An Arkansas woman who was pregnant told the judge that she kidnapped and killed another Arkansas woman to get her baby, so the Missouri woman would spend the rest of her life in jail.
Amber Waterman, 44, of Pineville, Missouri, pleaded guilty on Tuesday in US District Court in Springfield to one count of kidnapping with the intent to kill and one count of causing the death of a child in the womb. US Attorney Teresa Moore said that Waterman would have to spend the rest of his life in jail without the chance to get out. The official sentence date is October 15.
Waterman said in her plea that she put up a fake name on Facebook to talk to Ashley Bush of Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Bush, who was 33 years old, was about 31 weeks pregnant at the time.
Federal prosecutors say Waterman and Bush decided to meet on October 31, 2022, at a convenience store in Arkansas. Waterman said he would help Bush get a job. Waterman drove Bush to his house in Pineville instead.
After hours, police were called to the house because someone said a baby wasn’t breathing. It was said that the baby was dead. At first, Waterman said she had given birth. She said in her plea that the baby was Bush’s. Bush had three other children with other people.
Bush’s dead body was found somewhere else. Authorities in Arkansas said she died from a gunshot wound, but cops and prosecutors wouldn’t say how the baby died.
Jamie Waterman, Waterman’s husband, was charged with being an accessory after the fact because he is said to have helped get rid of Bush’s body. His trial is set to happen in October.