Aunt: Shepherd 'just exploded'

Some developments in the murder of Tynesha Stewart, the 19-year-old Texas A&M student whose ex-boyfriend says he strangled her, dismembered her body and then incinerated the body parts on two barbecue grills outside his apartment: Harris County sheriff's investigators returned to confessed killer Timothy Wayne Shepherd's apartment to look for forensic evidence yesterday. According to KHOU, police removed some items from the apartment, including what seemed to be a roll of carpet, and they used an ultraviolet light to scan the porch where the grilling took place — a way to look for traces of blood.

Meanwhile, after Shepherd's second court appearance, his aunt Janice Shepherd talked to Channel 11 about Tim Shepherd's background. She said he was good while growing up, but had trouble getting along with his mother after he found out his stepfather wasn't his real father — his biological father, Robert Miller Shepherd, died in a motorcycle crash in 1979, when Tim Shepherd was an infant, and Shepherd's mother apparently didn't tell him until much later. The problems dealing with his father's death meant Shepherd "just exploded," Janice Shepherd said. "It's a disgrace what has happened. It really is," she said. "He should have gotten a mental evaluation. He should have gotten some help. But his family turned its back on him. It's a disgrace."

If Shepherd is found guilty of murder, he could be sentenced to life in prison and a $10,000 fine. The case will go before a grand jury for an indictment in the next 90 days, prosecutor Marie Primm said.