Episode Transcript
Transcripts are displayed as originally observed. Some content, including advertisements may have changed.
Use Ctrl + F to search
0:00
Officially one hour until your favorite
0:02
show premieres. Time to get some snacks delivered
0:04
through Instacart. Okay. Let's
0:06
get some pop corn seltzer, chocolate
0:09
covered almonds, and oh, wait,
0:11
did they release the whole season?
0:13
Better hurts some ice cream for the two part finale.
0:16
When your day should be ending, but a new season
0:18
is starting, the world is
0:20
your cart. Visit instacart
0:22
dot com or download the app and get free delivery
0:25
on your first order. offer valid for limited
0:27
time minimum order ten dollars additional
0:29
term supply. For
0:30
True Crime Chronicles, I'm Will Johnson. Many
0:33
of you have been listening to the show for years
0:35
now and we've got some news to pass along.
0:37
This episode, the one hundred seventieth
0:39
episode of True Crime Chronicles is our final
0:42
episode of the show. After
0:44
more than three years, we're moving on and, of
0:46
course, wanted to let all of our loyal listeners
0:48
know how much we appreciate the support
0:51
and feedback over the past several years,
0:53
and a huge thanks to all of the reporters,
0:55
anchors and producers from our partner
0:57
stations who've given us so much of their
0:59
time for these cases. In the meantime,
1:01
if you haven't already checked out Vault Studios
1:03
full lineup of shows including Bardstown
1:06
and beyond Bardstown, anything you say
1:08
urged to kill and intent to
1:10
text McIver case just to name a few.
1:12
Again, for myself and Reed Redman and everyone
1:14
at Vault Studios, thank you for listening.
1:16
And with that, our final episode we
1:19
go to Northwest Arkansas along the Missouri
1:21
Arkansas border to tell you about the
1:23
case of a young mother who went missing in late
1:25
October of this year. This episode
1:27
contains graphic details and is meant for
1:29
mature listeners only. With sad
1:31
news, we report something
1:35
over my career. This is one of the most horrific
1:38
cases that I had been personally involved with.
1:40
I was terrified to walk home when I first
1:42
heard that the police were looking for them and they're
1:44
from Jane and they're from here in this
1:46
area. I was in the middle before
1:49
I got the headline saying they were caught I was
1:51
a little bit about to call my friend and be like, hey,
1:53
I'll give you gas. I need you to pick me up. I
1:55
I don't feel safe in our small town anymore.
1:59
In early November, KFSM
2:02
Channel five and Fort Smith Arkansas reported
2:04
on the case of a missing thirty three year old
2:06
pregnant mother. We start
2:08
tonight with new development missing for more
2:10
than twenty four
2:11
hours. Yeah. Tonight, the Beyonce of a missing
2:13
pregnant woman is pleading for
2:15
answers. Ashley Bush went missing
2:17
on Monday, October thirty first, Her
2:20
fiance Josh Willis had planned to meet up
2:22
with her that afternoon after
2:24
dropping her off that morning to meet with a woman
2:26
named Lucy about a job opportunity. It
2:28
would be her second meeting with Lucy.
2:30
So
2:30
our first reporting on this case was
2:32
with her fiance, Josh Willis.
2:35
Erica
2:35
Thomas, is the evening anchor at Channel five.
2:37
And
2:37
he was just kind of telling us the background
2:40
about Ashley and how she
2:42
had been thirty
2:43
one weeks pregnant. and
2:45
was having complications with her pregnancy, so
2:47
she wasn't able to work. And that's why
2:49
she had been searching for work
2:51
that
2:52
she could do from home. Ashley first
2:54
connected with Lucy Barrows online
2:56
in a Facebook group. Lucy
2:58
indicated that she had baby supplies to
3:00
donate in a possible jump for Ashley.
3:02
They made plans to meet According
3:04
to our conversations
3:05
with Josh,
3:07
because of those complications with her pregnancy,
3:10
that's why she was looking for that job.
3:12
So the first time that Ashley and
3:14
Amber met
3:15
face to face according to
3:17
Ashley's fiancee was on October
3:20
28th for that first potential job
3:22
opening. They went to the Rabbit library.
3:24
We're told to have that interview
3:27
just handed actually a bunch of paperwork and told her
3:29
that they were gonna email her
3:31
and and wait for
3:32
the boss to contact her for another interview.
3:35
That's second interview with Lucy was
3:37
Monday, October thirty first, the day Ashley
3:39
would disappear. Willis dropped
3:41
her off in the morning at a convenience store in
3:43
May's Arkansas, and then returned
3:45
that afternoon to pick her up. Our
3:47
information about that day, Halloween,
3:50
came from multiple different sources, first we did
3:52
an interview with Joshua Willis, who's
3:54
the fiancee of Ashley Bush.
