What we know about the woman accused of killing Heidi Broussard, kidnapping baby in 2019

Katie Hall, Tony Plohetski and Ryan Autullo, Austin American-Statesman
·2 min read

Magen Fieramusca, 37, is expected to plead guilty Jan. 31 to a charge of murder in the death of an Austin mom, a case that began with a desperate search by family and neighbors for the missing 33-year-old mom and her infant.

Here's what we know about the case:

Who is Heidi Broussard?

Heidi Broussard vanished Dec. 12, 2019, with her infant daughter, Margot Carey. Broussard's disappearance prompted a search that included Austin police, the Texas Rangers and the FBI.

Heidi Broussard and her daughter Margot Carey were last seen on Dec. 12, 2019, before being found almost a week later.
Heidi Broussard and her daughter Margot Carey were last seen on Dec. 12, 2019, before being found almost a week later.

The case took a grisly turn Dec. 19 when Broussard's body was found in a duffel bag in the trunk of a car outside a suburban Houston home where Fieramusca lived.

What is Magen Fieramusca accused of?

Fieramusca is accused of befriending Broussard a decade before killing her and kidnapping her 2-week-old daughter in 2019.

Broussard and Fieramusca shared joy that they were pregnant at the same time and wondered if they would give birth the same day, according to court documents. But Fieramusca was not pregnant and had set up an elaborate hoax to kidnap Broussard’s baby and present the infant as her own, an affidavit charging her with kidnapping said.

According to a one-page indictment, Fieramusca asphyxiated Broussard by “ligature strangulation, with a leash and with her hand.”

How did authorities find the baby?

Six days after Broussard and her baby disappeared, police interviewed a woman who lived in their apartment complex. She told police that she saw two women interacting and that one of them appeared to be carrying an infant police think was Broussard’s daughter. The other woman, the neighbor revealed, resembled a person in a photo lineup that police say was Fieramusca.

An investigator with the Texas Rangers approached Fieramusca outside her home on Dec. 19 while her then-boyfriend, Christopher Green, was out shopping for baby formula. Fieramusca, who was holding a baby monitor, told the investigator she had given birth on Dec. 12 at a birthing center in The Woodlands and went home later that day.

A Texas Ranger investigators entered the house to make sure the baby was safe after questioning Green in the parking lot of a Target and he urged them to "please go get that baby," according to testimony by a Texas Ranger.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: What we know about the woman accused of killing Heidi Broussard