A Texas woman has made an agreement with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to killing her childhood friend as part of a plot to steal her baby and pass it off as her own child. She has waved an appeal and was sentenced to 55 years in prison.
Woman kills her best friend in order to steal her baby
In December 2019, one month after giving birth to a daughter, 33-year-old Heidi Broussard, a mother from Austin, and her newborn went missing. She was last seen on December 12. Authorities initially were uncertain whether she had simply left or if foul play was involved, NBC reported.
The FBI deployed a child abduction team to help authorities in Austin, Texas, investigate the case. Broussard was last seen after dropping off her 6-year-old son at Cowan Elementary School and leaving with her infant daughter.
A week later, Broussard’s body was found on December 19 in the trunk of a car belonging to her best friend, Magen Rose Fieramusca, 37, at her Jersey Village home near Houston, KXAN reported.
The newborn baby was also found at the residence, and the infant was placed in the care of Texas’ Child Protective Services.
Broussard’s death was determined to be “ligature strangulation,” investigators eventually determined was done using a dog leash, Yahoo reported.
The infant was later reunited with her father and Broussard’s fiancé, Shane Carey.
Fieramusca was initially arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and tampering with a corpse.
However, in a later indictment, authorities laid out the plot, according to prosecutors: Fieramusca pretended to be pregnant at the same time that Broussard was pregnant in order to eventually pass off the baby as her own.
Travis County prosecutors charged Fieramusca with capital murder, tampering with evidence and two counts of kidnapping.
Woman makes plea deal, will serve 55 years in prison
On February 2, 2023, after making an agreement with prosecutors, Magen Fieramusca, 37, pleaded guilty in Travis County Criminal Court to the murder of Heidi Broussard, BuzzFeed News reported.
As part of her plea agreement, Fieramusca waived her right to appeal and received a sentence of 55 years in prison.
“I think it is difficult, if not impossible, to find justice and any sort of resolution to this horrendous crime,” Judge Selena Alvarenga told Fieramusca in court, adding that she had “destroyed an entire family” and that no matter what sentence the court handed out nothing could make Broussard’s family whole again.
“Ms. Fieramusca, the fact is, that by your actions, you have deprived an innocent child, an innocent baby, the opportunity of growing up with her mother next to her,” the judge added.
