Ex charged with murder of missing Aggie

The ex-boyfriend of missing Texas A&M student Tynesha Stewart was charged with murder this morning after he led police investigators to a dumpster where he said he put Stewart's body. The ex, 27-year-old Timothy Wayne Shepherd, hasn't made a formal confession and reportedly isn't cooperating with police now, but activist Quanell X said he did confess to him.

Stewart disappeared a week ago while she was spending Spring Break at her mother's apartment. She left with Stewart, who said he last saw her leaving his apartment early the morning of March 15 wearing pajamas and carrying her cell phone. Neighbors told police they later saw Shepherd burning what they believed to be clothes and hair, but he maintained that he didn't have anything to do with her disappearance — until yesterday. Quanell X reportedly talked with Shepherd after he had been questioned by investigators; later, Quanell X called police and had them meet him at Shepherd's apartment complex. At about 5 p.m., Shepherd led Quanell X and the cops to the dumpster. "The closer we got this apartment complex, he began to break down," Quanell X told KTRK. "And he drove us right to the dumpster. We asked him, 'Is this where you put her?' And he said, 'Yes.'" (Via blogHouston, Isiah Carey has a behind-the-scenes account of that.)

The dumpster has been emptied at least twice since Stewart disappeared, and its contents might have been taken to multiple locations, so the waste management company is helping investigators narrow down their search. Meanwhile, deputies are still trying to get a confession from Shepherd: "The ex-boyfriend did not make any kind of statements in the presence of our investigators, so we do not have any type of confession. But, again, he did lead investigators to this location," Harris County Sheriff's Lt. John Martin told KPRC.

Friends and family told reporters that Stewart and Shepherd met while working together at a Pizza Hut when they were in the 11th grade and dated until last fall, when Shepherd got back together with the mother of his daughter. A friend, Kendria Smith, called Stewart "overprotective" and said Stewart thought Shepherd was following her a few days before she disappeared. "I could tell she was frightened, but I didn't realize the severity of it," Smith said.