3:56
And he told us that he dropped her off
3:58
at that gas station in
3:59
Mayesville on the morning of October
4:02
thirty first, and that he was scheduled to pick
4:04
her up around eight o'clock that day.
4:06
And
4:06
he told us that the last time he heard from
4:09
her was
4:09
when he got a text her saying that she
4:11
was ingrouted and that he could come to
4:13
the gas station and that that could be in store
4:15
and come pick them up. He
4:17
told us that he saw
4:19
her and the woman he
4:21
knew as Lucy,
4:24
drive by them without
4:25
stopping. He
4:27
says that Lucy looked at
4:29
him and just kept driving.
4:31
All I saw was her and the
4:34
the lady she rode
4:36
with both past
4:38
me and neither one of them stopped.
4:40
The woman that she was riding with, the
4:42
driver looked right at me and
4:44
kept going. So
4:45
he says he saw both Amber and
4:47
Ashley in that truck before it headed
4:49
north on Highway forty three out of town,
4:51
and that's when he
4:52
he was concerned
4:54
for his fiance because that was
4:56
the last time he says he heard from her
4:58
and saw her rather. Willis was unable
5:00
to catch up with a pickup truck, and he spent
5:02
the day searching and trying to reach his pregnant
5:04
fiance. Right. All night long,
5:06
calling her, texting her, everything trying
5:08
to get her to answer, come to find
5:10
out also today, the
5:13
company that Ashley was supposed to work
5:15
for doesn't
5:17
even know the lady she was with. And
5:19
to whoever's water, just please let
5:21
her go. We
5:23
don't have much. We've got all we've got
5:25
is our family. That's
5:28
all we've got. We just want her own.
5:30
If you see her, please contact
5:33
your local PD immediately
5:36
to get her home safely for
5:38
her kids to actually be able to hold her again.
5:41
Investigators asked for people living in the
5:43
area to check their video doorbells to see
5:45
if they caught anything that may be helpful to
5:47
them. They say time is of the essence
5:49
in cases like this. We have
5:51
had some development in
5:54
this case So we are
5:56
very hopeful. But again, we still
5:58
want any information that anybody does have.
5:59
If they've seen her, seen the
6:01
vehicle, with the sensitivity of
6:03
this case,
6:03
we don't want certain information obviously to
6:05
be shared. So
6:07
that's why we're just asking everybody to
6:09
just please keep sending
6:10
us anything that you do have. And
6:13
then one of the first leads in the case turned
6:15
out to be Ashley's cell phone. So
6:17
according to one of the Benton County Sheriff's
6:19
Office detectives, he
6:21
spoke with a man
6:23
who says that they saw
6:25
a man throw a cell
6:27
phone from the window of a vehicle
6:29
on Highway forty three And
6:32
so what we don't know is
6:34
whether they
6:35
came back around who was in that truck
6:37
at that point, but the time frame
6:39
of that. But it appears that Josh
6:42
saw Amber and Ashley together
6:44
around three o'clock and later that evening,
6:47
there was a man in that truck and they threw
6:49
a cell phone out a
6:49
few hours late. Josh Willis himself
6:52
was able to help lead investigators to her
6:54
phone by the side of the road. Benton County
6:56
Sheriff's Office detectives were
6:57
with Josh Willis on Tuesday,
6:59
November first. in the Mayesville
7:02
area, and that he told
7:04
them that he had found Ashley's phone
7:06
on the side of the highway. And
7:07
so he actually brought with detectives to that
7:10
location where the phone was found and
7:12
was able to get into the phone with the
7:14
password and the
7:16
detectives were able to take the phone to sheriff's
7:18
office to look through it more.
7:19
That's where they were able to
7:22
find that Facebook account under the name
7:24
Lucy because Josh was able to them
7:26
about that information and
7:28
about the communications that
7:30
Ashley had been having with this
7:32
person named Lucy Burrows on Facebook.
7:35
And
7:35
according to the criminal complaint, it even
7:38
talks about a public post on
7:39
the account that said, I have a bunch of baby
7:41
items, if any jobs to
7:42
be need them coming from Lucy.
7:45
But at that point, Lucy Barrels was the
7:47
only name they had for the woman who'd met up with
7:49
Ashley and offered her a job. they
7:52
kept digging. And with some help, they were able
7:54
to connect the Facebook account to a
7:56
woman named Amber Waterman who lived
7:58
just over the Arkansas border in
7:59
vineville, Missouri with her husband, Jamie.
