HARRIS COUNTY, Texas The estranged husband of 26-year-old Melissa Sowders was arrested Thursday evening in Humble.
Matt Sowders, 28,is charged with capitalmurderof his pregnant wife who vanished the day after Christmas. He was transferred to Harris County Jail Thursday night.
U.S. Marshals, Harris County Sheriff's deputies and members of the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force took Sowders into custody outside his parents' home.
They were waiting with guns drawn when Sowders walked out of the house with his father.
Get on the ground, marshals yelled and Sowder's father immediately complied.
We were going to the bond place because we heard the warrant's been issued, Sowder's father said. We were trying to comply.
Texas EquuSearch volunteers found a body in Cypress Creek Thursday morning where they havebeen searching forMelissa Sowders.
An autopsy will be performed, but investigators and family members are convinced itis her.
Her boyfriend, Jason Sanford, said investigators called him shortly after thebody was found.
The detective called me asking what kind of tattoos were on her and so I explained a couple of the tattoos that I could remember, stars that were on her side and a tattoo of Matt's name on her waistline, Sanford said.
Sowders vanished last Thursday after droppingSanford off at work at 6:15 a.m.
Sanford said Sowders was supposed to go meet her ex-husband and their youngest daughter at the McDonald s on FM 1960 near Kuykendahl Road.
She told me, 'Okay, I'm here. He's here, I m going to get off the phone.' Every time she had to meet with him to see her baby, she was always worried about it. He scares her, said Sanford said.
DeputiesfoundSowders' white Honda Accord Friday night on Interstate 45 near Richey Road.
It's been a long week, Sanford said. And now a little hope, a little relief... it's hard.
Sowders was two months pregnant with Sanford's baby.
Herrelatives rushed to the sceneafter hearinga bodyhad beenfound.
I just appreciate everything that EquuSearch has done, said Amber Newsom, Melissa's younger sister. She said she will cherish memories of the last time she saw Melissa and her children at a local park.
Dustan Neyland, Sowders' lawyer, said it was a shock that his client was arrested.
It's kind of more of a shock that he was arrested today so quickly after a body was found without any kind of an autopsy or a cause of death being determined, Neyland said.
If you have any information about the case, contact the Harris County Sheriff s Office Homicide Unit at (713) 967-5810 or Crime Stoppers at (713) 222-TIPS.
If anyone would like to donate to the family's funeral cost:
Amegy Bank
1000 Spring Cypress
In care of Melissa Sowders
