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‘There Is Evil In This World’: Couple Arrested After Pregnant Mom, Baby Are Killed During Supposed Job Interview
Authorities say they discovered the bodies of Ashley Bush and her baby, Valkyrie Grace Willis, in two separate locations in Missouri.
Pregnant Arkansas mom Ashley Bush believed she was going to an interview for a job that would allow her to work from home.
Instead, the 33-year-old was shot to death and the baby she was carrying was killed in what Benton County Sheriff Shawn Holloway described as “one of the most horrific cases” of his career, according to a press conference Thursday.
Holloway said Amber and Jamie Waterman, a married couple from Jane, Missouri, have been taken into custody and charged with kidnapping in connection to the deaths. Authorities expect additional charges to follow in the ongoing investigation.
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Bush disappeared on Monday after her fiancé told investigators that she had gone to meet a woman she had met online named “Lucy,” who was planning to help her get a new job working from home, according to local station KATV.
Bush believed the woman was going to take her to a job interview and agreed to meet “Lucy” at a Handi-Mart in Maysville, but she never made it to the job interview.
Benton County Prosecutor Nathan Smith said at the press conference Thursday that authorities now believe that “Lucy” was an “invented persona” created by Amber to lure Bush to the meeting spot.
Bush’s body and that of her baby, who she had planned to name Valkyrie Grace Willis, were both found in Missouri one day apart in “a separate location” this week, Holloway said.
While authorities declined to provide details about where the bodies were found or the circumstances around the grim discovery, Smith said that “clearly the baby was not found with the mother.”
He said it was “too early” to speculate on a possible motive in the case.
“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, you know, at her most vulnerable state is unimaginable, but, you know, unfortunately that’s the world we live in.”
Smith said authorities are now working through jurisdictional issues to determine where the couple will be charged and with what crimes, adding it was possible that there could be “overlapping charges.”
The FBI is also assisting with the investigation.
Bush leaves behind three children, ages 8, 7 and 2. Her fiancé Josh Willis told KHBS/KHOG in a statement that he was devastated by her death.
"I'm disgusted in the whole situation. I wish that Ashley and Valkyrie were alive and home with us all. I cant believe that there are people out there that would do something like this,” he said. “She was a great mother, a wonderful wife, a very outgoing, caring, and kind person. They didn't deserve any of this.”
He went on to describe the family’s insurmountable loss.
“There are 3 amazing kids here that just lost their mother/best friend and little sister. I just lost my wife and daughter. We are all going to support each other through this but we are all devastated in the whole thing,” he said. “We all were hoping and praying they would come home safely. I've lost all hope in humanity.”
