A convicted 45-year-old woman who lured a pregnant victim into an ambush in Arkansas and cut out her fetus in a botched scheme to "claim" the child as her own, changed her plea in in Benton County Court to guilty on Wednesday to guilty.
Amber Waterman, of Pineville, Mo. pleaded guilty in Arkansas to two counts of capital murder in the 2022 kidnapping and death of 22-year-old Ashley Bush and her unborn baby.
This change of plea ends the State of Arkansas case against her in which prosecutors were seeking the death penalty. She was sentenced in Arkansas to two life sentences without the possibility of parole, running consecutively.
Waterman has already been convicted in federal court in Missouri for the kidnapping and killing of Bush and her unborn child. In July 2024, she pleaded guilty to kidnapping resulting in death and causing the death of a child through early delivery, receiving two consecutive life sentences.
Waterman Made Fake Facebook Profile, Posed as Woman Offering Baby Items to New Moms to Lure the Victim
Bush was 31 weeks pregnant when she went missing on Monday, Oct. 31, 2022. She was reported missing to the Benton County, Arkansas Sheriff's office by her boyfriend, Joshua Willis, the father of the child she was carrying.
Willis told police Ashley had gone to meet with a woman named "Lucy" but never returned. Investigators allege that "Lucy" was Amber Waterman and she was seeking someone either with a baby or expecting one. "Lucy Barrows" account on Facebook was newly created and posted on social media on October 24, 2022.
"I have a bunch of baby items if any moms to be need them," she wrote in a post on a mommy group. Additionally, on Amber Waterman's FB account she posted on September 6, 2022, some sonogram photos of a baby claiming to be pregnant.
Waterman Killed Bush, Stole Her Baby and then Claimed She Suffered a Miscarriage
Waterman pretended to help Bush obtain employment, suggesting she had a job opportunity for her and the two met at 11:45 a.m. Oct. 31, 2022, at a convenience store in Maysville. At about 5 p.m. Oct. 31, first responders reported to a Longview store in Pineville for an emergency call of a baby who was not breathing.
When emergency responders arrived at the scene, Waterman told them she gave birth to a stillborn on the way to the hospital. She allegedly refused medical treatment and the coroner confirmed that the baby was "cut out" from the mother's womb. The baby did not survive.
Bush's body was found three days later in Missouri. An autopsy indicated Bush died as a result of penetrating trauma of the torso and her death was classified as a homicide.
Jamie Waterman, Amber Waterman's husband, is charged federally with one count of being an accessory after the fact to kidnapping resulting in death. He isn't facing any state charges. He told authorities his wife showed him Bush's body, which was near their home, according to court documents. He said they burned the body and took the charred remains to another location, the document states.
