AUSTIN – A Texas woman accused of kidnapping and killing her friend and then claiming the victim’s newborn baby as her own is expected to plead guilty, according to media reports.
Magen Fieramusca is expected to be sentenced to 55 years in prison after she enters her plea deal in a Jan. 31 court appearance, KXAN and KVUE reported. In the deal, Fieramusca also waives her right to appeal.
She was indicted in January 2020 for the capital murder of Heidi Broussard, who lived in Austin.
The indictment states that on or about Dec. 12, 2019, Fieramusca abducted Broussard and her then-three-week-old daughter from her south Austin apartment.
She placed the woman in a black duffel bag, and her body was later found in the trunk of Fieramusca’s car, police previously said. The car was found parked outside a home in the Houston suburb of Jersey Village, where Fieramusca had been living.
The infant, named Margot Carey, was found alive and later reunited with her father.
The indictment says that Fieramusca strangled Broussard with a leash and her hands.
Court records show that the women were friends and met at a church camp about a decade ago.
At one point, Fieramusca had a key to Broussard’s apartment and they talked about being pregnant together.
Broussard’s fiance, Shane Carey, told police that the women were expecting in late 2019. Fieramusca appeared to be pregnant, he said, but investigators said they found discrepancies in her account of her pregnancy and delivery.
Carey said he never saw photos of Fieramusca’s child, and records don’t indicate if she was ever actually pregnant.
Investigators believed she hatched an elaborate scheme to present Broussard’s baby girl as her own.
Fieramusca’s ex-boyfriend, Christopher Green, told police that she believed she was pregnant with his child. They continued to live together after they broke up.
She told Green that she gave birth to the baby without his knowledge and that the baby was at their home. The baby was actually Margot Carey, police said.
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