Harris County woman, 35, makes first appearance in court accused of strangling her best friend to death with a dog leash and stealing her two-week-old baby

Magen Rose Fieramusca who is accused of killing her best friend Heidi Broussard in order to steal her infant baby, named Margot

Heidi Broussard gave birth to daughter Margot in late November 2019, but on December 12, the new mom and her two-week-old baby vanished

On December 20, Broussard’s body was found stuffed in the trunk of a car outside the home of her best friend, Magen Fieramusca

Baby Margot was found inside the home, but Fieramusca insisted the infant was hers Investigators believe Fieramusca strangled her best friend to death with a dog leash in order to claim baby Margot as her own

Fieramusca made her first appearance in court Monday charged with capital murder, tampering with a corpse and two counts of kidnapping

She’s held on $1.6 milion bond

If convicted of capital murder, Fieramusca faces the death penalty or life in prison

A woman accused of killing new mom Heidi Broussard in order to steal her infant baby has made her first appearance in court in Harris County, Texas. 
Magen Fieramusca, 35, appeared via Zoom from the Travis County Jail in Austin Monday for a hearing on charges of capital murder, tampering with a corpse and two counts of kidnapping. 
She’s accused of killing Heidi Broussard, who went missing in December 2019 and was found in the trunk of a car at a Harris County home three weeks later.
The car Broussard’s body was found in was registered to Fieramusca, according to police. In an arrest affidavit, authorities say that Fieramusca acted as if the baby was her own to her boyfriend following Broussard’s disappearance.

Fieramusca and Broussard had been best friends for two decades after meeting at a church camp as children.
But in December 2019, Fieramusca allegedly strangled Broussard to death with a dog leash in a brazen plot to take her two-week-old baby, Margot, and pass the tot off as her own.  
 Baby Margot was found safe and well at Fieramusca’s home, before she was reunited with her father, Broussard’s fiance, Shane Carey.  
Fieramusca, 35, appeared via Zoom from the Travis County Jail in Austin Monday for a hearing on charges of capital murder, tampering with a corpse and two counts of kidnapping.
Her attorneys requested another month to work on the case and a judge reset the hearing to April 28. 
The accused killer is being held on a $1.6 million bond. 

The shocking case captured the attention of the nation, and her partner Shane Carey was initially believed to be a suspect after Broussard vanished with two-week-old Margot on December 12, 2019 after leaving their Austin home. 
Her disappearance sparked a widespread search of the area in and around the city.
Carey and Broussard also shared a son, Silas, who is now seven years old. New photos from Facebook show that Carey is taking sole care of both children.  He also appears to have found love again following his fiancee’s brutal murder, as his Facebook page shows an update from February stating that he is in a relationship.

A tip-off led investigators to a home reportedly rented by Fieramusca in Jersey Village, more than 140 miles away. 
Broussard’s body was found stuffed in the trunk of a car registered to Fieramusca outside the residence. Broussard’s daughter, Margo Carey, who was a month old at the time, was found alive in the home and reunited with her father two days before Christmas 2019.
She is now being raised by her dad, Shane Carey.

Baby Margot was found inside the home, but Fieramusca reportedly claimed the infant was her own. 
According to investigators, Fieramusca was a ‘womb raider’ who had faked her own pregnancy for nine months with sinister plans to snatch her best friend’s baby after she had given birth
Detectives allege Fieramusca strangled Broussard sometime between December 12 and December 19, before claiming baby Margot as her own. 

Law enforcement claims Fieramusca pretended to be pregnant herself at the same time as Broussard and even set a fake due date for December 1.
She additionally set up a Target baby registry. 
Friends of Fieramusca claim they told her that she had given birth to a baby girl named ‘Luna Mae’ in early December. 
Even Broussard’s fiance, Shane Carey, believed Fieramusca was expecting. 
‘Heidi loved Magen, they had a great relationship. She was a friend. You would not suspect this at all. Like, at all,’ he said after her arrest. 
If convicted of capital murder, Fieramusca faces the death penalty or life in prison.  

Magen Rose Fieramusca was charged with third-degree kidnapping and tampering with a body in connection with the disappearance of Austin mother Heidi Broussard and her infant daughter Margo Carey.
The chrging affidavit details that Fieramusca was in the delivery room during the birth of Margo Carey, that an eye witness saw Broussard getting into a car with Fieramusca the day Broussard was reported missing and how Fieramusca potentially faked her pregnancy to her former boyfriend.
According to the affidavit, when Broussard gave birth to Margo, Fieramusca was one of three people (the baby’s father Shane Carey and another woman) in the delivery room at St. David’s South Austin Hospital.
Fieramusca, who at the time said she was 37 weeks pregnant herself, drove from her home in Houston to be there for the birth Nov. 26.
After the birth, family members came into the room. When the baby’s paternal grandfather, was handed the baby to hold, Fieramusca interjected herself and wanted to hold the baby, saying she had to leave, the affidavit said.

Carey told police he last saw his fiancee Heidi Broussard Dec. 12 around 6:30 a.m. before he left for work.
Around 8:12 a.m., surveillance video showed Broussard had dropped off their 6-year-old son at his elementary school, and phone records show Broussard called Carey around 8:30 a.m.
Surveillance cameras installed by another resident of the apartment complex caught a car resembling Magen Fieramusca’s drive toward the rear of the apartment complex, where Carey and Broussard were living, at 9:05 a.m. on Dec. 12, the same day the two disappeared.
Records from Fieramusca’s cell phone also pinpoint her in the area.
A witness said she saw a woman carrying an infant with a knit cap get into the car. The witness said there wasn’t enough time for the woman carrying the baby to properly restrain her in the car before it left the parking lot, according to the affidavit.