LEAGUE CITY, TX (KTRK) — In the three weeks since Anne-Christine Johnson disappeared, crews searched untold miles for anything that might hint at her whereabouts. Only Friday, her mother says, did her worst fears become a reality.

“They had executed a search warrant on Shaun’s house and they found a female body wrapped in plastic in the garage,” Johnson’s mother, Stephanie Johnson, said.

Stephanie said police did not tell her much beyond that.

“Of course, I ‘m like, ‘is it my daughter?’ And they said they were waiting,” Stephanie said. “They could not confirm.”

Johnson says the relationship between her 30-year-old daughter and her ex-husband long ago turned violent and that Anne-Christine talked often of her fear that he might kill her. Stephanie says her daughter stayed in the relationship because of the son the couple shared.

“I firmly believe she would be alive if she hadn’t kept going back to try to protect the 5-year-old autistic child,“ Stephanie added.

This grieving mother hopes any others watching who are in an abusive relationship, will see what happened to Anne-Christine and do something to protect themselves.

“If you’re an abused woman watching this, or a family member of an abused woman watching this, even if it’s just psychological or verbal which is how it starts out, get the hell away  from that person,” Stephanie said.

If the body found is that of Anne-Christine, Stephanie says she is thankful at least that remains have been found. Some, she laments, don’t even get that.