Magen Fieramusca killed her longtime friend Heidi Broussard and kidnapped her 2-week-old daughter
Credit: Humble Police Department; Austin Police Department
NEED TO KNOW
- Heidi Broussard and her newborn daughter went missing in 2019, leading to a weeklong search in Texas
- Magen Fieramusca, who had known Broussard since childhood, was arrested after the victim was found dead in a car parked outside Fieramusca’s house
- When she was arrested, Fieramusca was attempting to pass off Broussard’s daughter as her own
Heidi Broussard had just welcomed her daughter when both she and the newborn suddenly went missing in Texas.
A weeklong search commenced, and Broussard was tragically found dead in a car that was parked at her close friend Magen Fieramusca's home. Shortly after, police found Broussard's 2-week-old daughter with Fieramusca, as well.
Police arrested Fieramusca and discovered the shocking truth that she had pretended to be pregnant at the same time as Broussard and had planned to kill her friend and pass off Broussard's baby as her own. She was arrested and charged with Broussard's murder and the newborn kidnapping and later pleaded guilty.
Broussard's brutal murder and betrayal by her close friend has since been dramatized in the Lifetime movie Stolen Baby, which came to Netflix in May 2026. In the film, Emily Osment portrayed Fieramusca, while Anna Hopkins played Broussard.
Here's everything to know about where Magen Fieramusca is now.
Who was Heidi Broussard?
Credit: Austin Police Department
Broussard was a 33-year-old mother of two from Austin, Texas.
Her mother, Tammy Broussard, told PEOPLE in December 2019 that her daughter "was always full of life," had lots of friends and was a daredevil.
“She always liked to go skydiving,” Tammy shared. “She tried everything new. We took her to water parks. Me and her went on the highest rides and her daddy was like, ‘I don’t know.’ She loved water. She loved to swim. She loved to go anywhere where they had these rafting places.”
Prior to her tragic death, Broussard was engaged to Shane Carey and had two children. She was the mother of a 6-year-old son and welcomed daughter Margo Elizabeth Carey on Nov. 26, 2019.
How did Broussard know Fieramusca?
Broussard had been friends with Fieramusca for most of her life. The two native Texans met when they were 11 years old at Texas Bible Institute in Columbus, Texas, according to the arrest affidavit obtained by CNN.
“She was supposedly Heidi’s friend for a long time,” Tammy told PEOPLE. “Heidi had so many friends. Everybody loved her. We thought Magen loved her too."
However, Tammy also clarified that she always felt "uneasy" about Fieramusca. "But the thing is, I was uneasy with her, and I had [been] from the beginning of her friendship with Heidi," she explained.
The two remained friends through adulthood, and when Broussard became pregnant with her second child, Fieramusca told her that she was also pregnant and due at a similar time. Fieramusca even held Broussard's hands as she gave birth.
“Magen was quiet. Somber. She wasn’t saying a word to her," their mutual friend Vickie Shreves recalled to PEOPLE about the birth in December 2019.
Shortly after, Fieramusca “just left quickly,” according to Shreves. “Without a goodbye she was gone. I knew something was wrong.”
What happened to Broussard?
Credit: Courtesy of Humble Police
On Dec. 12, 2019, Broussard and 2-week-old Margo went missing after they dropped off her older son at school.
When Carey returned to their Austin apartment and didn't see Broussard and Margo at home, he called 911 and reported them missing. Police subsequently engaged in a statewide search for the mother and newborn.
Investigators eventually combed through nearby surveillance footage and saw Broussard and Margo get into a car. Police determined that the vehicle was the same as Fieramusca's and searched her home, per A&E.
There, police found Broussard's body in the trunk of Fieramusca's car. Medical examiners later determined that Broussard had been strangled to death with a dog leash.
Upon entering the home, police also found Margo seemingly physically unharmed.
Why did Fieramusca kill Broussard?
After Fieramusca killed Broussard and kidnapped her baby, she allegedly presented Margo as her own to her ex-boyfriend Christopher Green, per Fox 7. Before police arrested Fieramusca, they located Green and questioned him about the missing duo.
When Green was shown a picture of Margo, he told authorities that Fieramusca had just brought the baby home and said the child was hers.
“That’s the baby at my house,” Green told police, per the affidavit obtained by WLFI.
Green alleged that Fieramusca told him she was pregnant with his child around the time he broke up with her. Fieramusca later told police that she had given birth at a birthing center in northern Houston.
Although several people told police that Fieramusca and Broussard were both pregnant and due around the same date, it's unclear whether or not Fieramusca was ever pregnant.
Carey told police that Fieramusca was "visibly pregnant" and that she allegedly also gave birth to a baby girl but never saw any proof of the child.
Broussard's mom believed that Fieramusca planned and calculated to kill her daughter, because she "wanted Margo."
“This is just unreal because to even fathom that a person you thought was your friend to do this — it’s just unfathomable,” Tammy told PEOPLE. “She was supposed to be my daughter’s friend. We’re trying to make sense of it. Heidi has so many friends and she was supposed to be Heidi’s friend. Who does that to her friend?”
Forensic and clinical psychologist Dr. Gary Brucato suggested that Fieramusca's actions showed she had a "kind of callousness and a disregard for human emotion that is pretty manipulative."
"If you have pure maternal desire, there is a more expeditious and less cruel way to do this," Brucato told A&E. "If you wanted a baby to pass off as your own, it wouldn't have to be your best friend that you took it from.”
Meanwhile, Tahir Rahman, an associate professor of psychiatry at Washington University, added that Fieramusca may have seen her pregnant friend as someone "who possessed what Fieramusca lacked."
Where is Fieramusca now?
Credit: Austin Police Department
Fieramusca was originally charged with capital murder, two counts of kidnapping and one count of tampering with a corpse. She accepted a plea deal, reducing the murder charge to first-degree but waiving her right to appeal, in January 2023.
On Feb. 2, 2023, Fieramusca was sentenced to 55 years in prison with the possibility of parole.
"We are hopeful that this outcome will bring some closure to the Broussard and Carey families and help them continue their healing process," Travis County District Attorney José Garza said in a statement at the time.
"This outcome will save the families from having to endure the difficult post-conviction litigation process," Garza added. "We are grateful to our prosecutors and law enforcement partners who worked tirelessly on this case and secured justice for the victim's families and our community."
Fieramusca is serving her sentence behind bars at the William P. Hobby Unit center in Falls County, Texas, according to inmate records. She is eligible for parole in June 2047 but could remain in prison until December 2074.
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