In a failed attempt to steal the expectant mother’s baby and “claim” the unborn child as her own, a 44-year-old Missouri woman will serve the remainder of her life in prison for the abduction and murder of a 33-year-old pregnant lady and her unborn child from Arkansas.
Amber Waterman was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in a federal detention prison on Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough for the 2022 murders of Ashley Bush, 33, and her unborn daughter, Valkyrie Willis, whom she had named. The federal prison system does not offer parole.
For one crime of kidnapping resulting in death and one count of causing the death of a child in utero, Waterman formally entered a guilty plea in July.
Jamie Waterman, Waterman’s spouse, has also been accused with Bush’s murder. One federal offense of accessory after the fact to kidnapping resulting in death is against him. Despite being aware that his wife had abducted and murdered Bush, prosecutors claim he helped her cover up the crime.
Less than a week prior to the start of his trial, Jaime Waterman entered a guilty plea when he appeared in court on Tuesday afternoon, according to court documents.
Bush and Valkyrie died as a result of Amber Waterman’s admission that she abducted her from Maysville and took her to Pineville, all of which are in Arkansas.
When the victim was 31 weeks pregnant, Amber Waterman contacted Bush on Facebook using the fictitious identity “Lucy.” By claiming to have a position that the victim could fill, she feigned to assist Bush in finding employment.
This encounter led to an in-person “job interview” between the two women on October 28, 2022, at a Gravette, Arkansas, public library, when Amber Waterman extended an offer to Bush for a remote job with an Arkansas-based corporation.
“On Oct. 31, 2022, at roughly 11:45 a.m., Bush met Waterman at the Handi-Stop convenience store in Maysville,” federal prosecutors stated 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.”
After abducting Bush, Amber Waterman took the expectant mother to the Waterman home 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,” according to the prosecutors. “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 later autopsy concluded that “penetrating trauma of the torso” was the cause of death and that Bush’s manner of death was a homicide.
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Amber Waterman, according to authorities, shot and murdered Bush before attempting to remove the unborn child from her uterus with a knife. She also tried to set Bush’s body on fire.
In July, Benton County, Arkansas, prosecutor Joshua Robinson announced his intention to bring charges against Waterman in state court and pursue the death sentence. Waterman faces one count of kidnapping in Benton County and two counts of capital murder at the state level.
