John Jefferson
Inset: Ashley Bush (Benton County Sheriff’s Office). Background: Amber Waterman (McDonald County Detention Center).
A 44-year-old woman in Missouri will spend the rest of her days behind bars for kidnapping and killing a 33-year-old pregnant woman and her unborn child from Arkansas in a botched scheme to steal the mother-to-be’s baby and “claim” the unborn child as her own.
U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough on Tuesday ordered Amber Waterman to serve two consecutive sentences of life in a federal correctional facility for the 2022 slaying of 33-year-old Ashley Bush and her unborn daughter, who she had named Valkyrie Willis, records reviewed by Law&Crime show. There is no chance for parole in the federal prison system.
Waterman in July formally pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping resulting in death and one count of causing the death of a child in utero.
Waterman’s husband, Jamie Waterman, has also been charged in Bush’s death. He is facing one federal count of being an accessory after the fact to kidnapping resulting in death. Prosecutors allege that he assisted his wife in covering up the crime despite knowing she had kidnapped and killed Bush.
Jaime Waterman appeared in court Tuesday afternoon and changed his plea to guilty, court records show, less than a week before his trial was scheduled to begin.
Jamie Waterman (McDonald County Sheriff’s Depart).
As previously reported, Amber Waterman admitted to kidnapping Bush from Maysville and transporting her to Pineville, both of which are in Arkansas, resulting in the death of Bush and Valkyrie.
Amber Waterman used a false name — “Lucy” — to contact Bush via Facebook while the victim was 31 weeks pregnant. She pretended to help Bush get a job by telling her she had an opportunity the victim could fill. That interaction prompted an in-person “job interview” between the two women on Oct. 28, 2022, at a public library in Gravette, Arkansas, where Amber Waterman offered Bush a work-from-home position for a company based out of Arkansas.
“On Oct. 31, 2022, at roughly 11:45 a.m., Bush met Waterman at the Handi-Stop convenience store in Maysville,” federal prosecutors wrote in a news release. “Under the pretext that Waterman was taking her to meet a supervisor to further discuss employment, Bush got into a truck driven by Waterman.”
Amber Waterman then kidnapped Bush and drove the pregnant woman to the Waterman residence in Pineville.
“At about 5 p.m. on Oct. 31, 2022, first responders reported to the Longview store in Pineville for an emergency call of a baby who was not breathing,” prosecutors wrote. “Waterman admitted that she claimed to first responders that she had given birth to the child in the truck while on the way to the hospital. But in reality, she admitted, the child was Bush’s child, who died in utero, as a result of Waterman’s kidnapping that resulted in the death of Bush.”
A subsequent autopsy determined that Bush’s manner of death was a homicide and the cause of death was “penetrating trauma of the torso.” Authorities say that Amber Waterman shot and killed Bush, then used a knife to try and remove the unborn child from her uterus. She also attempted to burn Bush’s body.
Joshua Robinson, the prosecuting attorney for Benton County, Arkansas, stated in July that he intends to prosecute Waterman in state court and seek the death penalty. At the state level, Waterman is charged with two counts of capital murder and one count of kidnapping in Benton County.
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