HOUSTON – Law-enforcement officials said Saturday that there are no remains to be found in the killing of a 19-year-old Texas A&M University student last week because the suspect in the case burned the woman's body in a grill at his home.

"We have determined through this investigation that the defendant dismembered Tynesha Stewart and . . . he burned the body parts," Harris County Sheriff Tommy Thomas announced. "As a result of this, there are no remaining body parts . . . There will be no search. There is no need for a search."

The announcement closed a heated debate in the Houston area over whether law-enforcement officials should launch a massive and expensive search of the area's overflowing landfills in hopes of finding any of Stewart's remains.

That debate was triggered Thursday when the Sheriff's Department announced there would be no search because there was little chance of success. At the time, the public had been told that Stewart had been dismembered, and that her body parts were scattered in commercial trash bins throughout the area, meaning they could be in several area landfills.

But Thomas said he knew then, but could not disclose, that there were no body parts to find. He said investigators were unable to release that information to the public or to Stewart's family at the time because of the ongoing investigation. Stewart's family has since been advised, and understands why there will be no further search, Thomas said.

Investigators say Timothy Wayne Shepherd, 27, confessed Wednesday to strangling Stewart, his former girlfriend, because he was angry she had begun a new relationship. Stewart was home in Houston on spring break at the time of the killing. Shepherd, who is charged with murder, is being held on $250,000 bond. His attorney, Chip Lewis, has not returned calls for comment.

Thomas said Stewart's family had requested privacy and would not respond to media inquiries.

Officials first thought that Shepherd had disposed of the body in a large commercial trash bin that had since been emptied, but they now say Shepherd dismembered the body at his home and burned it in a grill on his patio.

Although human remains generally require extremely high temperatures to destroy, Thomas said nothing remains of Stewart. He would not discuss how the body could be entirely destroyed.

Thomas said he had received numerous angry e-mails and messages as a result of his decision Thursday not to search the landfills – "probably the toughest decision I've ever made in my career," he said.

Six of the Sheriff's Department's 19 full-time detectives were assigned to the case, which attracted widespread interest throughout the area because of the gory details and the sympathy generated for Stewart's family when it was believed her body may have been dumped in a landfill.

"This certainly turned out to be one of the most heinous crimes I've ever seen in my 38 years (in law enforcement)," Thomas said.