A Harris County woman has been charged with kidnapping in connection with the death of missing Austin mom Heidi Broussard.
The Harris County District Clerk website shows that Magen Rose Fieramusca is being held in jail on three holds placed by the Austin Police Department, two kidnapping offenses and one tampering with evidence, a human corpse.
Fieramusca is a friend of Broussard and the owner of a vehicle that was found at a northwest Harris County home, where a body was found. Medical examiners later confirmed the body belongs to Broussard. The cause of death was ruled as “ligature strangulation,” according to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.
Fieramusca appeared in court Friday afternoon for multiple previous charges related to six traffic tickets from April 2018 including expired registration, no driver’s license on demand, driving while license invalid, failure to report change of address or name, expired driver’s license and no car insurance.
She pled no contest to all six tickets and was found guilty. She was fined $50 each for four of her outstanding tickets and $175 for the remaining two.
Later Friday, bond amounts were set for Fieramusca’s charges in connection with the disappearances of Broussard and her child, totaling $600,000.
According to records from the medical examiner’s office, the body was found in the trunk of a car.
A 1-month-old girl was found alive inside the same house on Bo Jack Drive, where officers and agents from the Texas Rangers, Department of Public Safety, FBI and the Austin Police Department searched for hours overnight.
An ambulance took the baby to the hospital. According to Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department, she didn’t have any obvious injuries, but Child Protective Services called in requesting an evaluation.
The identity of the baby hasn’t been released.
Investigators said they feared foul play from the start because one child was missing and one was left behind. Officials said the presumption is that if a mother were to run away voluntarily, she would either take both children or leave both behind. This particular situation was suspicious immediately.
