A pregnant Arkansas woman was found shot dead in Missouri on Thursday, a day after the baby she was carrying was found in a separate location.
Amber and Jamie Waterman, both 42, have been arrested on kidnapping charges, Benton County Prosecutor Nathan Smith said, according to KHBS.
The couple has not been charged with the murders of 33-year-old Ashley Bush or the baby, Valkyrie Grace Willis, because investigators have not determined where they were killed, Smith said.
Bush was 31 weeks pregnant. She had three other children, ages 8, 7, and 2, and was engaged to be married.
Smith said investigators have not yet determined a motive.
“This is just a reminder that there is evil in the world,” he said. “People do evil things. And that someone would prey upon a pregnant woman at her most vulnerable state is unimaginable but unfortunately that’s the world we live in.”
Investigators say Bush was last seen Monday afternoon in a pickup truck driven by a woman she met online who had taken her to a job interview in Bentonville. The woman, who told Bush her name was “Lucy,” was actually Amber Waterman. Waterman picked Bush up at a convenience store in Maysville for the ride to the job interview. At about 3 p.m., Bush texted her fiance that she was on her way back to the convenience store and could be picked up there.
Josh Willis, the fiance, told investigators he saw Bush in the truck with Waterman at the intersection where the convenience store is located, but instead of turning into the parking lot, Waterman drove off on Highway 43, KFSM reported.
Investigators told KHBS that they’re still working out a timeline on the kidnapping and killings and that the FBI is involved as well as officials in Arkansas and Missouri.
The bodies were both found in McDonald County in southwestern Missouri, which borders Benton County on northwestern Arkansas.
According to jail records, the Watermans are being held without bond in McDonald County, where they’re listed as residents of Pineville.
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[Featured image: Amber Waterman, left/McDonald County Sheriff’s Office and Ashley Bush/Facebook]
