Woman accused of killing expectant mom to steal fetus faces death penalty

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Amber Waterman desperately wanted the baby Ashley Bush was carrying — and cops say she would do anything to get her hands on the unborn child.

Now, if convicted of murdering Bush, 33, and her unborn baby, Waterman, 45, will face the executioner and a date with death.

According to cops, using the false name of “Lucy” in 2022, Waterman used Facebook to contact Bush, who at the time was 31 weeks pregnant. Waterman used the ruse of helping Bush get a job.

On Oct. 28, 2022, the two women had an in-person “job interview” at a local library in Gravette, Ark. Waterman told Bush it was a working-from-home position for an Arkansas company.

“On Oct. 31, 2022, at roughly 11:45 a.m., Bush met Waterman at the Handi-Stop convenience store in Maysville,” federal prosecutors wrote 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.”

Waterman then kidnapped the expectant mom and took Bush to her residence.

“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,” prosecutors wrote.

“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.”

An autopsy revealed that Bush died as a result of homicide. She had been shot to death and then a knife was used to try to cut the baby out of Bush’s uterus. The baby, named Valkyrie Grace Willis, died.

Waterman later tried to burn Bush’s body.

Prosecutors say Waterman’s dim-witted gambit was to claim the unborn baby as her own.

Her legal eagles had tried to torpedo the state’s efforts by claiming it was double jeopardy. The state’s highest court torpedoed their efforts and allowed the death penalty option to stay.

In 2024, Waterman pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping resulting in death and one count of causing the death of a child in utero.

She was subsequently sentenced to two life sentences with no chance for parole, as there is no parole in the federal prison system.

Now, the state of Arkansas is scheduled to try Waterman on two counts of premeditated and deliberate capital murder.

In 2021, Lisa Montgomery was executed for a similarly gruesome murder in Missouri. Montgomery got the big adios at the federal death house in Terre Haute, Indiana, after a last-minute stay of execution was lifted by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Montgomery’s legal team argued that she was mentally ill and had been abused as a child.

In 2004, she strangled 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett, who bled to death. However, Stinnett’s baby was safely recovered and returned to her family.

Waterman has a pretrial hearing scheduled for July 7.

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun