An autopsy has confirmed that the body found stuffed in the trunk of a car outside a Houston home is that of missing Austin mom Heidi Broussard.
The 33-year-old mother disappeared last week with her three-week-old daughter Margot.
On Thursday a body suspected to be hers was found in the trunk of a car parked outside of a Northwest Houston area home. Inside the home investigators found a baby, believed to be Margot, alive and well.
On Friday an autopsy revealed the cause of Heidi’s death was ligature strangulation and the manner of death was ruled a homicide, according to the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Investigators are still waiting for official confirmation of the baby’s identity through DNA testing, but believe it is Margot, as per The Statesman.
Heidi Broussard’s best friend Magen Rose Fieramusca, who also went by Maygen/Megan Humprey, was arrested in connection to her death.
An autopsy has confirmed that the body found stuffed in the trunk of a car outside a Houston home is that of missing Austin mom Heidi Broussard (left) and she was killed by ligature strangulation. After the discovery of the body, Broussard’s close friend Magen Rose Fieramusca (right) was arrested in connection to her death in what appears to be a womb-raiding plot to kidnap Broussard’s newborn baby Margot
The 33-year-old mother disappeared on December 12 with her three-week-old daughter Margot. On Thursday a body suspected to be hers was found in the trunk of a car parked outside of a Northwest Houston area home. Inside investigators found a baby, believed to be Margot, alive and well
The Houston, Texas $199,000 four-bedroom property where the body of missing mom Heidi Broussard was found in the trunk of a car pictured above
The arrest and charges of Fieramusca, though she was unnamed, was announced in a press conference Friday
Police announced Thursday they arrested and charged a woman with two counts of kidnapping and one count of tampering with a corpse – but did not confirm her identity. Harris County court records show that Fieramusca, 33, is a suspect in those crimes.
Additional charges could be filed now that the autopsy is complete. Fieramusca has not been charged with murder.
On Friday cops refused to disclose the suspect’s identity but said bond was set at $600,000.
A second person is reportedly in custody but has not yet been named.
Fieramusca was arrested a tip led police to the Jersey Village Property where Broussard’s body was found int he trunk of a car parked there.
Broussard said Fieramusca was her best friend and gushed about their close friendship on Facebook. Fieramusca was reportedly with her at the hospital when she gave birth to baby Margot in November.
Law enforcement said Fieramusca pretended to be pregnant herself at the same time as Broussard and even set a fake due date for December 1 and had a Target baby registry with a man named Christopher Green – who DailyMail.com can reveal is her landlord.
A source now says Fieramusca was a womb-raider who was was secretly plotting to steal the baby throughout Heidi’s pregnancy, according to The Statesman.
Heidi Broussard and three-week-old daughter Margot (above) went missing on December 12 last seen in their Austin home. Broussard’s body was found on December 19 outside a Houston home and her baby alive and well inside. They were reported missing by Heidi’s fiancé Shane Carey, the father of baby Margot
Heidi Broussard (left) pictured with Magen Fieramusca (right) who she said was her best friend on social media. Fieramusca was present for Broussard’s birth to baby Margot last month
Heidi Broussard referred to Maygen Fieramusca as her ‘best friend’ and ‘bestie’ on Facebook back in 2013
Heidi Broussard and Margot vanished on December 12, last seen in their home in Austin, 200 miles away away from where Broussard’s body was found near Houston.
They disappeared after dropping Broussard’s other child, six-year-old Silas, off at school.
Broussard’s fiancé Shane Carey had made desperate public pleas for them to come home.
Her parents Tammy and David Broussard, also made a plea for her to come home saying, ‘We miss all of them very much, and we want them home.’
‘Heidi wouldn’t do this, there’s no way…She loves her son Silas and she would never do this, and she would never take Margot down those stairs without her carrier and have her strapped in and her diaper bag strapped to her back.’
Fieramusca in a 2018 mugshot for theft
Authorities were reportedly able to confirm Fieramusca’s car was in the Austin area around the time of Broussard’s disappearance, according to KHOU11.
Neighbors of Fieramusca said she lived in the Houston home with Christopher Green, who owned the residence. He has not been charged in connection to the case.
Green, who was named on Humphrey’s baby register, is actually her landlord, DailyMail.com can disclose.
Green, 33, has owned the home since 2015.
Speaking outside her Houston home, his mother Christine Green, 54, said her son had been renting the property to Humphrey for two years.
She dismissed any notion that the pair’s relationship was closer than landlord and tenant and claimed Humphrey ‘had never paid rent’.
Asked if her son had been in a relationship with Humphrey, she said: ‘No, she lived there. That was it. She never paid the rent. She was there for two years and never paid a thing.’
Green is thought to have no connection with Broussard and was not at the home when her body was discovered.
Photos exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com show the $199,000 four-bedroom property where the Broussard’s corpse was discovered. Baby Margot was found ‘healthy’ inside and is currently in the care of Child Protective Services.
Magen Fieramusca, 33, was in court Friday where she answered to traffic tickets
Fieramusca kept her head down in court on Friday
Heidi and baby Margot were reported missing by Carey, who is also Margot’s father, at 7.30pm on December 12
‘He’s a nice guy,’ a neighbor said of Green, adding they’ve lived in the home for 18 months.
Thursday’s discovery of the body and baby Margot was a breakthrough in the case that launched a massive search for the missing mother and child.
‘It’s been a horrible week here in Austin. We were hoping to find Heidi alive,’ FBI Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs said in the press conference, adding it was a ‘heartbreaking development’.
On Friday it was revealed that Broussard and her fiancé Shane Carey were actually struggling and she told friends he physically abused her, and sent them photos to prove it.
The images, which were obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com, reveal bruising to her arms and legs after a March 11 altercation that arose after she threatened to leave.
Close friend Cliff Nolte told DailyMail.com that Heidi ultimately decided to stay after becoming pregnant with baby Margot.
Carey, pictured, gave tearful TV interviews saying that he didn’t believe Heidi would leave on her own accord. He denied any involvement in the disappearance of his daughter and fiancée
Heidi’s parents David and Tammy Broussard, pictured, previously made a tearful plea to find their daughter and granddaughter
Nolte, 37, of Rhone, Texas, said: ‘She was going to leave quite a few times. We had everything prepared at our house to come and stay the last time but then she got pregnant with Margot and she decided to stay.
‘He always pulled the “I’m sorry, I won’t do it anymore, I’ll stop drinking” promises and she kept hoping he’d keep them.’
Carey reported Broussard missing after returning home at 2pm, only to find the apartment empty. He said there was no sign of a struggle.
But neighbors claimed to have heard a muffled argument shortly after 1pm. Alan G, who asked not to use his full name, said he heard the sound of an altercation after returning home from his job that afternoon.
The barista told DailyMail.com: ‘It was definitely after 1. I heard noises that sounded like an argument coming through the wall.’
Alan, who lives in the neighboring apartment, added: ‘I didn’t really know them very well – I would see them on the stairs and out walking the dog but that was it…We didn’t really talk much.’
The Austin Police Department would not comment further on the timeline when approached by DailyMail.com.
The investigation is ongoing.