Woman who killed pregnant victim she met on Facebook, cut fetus from womb, ‘claimed’ child as her own to face death penalty trial after double jeopardy appeal rejected

A 45-year-old pistillate successful Arkansas who lured a pregnant victim into an ambush and chopped retired her fetus successful a botched strategy to “claim” the kid arsenic her ain will look the decease penalty aft the state’s highest tribunal rejected an entreaty successful which her lawyers argued that her upcoming authorities execution proceedings was barred by treble jeopardy.

The Arkansas Supreme Court past week denied the entreaty of Amber Waterman, holding that her national kidnapping convictions did not prohibit the authorities from pursuing execution charges against her for the 2022 slayings of 33-year-old Ashley Bush and her unborn daughter, whom she had named Valkyrie Grace Willis.

Waterman past twelvemonth pleaded blameworthy to 1 number of kidnapping resulting successful decease and 1 number of causing the decease of a kid successful utero. She was subsequently sentenced to 2 beingness sentences with nary accidental for parole, arsenic determination is nary parole successful the national situation system.

The authorities of Arkansas is scheduled to effort Waterman connected 2 counts of premeditated and deliberate superior murder.

Love existent crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life transgression stories delivered close to your inbox.

In an eight-page opinion, the justices reasoned that adjacent though the national kidnapping charges and the authorities execution charges against Waterman stem from the aforesaid enactment oregon acts, prosecution of the authorities charges bash not represent treble jeopardy due to the fact that they necessitate “proof of a information not required by the different offense” and the instrumentality defining each discourtesy “is intended to forestall a substantially antithetic harm oregon evil.”

From the order:

“The Arkansas capital-murder charges intelligibly necessitate impervious that Waterman had the premeditated and deliberated intent to origin the decease of different person, however, premeditated and deliberated intent is not required by the national statutes. Likewise, the national convictions required impervious of facts not required nether the capital-murder statute successful Arkansas. Specifically, kidnapping, which was required for some national convictions, requires impervious of an unlawful seizure, confinement, abduction, oregon holding of a person. Additionally, kidnapping requires that the idiosyncratic beryllium willfully transported successful interstate commerce. The Arkansas capital-murder statute requires nary specified unlawful holding oregon transport via interstate commerce. Because some the national and authorities statutes necessitate impervious of facts not required by the other.”

As previously reported, Amber Waterman admitted to kidnapping Bush from Maysville and transporting her to Pineville, some of which are successful Arkansas, resulting successful the decease of Bush and Valkyrie.

Waterman used a mendacious name — “Lucy” — to interaction Bush via Facebook portion the unfortunate was 31 weeks pregnant. She pretended to assistance Bush get a occupation by telling her she had an accidental the unfortunate could fill. That enactment prompted an in-person “job interview” betwixt the 2 women connected Oct. 28, 2022, astatine a nationalist room successful Gravette, Arkansas, wherever Amber Waterman offered Bush a work-from-home presumption for a institution based retired of Arkansas.

“On Oct. 31, 2022, astatine astir 11:45 a.m., Bush met Waterman astatine the Handi-Stop convenience store successful Maysville,” national prosecutors wrote successful a quality release. “Under the pretext that Waterman was taking her to conscionable a supervisor to further sermon employment, Bush got into a motortruck driven by Waterman.”

Amber Waterman past kidnapped Bush and drove the large pistillate to the Waterman residence successful Pineville.

“At astir 5 p.m. connected Oct. 31, 2022, archetypal responders reported to the Longview store successful Pineville for an exigency telephone of a babe who was not breathing,” prosecutors wrote. “Waterman admitted that she claimed to archetypal responders that she had fixed commencement to the kid successful the motortruck portion connected the mode to the hospital. But successful reality, she admitted, the kid was Bush’s child, who died successful utero, arsenic a effect of Waterman’s kidnapping that resulted successful the decease of Bush.”

A consequent autopsy determined that Bush’s mode of decease was a homicide and the origin of decease was “penetrating trauma of the torso.” Authorities accidental that Amber Waterman changeable and killed Bush, past utilized a weapon to effort and region the unborn kid from her uterus. She besides attempted to pain Bush’s body.

Joshua Robinson, the prosecuting lawyer for Benton County, Arkansas, stated successful July that helium intends to prosecute Waterman successful authorities tribunal and seek the decease penalty.

On Monday, Waterman’s attorneys filed 2 motions with the tribunal successful the authorities case, Benton, Arkansas, NBC affiliate KNWA reported. The archetypal was seeking a intelligence valuation to find her intelligence fittingness for trial, and the different was a question to forestall prosecutors from referring to the national lawsuit and immoderate statements Waterman made during national proceedings.

Waterman has a pretrial proceeding scheduled for July 7.