Murder charges filed in case of missing League City woman

Shaun Hardy was arrested after remains were found in his home. Shaun Hardy was arrested after remains were found in his home. Image 1 of / 20 Caption Close Murder charges filed in case of missing League City woman 1 / 20 Back to Gallery

League City police have charged an ex-husband with first-degree murder after authorities discovered his former wife's body in his garage.

Shaun Hardy, who was arrested Friday and charged with tampering with evidence (corpse), is in the Galveston County Jail on $500,000 bail.

The body of Anne-Christine Johnson, a 30-year-old missing for three weeks, was found on Friday wrapped in plastic in Hardy's garage in the 600 block of Chesterfield.

"I am literally devastated right now," Stephanie Johnson, the woman's mother, told the Houston Chronicle. "All that searching and she was right in the house."

Johnson disappeared on Dec. 8. Police say the last person to report seeing her alive was Hardy, who told police he saw her get into a car with a man he could not identify after she left Hardy's house.

After hunting for weeks, police had launched a new search Thursday at an undisclosed location for the missing waitress and mother of two.

TURBULENT HISTORY: Records show troubles for missing woman, ex

Hours earlier, League City law enforcement served a search warrant at Hardy's home. Initially, police hoped to "secure property" relating to the investigation — but even after their morbid discovery, authorities declined to say what they'd been looking for.

After realizing the house was a crime scene, police got a second search warrant and found human remains.

"I can't speak on the condition of the remains or where in the house it was found," League City police spokesman Kelly Williamson told reporters.

FAMILY PAIN: Missing woman's mother clung to hope

The couple had had a volatile relationship with Johnson accusing Hardy of beating and choking her in a June 2015 request for a restraining order, telling the court that she feared Hardy could kill her. Hardy filed a request for a restraining order about the same time, accusing Johnson of physical abuse.

Hardy, through an attorney, has refused further interviews with League City police.

Stephanie Johnson said she'd already feared the worst.

"I've known and I've been crying for months that this was going to happen," she said.

She said she planned to turn her daughter's death into part of something bigger.

"I'm no expert on abuse but I'm going to become one," she said. "This is my mission in life ... This is an epidemic of violence against women and if her death is going to have any meaning at all it is going to be to put a very public face on the killers of women."

Anne-Christine Johnson's 5-year-old autistic son was living with Hardy, the child's father. However, Stephanie Johnson says the child is now safe.

Her 8-year-old child is in the care of another former husband.

The Chronicle's Brooke Lewis contributed to this report.