SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (TCN) — A 44-year-old woman will spend the rest of her life in federal prison for luring a pregnant Arkansas woman under the false pretense of a job offer and killing her so that she could keep the victim’s unborn child as her own.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri announced Oct. 15 that a judge sentenced Amber Waterman to consecutive life sentences without parole in connection with the deaths of Ashley Bush and her unborn child, Valkyrie Willis. Waterman pleaded guilty in July to one count of kidnapping resulting in death and one count of thereby causing the death of a child in utero. Federal prosecutors said Waterman admitted she abducted the victim “to claim her unborn child as her own.”
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, Amber Waterman contacted Bush, who was 31 weeks pregnant, on Facebook, and offered to help her get a job under a false name. Bush and Waterman reportedly met in person at a public library on Oct. 28, 2022, and arranged to meet again on Oct. 31, 2022. Bush allegedly met Waterman at a convenience store in Maysville, Arkansas, and Waterman pretended she was going to take her to meet a supervisor to talk about employment. Bush reportedly entered a truck and Waterman abducted the victim and drove her to Missouri.
At approximately 5 p.m. on Oct. 31, 2022, prosecutors said first responders responded to a store in Pineville, Missouri, to a report of an unresponsive baby. Waterman claimed she had given birth to the child in the truck while she was headed to the hospital. However, investigators later learned the child was Bush’s, and the baby died in utero due to Waterman’s crimes.
According to court documents, on Oct. 31, 2022, Bush was reported missing out of Benton County, Arkansas, after she failed to answer her fiancé’s calls. She was last seen getting into an older tan pickup truck. Bush’s fiancé reportedly found Bush’s phone on the highway, and investigators uncovered Facebook messages between Bush and “Lucy.” Authorities tracked the phone and saw that it was near the home of Amber Waterman and her husband, Jamie Waterman.
Detectives responded to the Waterman residence, where they observed a pickup truck that matched the one Bush got into before she disappeared. A detective reportedly noticed apparent bloodstains inside the vehicle.
During an interview, Amber Waterman allegedly denied knowing Bush and claimed she worked with “Lucy” at Walmart. According to a criminal complaint, Waterman said she went into labor in the afternoon of Oct. 31 and delivered a stillborn child that evening.
Investigators later learned Waterman led her husband to Bush’s body, which had been wrapped in a tarp and placed near a boat by their residence. Authorities said in the criminal complaint that Waterman had her husband get gasoline, and they gathered wood and a sofa before lighting the items and Bush’s body on fire. Amber Waterman allegedly put out the flames and asked her husband to move Bush’s remains. According to court documents, Jamie Waterman wrapped Bush’s body in another tarp, drove it to another location, and buried the victim. Jamie Waterman reportedly led detectives to where he left Bush’s remains.
Federal prosecutors said Bush died of penetrating trauma to the torso.
Jamie Waterman pleaded guilty on Oct. 15 to one count of being an accessory after the fact to the kidnapping resulting in death. He faces a sentence of up to 15 years in federal prison without parole.
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