BENTON COUNTY, Ark. — A Missouri couple is facing first-degree kidnapping charges after a missing Arkansas woman and her unborn child were found dead in separate locations, authorities said.
According to KHBS and KARK, Jane residents Amber and Jamie Waterman, both 42, were arrested Thursday and remain held without bond at the McDonald County Jail. They likely will face additional charges, Sheriff Shawn Holloway of Benton County, Arkansas, said in a news conference Thursday evening.
News of the arrests came days after 33-year-old Ashley Bush, a Benton County mother of three who was 31 weeks pregnant with her fourth child, was last seen Monday near state Highways 72 and 43 in Maysville, Arkansas, investigators said. She was a passenger in a pickup truck with a driver who identified herself as “Lucy,” the Benton County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post Tuesday.
Bush “met Lucy online when she was looking for a job working from home,” the post read. “Lucy picked her up that morning at the Handi-Mart in Maysville to take her to a job interview in Bentonville.”
Benton County Prosecutor Nathan Smith said Thursday that investigators believe Amber Waterman was “Lucy,” the news outlets reported.
Authorities discovered the bodies of the unborn baby girl and Bush on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, in separate southwest Missouri locations, Holloway said. Bush had been shot, he added.
Investigators are still trying to determine a possible motive and where the deaths occurred, KHBS reported.
Bush’s fiancé, Josh Willis, described Bush as “wonderful” and “a great mother” in a statement obtained by KHBS.
“There are three amazing kids here that just lost their mother/best friend and little sister,” the statement read. “I just lost my wife and daughter. We are all going to support each other through this, but we are all devastated in the whole thing. We all were hoping and praying they would come home safely. I’ve lost all hope in humanity. I appreciate all the help out there from everyone.”
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