(BENTONVILLE, ARK.) — Investigators are reporting that a pregnant woman who was kidnapped while believing she was on a job interview was killed for her unborn child.
33-year-old Ashley Bush was found dead on Nov. 2nd after getting in a vehicle with a woman she met on Facebook several days prior.
Authorities say Bush had been searching for work-from-home jobs after having complications with her pregnancy and being told she needed to take a leave from her regular job.
Bush eventually met a woman who identified herself as ‘Lucy Barrows’ on Facebook who claimed she was hiring.
Bush who was 31 weeks pregnant at the time, met ‘Lucy’ at a public library in Gravette, Arkansas for an initial job interview on Oct. 28th.
‘Lucy’ then informed Bush that they would need to travel to another location to meet the woman’s boss for a second interview.
Three days later, Bush was dropped off by her fiance Josh Willis at a convenience store where she was to be picked up by ‘Lucy.’
Willis told authorities that he eventually received a text from Bush stating that they were done with the interview and headed back to the store where he could pick her up by 3 p.m.
Willis says he was waiting for Bush when saw the vehicle she was in pull up to the intersection. The driver, however, kept going.
The Willis told authorities that followed the vehicle as it traveled down Highway 43 but eventually lost it.
His calls to Bush were also going unanswered.
After an investigation, authorities found that ‘Lucy’ was actually
Amber Waterman and that she did not work for the company she claimed to be hiring for.
Authorities also found that Waterman called authorities on Oct. 31st stating that she had given birth to a stillborn baby.
First responders arrived in the area and attempted to revive the child, however, when they could not, the child was taken to a funeral home.
Amber and her husband Jamie Waterman then arranged to have a funeral service for the child.
Before the service could be completed, a coroner called for a DNA swab from the baby.
When authorities arrived to conduct the swap, Jamie ran out of the funeral home.
He eventually confessed that his wife Amber told him earlier that day that she’d killed Bush for her child and laid her body facedown near a boat at their home.
The couple then brought Bush’s body to a fire pit where they set it on fire and then dumped it not too far away.
‘They got cleaned up after burning and disposing of her body and showed up for a funeral,’ county coroner BJ Goodwin said.
Amber has been charged with kidnapping resulting in death, while Jamie has been charged with one count of being an accessory to a fatal abduction.
The incident is still under investigation and more charges are pending.