Police Find Body of Missing Houston Mom Michelle Warner

Oct. 1, 2012— -- Police have found the body of a 31-year-old Houston mother after her ex-boyfriend gave a statement implicating himself in her death, according to police.

The body of Michelle Warner, 31, was found Sunday more than 500 miles away in Odessa, Texas, according to ABC News affiliate KTRK-TV. Mark Castellano gave police information Sunday that led to the discovery of Warner's body. Warner and Castellano have a 3-year-old son named Cayden.

Police said murder charges are pending and the investigation is ongoing, according to KTRK.

Warner was last seen the night of Sept. 22 at her apartment complex in Houston where she lived with Castellano and Cayden. She disappeared the same night Castellano took the boy more than eight hours away to be with relatives.After Warner went missing, Castellano told authorities that he and Cayden headed to Odessa after the argument and Warner stormed out of their apartment, which he rented, officials said.

Stefanie Helton, who has been Warner's best friend for more than 20 years, said the relationship between Warner, who had been working as a paralegal, and Castellano has "never been a good situation."

She said the two met when the three of them were working together at home health-care service provider Quality Infusion Care.

Helton said the couple were "barely dating at the time" Warner became pregnant in 2008, and that Castellano had "psychotic spells."

"He had episodes, he tried suicide ...," she said. "He's done other crazy things. Nothing extra-violent; he'd push her up against the wall, that type of thing. He's threatened her."

Helton said that a family member of Warner's told her that Castellano said that they'd gotten into argument Sept. 22, and that he got mad and threw a pet cat against a wall. The family member told Helton that Castellano said Warner then became irate and hit him, before leaving the apartment.

Helton said bleach stains leading from the bedroom, through the living room and out front door were found in the apartment, although Officer Danny Do of the Houston Police Department said that could not be verified.

When police visited the apartment, Do said, they did notice that Warner's computer's hard drive was missing.

Officer Do said Castellano told police that he had taken the hard drive of the computer so he could get some information from it.