The body of a Texas woman who has been missing for months was found badly decomposed in her boyfriend’s refrigerator, police said.
Heather Schwab’s mother, Tammra, went to police in June and told them 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 appeared unsolved until November 3, when Tammra returned to police and told them that Stevens’ ex-wife and daughter had important information about the disappearance.
He had 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 with “copious amounts” of plastic wrap. After this 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, in his mugshot after Schwaub’s body was discovered in his kitchen
Stevens, 42, told police that Heather, 35, died at his home in June 2022 and he didn’t know what to do with her body. He was immediately arrested on charges of tampering with evidence.
Tammra Schwab told investigators that her daughter’s relationship was rife with abuse and that Heather had told her several times that she had a feeling Stevens would eventually kill her. Mother and daughter had not spoken to each other in a year.
“Tammra has stated numerous times in the past that Heather told her that Chad was going to kill her and hide her body somewhere,” a section of the affidavit reads.
She added that the couple’s neighbor would inform the concerned mother if they saw Heather in their community.
When police first interviewed the suspect in June, he told them that Heather broke up with him a year ago and that he didn’t know where she was now.
As recently as November 4, Stevens’ daughter Briana told police that two days earlier she had gotten into an argument with her father that resulted in 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.
“Briana communicated that Chad was very upset and threatened to kill the baby if she did not have an abortion and even threatened to kill the baby,” the affidavit states.
Briana told investigators she told her father not to threaten others because “people believe him and take him seriously.” He told her he was serious about his threats.
At this point, Briana also mentioned that she knew Heather was missing.
“Oh, so you think I killed her?” he replied, according to the affidavit. Briana said Stevens went on a tirade and began pestering his daughter about how she knew about his backyard, even though she hadn’t mentioned his yard.
Stevens then said, “Even if [he] “If Heather had done anything to him, he would only get five years in prison for hiding the body, and he knew that because he had investigated.”
His daughter and ex-wife made it clear that Stevens brought up his backyard several times during the Nov. 2 conversation.
At one point in the conversation, he sarcastically stated that Heather’s body was buried in the backyard, the complaint states.
During their search on November 12, investigators found many of Heather’s belongings, including her laptop and cell phone.
Just three days before the search warrant was executed, Stevens was charged with assault in connection with a separate relationship. That woman said she met Stevens in June 2022 and moved in with him three months later.
That woman claimed Stevens attacked her when she left him in January 2023, WFAA reports.
According to police, Stevens went to great lengths to hide the refrigerator from everyone else, even placing a large piece of flagstone in front of it.
“During the execution of the search warrant, there was a refrigerator in the kitchen of the apartment that was heavily wrapped in plastic wrap,” the complaint states.
“The only entrance to the kitchen was suspiciously locked and covered from the rest of the apartment with a piece of stone slab. There was a small human body in the refrigerator.
After Stevens’ arrest, a neighbor described his strange behavior in an interview with NBC Dallas.
“It could have been another woman, but a few months ago there was a woman… She kind of followed him everywhere.” Just like whatever he did, but she was there like always, and then, a “A few months later, you know, I stopped seeing her and I thought, ‘Okay, well, maybe they broke up or whatever happened.'” Carolina Murillo said.
“He was awake all the time.” Like every time I went out, left the house or came in, like he was always outside. “Just walking around and doing things in the yard,” she continued.
Another neighbor, Tony Miller, also pointed out Stevens’ eccentric activities.
“Having plastic on your windows, not acknowledging too many people, that’s it. … As a parent, you have to be aware of your surroundings and be suspicious of people like that,” he told Fox Dallas-Fort Worth.
The Schwab family described themselves as “extremely sad” after the gruesome discovery.
“Her family is extremely sad and heartbroken. We appreciate all the thoughts and prayers our family receives. We are very grateful to the McKinney Police Department for their hard work and dedication in finding Heather. “We would value the privacy of her family and children as we process this devastating time,” Schwab’s family said in a statement to WFAA.
Stevens was last arrested in 2020 for aggravated assault, criminal mischief, failure to appear and probation violations.