HOUSTON—Closing arguments were delivered Friday in the murder trial of Tim Shepherd, the man accused of killing Aggie coed Tynesha Stewart.

Stewart, 19, was home for Spring Break last March when she vanished.

She was last seen alive at Shepherd’s apartment complex.

Prosecutors left jurors with a haunting picture of a life cut brutally short.

They believe Shepherd strangled Stewart, dismembered her body, burned her remains on his patio grills and threw them in a dumpster.

“He put her in the bathtub, he dismembered her there.  He washed away her bodily fluids down that bathtub. He barbecued her,” prosecutor Marie Primm said.

Primm told the jury over and over again that Shepherd’s relationship with Stewart was scarred by domestic violence – a characterization the defense disputed.

“These are people who were talking to each other, having dinner together, seeing each other. That was the true picture,” defense attorney Chip Lewis said.

But friends and classmates of Stewart testified that Shepherd was a jealous, controlling man who threatened to kill her when she started dating someone else.

Still, Shepherd’s attorneys insisted the relationship was not one-sided.

“Tynesha was very much in love with Tim. She pursued the relationship, and he reciprocated,” defense attorney Chip Lewis said.

Stewart’s mother, Gayle Shields, took the stand Tuesday, breaking down as she described the last time she saw her daughter.

She said she knew something was wrong when she confronted Shepherd about Tynesha’s disappearance.

Shields said Shepherd refused to look her in the face, and said her daughter had gone out for a walk and never come back.

Community activist Quanell X also took the stand for the prosecution, detailing an alleged confession Shepherd made about the crime.

KHOU-TV

Tynesha Stewart

He said Shepherd told him Stewart was dead, and he had thrown her remains in a dumpster.

“Tim never showed any remorse for Tynesha,” the activist said.

But defense attorneys said Quanell X’s testimony actually helped their case.

“It clearly illustrated law enforcement’s repeated refusal to honor Mr. Shepherd’s request for a lawyer to be present,” Lewis said.

According to Lewis, that made whatever Shepherd said to Quanell X almost irrelevant.

Other evidence presented to the jury included Stewart’s teeth and possible bone fragments in Shepherd’s garbage disposal.

Lewis told the jury the evidence simply does not add up, and the only just verdict is not guilty.

Shepherd could face life in prison if convicted.