A Missouri woman has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the gruesome murder of a pregnant woman and her unborn child in a twisted plot to steal the baby. Amber Waterman, 44, confessed to the crime on Tuesday, admitting to luring her victim, 33-year-old Ashley Bush, to her death in October 2022 under the pretense of a job opportunity, only to forcibly remove the fetus from her body.
“This heinous act led to the tragic loss of two innocent lives,” stated US Attorney Teresa Moore. “The guilty plea today holds the defendant responsible for her actions and ensures that justice will be served.”
As part of her confession, Waterman acknowledged that she shot Bush, who was 31 weeks pregnant, before extracting the unborn child from her body. The macabre scheme, however, did not go as planned. The baby did not survive, and authorities quickly zeroed in on Waterman when she attempted to pass off the deceased fetus as her own stillborn child, allegedly delivered in a truck en route to the hospital.
Waterman soon confessed that the fetus was not hers and revealed that she had disposed of the mother’s mutilated body by burning it in a fire pit.
The perpetrator had enticed Bush to her death by creating a fictitious Facebook account under the name “Lucy Barrows,” offering a non-existent work-from-home job opportunity on a mothers’ group. Bush, an Arkansas resident, and her fiancé, Josh Willis, met “Lucy” at a public library in Gravette, Arkansas. Waterman then suggested that the two women needed to travel together to the neighboring town of Gravette to meet the supposed employer. Bush left with Waterman three days later and was never seen alive again.
Waterman then abducted Bush to her home in Pineville, Missouri, where she committed the brutal murder. Bush, a mother of three other children, had affectionately named her unborn child Valkyrie Willis in anticipation of her birth.
Waterman’s husband, Jamie Waterman, has been charged as an accessory after the fact for allegedly assisting in the disposal of Bush’s body. His trial is set for October, and he could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.