A woman from Texas was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to murder charges, reported ABC News.
Magen Fieramusca, 37, who killed her friend in 2019 and abducted her baby, which she attempted to pass off as her own, was sentenced to 55 years in prison.
Her victim Heidi Broussard was 33.
Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza made the announcement in a statement to the media.
The crime, which took place in Austin, Texas, started with a three-year-old going missing. The investigation conducted by the police led them to Fieramusca. Afterward, police found the child alive in a home near Houston and Broussard dead in the trunk of Fieramusca’s car.
Broussard was last seen alive, dropping a different child off at school. Fieramusca abducted Broussard, according to the arrest affidavit, and then put her in a duffel bag that was black.
The killing was ruled a strangulation.
Broussard and Fieramusca were close friends, according to court records, who often talked about being pregnant together. They had met more than ten years earlier at a church function. Fieramusca even, at one point, had a key to Broussard’s apartment.
Court records suggested the two women often talked about being pregnant at the same time.
Fieramusca, when confronted by police, said she had recently given birth to a baby girl on December 8 or 9. She said she went to the beach with her cousin the same day Broussard was abducted. She told the Texas Ranger that she gave birth on that exact day, although the details were something she was unable to provide.
Margot Carey, the baby that was abducted, was afterward returned to her father.
“We are hopeful that this outcome will bring some closure to the Broussard and Carey families and help them continue their healing process,” Garza said.
The Tarrant County DA’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment by The Dallas Express.
