was located in the kitchen of the residence,” the complaint reads.
‘The only access to the kitchen was suspiciously closed and hidden from the rest of the house with a piece of stone. There was a small human body in the refrigerator.”
After Stevens’ arrest, a neighbor described his strange behavior in an interview with NBCDallas.
“It could have been another woman, but a few months ago there was like, a woman… She kind of followed him around. Just like he did, but she was around like always, and a few months later, you know, I felt like not seeing her anymore, and I thought, “Okay, maybe they broke up or what also happened.” Carolina Murillo said.
‘He was always up. Like every time I went out, left the house or came in, like he was always outside. I was just walking around doing things in the garden,” she continued.
Another neighbor, Tony Miller, also pointed out Stevens’ eccentric activities.
‘With plastic on his windows, not greeting too many people, that was it. … As parents, you have to know your surroundings and you have to be suspicious of people like that,” he said Fox Dallas-Fort Worth.
The Schwab family described themselves as “beyond grief” after the gruesome discovery.
“Her family is beyond sad and heartbroken. We appreciate all the thoughts and prayers our family receives. We are so grateful to the McKinney Police Department for their hard work and dedication in finding Heather. We would appreciate privacy for her family and children as we process this devastating time,” Schwab’s family told WFAA in a statement.
Stevens was last arrested in 2020 for assault occasioning serious bodily injury, criminal mischief, failure to appear and a parole violation charge.