8:02
According
8:02
to that federal criminal complaint, the
8:04
detectives with the Benton County Sheriff's Office
8:06
had reached out to Facebook and
8:08
we're able to find out kind of
8:10
that technical information and
8:13
identify that that IP address went
8:15
back to the department's home
8:18
and that it was connected and
8:20
registered to T Mobile.
8:22
And that IP address was assigned
8:24
to Jamie
8:24
water and that, of course, is coming from that
8:27
criminal complaint. So they were able to connect that
8:28
back through data from Meta. On
8:31
Tuesday, November first, the day after Ashley
8:33
disappeared, detectives showed up the home of
8:35
Amber and Jamie Waterman. And they actually
8:37
let them search the home and
8:39
the truck that had matched the description of
8:41
the one that Bush was last seen in based on
8:43
the information we had from prosecutors at the
8:46
time. And that's
8:48
when
8:48
according to our report, detectives actually
8:50
asked for Amber phone and she told
8:52
them she had lost it. She also
8:54
told them that she was the only one who had access
8:56
to that truck that was at the home.
8:58
At that point, according
9:00
to the story that we've
9:01
reported, Amber told detectives that
9:04
she did not know Ashley Bush,
9:06
And when asked
9:08
about the name Lucy Burrows, that
9:10
Amber said she had previously worked
9:13
with
9:13
Lucy at Walmart, but they weren't
9:16
close. those details coming from the
9:18
criminal complaint. But as
9:20
investigators would later learn Monday had been
9:22
a seemingly traumatic day for Amber
9:24
Waterman and her husband, called
9:26
911 saying she'd gone into labor and
9:28
had delivered a stillborn child that
9:30
evening. Watermen traveled to meet an ambulance
9:32
at a store in McDonald County, Missouri where
9:34
they met up with paramedics. but they
9:36
were unable to revive the child.
9:38
Amber refused medical treatment and the
9:40
baby was taken to a funeral home run by
9:42
the McDonald County coroner, BJ
9:44
Goodwin.
9:44
The Mcdonald County Corner also
9:47
owns the local funeral home.
9:49
So he had said to them that,
9:51
you know, you guys could come on by later this week
9:53
and
9:53
weekend plan of service for
9:55
this baby because his understanding at the
9:57
time was that it was in fact her child.
10:00
Investigators were turned to the waterman's home the
10:02
next morning, Wednesday, November second,
10:04
for a follow-up interview with the couple.
10:06
Later that day, the waterman's appeared at
10:08
the funeral home for memorial service
10:10
for the child.
10:11
They had memorial service
10:13
planned for this stillborn baby
10:15
that Amber had claimed as her own
10:17
scheduled for that afternoon. And
10:19
that is when Amber
10:21
and Jamie and a
10:23
few people showed up for that service
10:25
and
10:25
add that service is when
10:27
McDonald
10:28
County Corner and the Benton County
10:31
Corner both sat down with the water
10:33
bins. And they had a conversation
10:35
about the baby and about the
10:37
Benton
10:37
County Corner wanting DNA
10:39
of the baby. And that's
10:41
where everything kind of can't do ahead.
10:43
According to the coroner, Amber started
10:45
asking questions about the autopsy
10:47
and DNA testing and why it was needed.
10:49
She wanted to know
10:52
why, but then the tears
10:54
kinda dried up And
10:58
her next question was, will there be
11:00
DNA testing? And
11:02
Daniel
11:04
and I both looked at one another and
11:06
we knew that we
11:09
had her at this point. that there was
11:11
something definitely wrong. And that's
11:13
when he said Jamie was there. And
11:15
at that point, he got up and ran out of
11:17
the funeral home. And according to the corner.
11:19
He says, that's because he
11:22
knew that they knew at that
11:24
point, and the coroner said at that point
11:26
everything was closing in on them.
11:28
The
11:28
next day, November third detectives returned to the
11:31
waterman's home where they found blood stains
11:33
inside the pickup truck driven by Amber.
11:35
And Jamie decided to start
11:37
talking. saying that Amber told him the
11:39
previous day what had happened to Ashley Bush.
11:41
That's when Amber told
11:44
Jamie that she
11:45
had been the one to kill
11:48
Ashley, and then
11:50
changed her story to say that
11:51
Lucy had killed Ashley
11:53
according to the criminal complaint. So
11:55
it was Wednesday morning around six
11:58
thirty that the two of them went
12:00
outside.
12:00
And according
12:01
to that criminal complaint, Amber led
12:03
Jamie to Ashley's body.
12:05
and it was lying face
12:08
down next to a boat on their
12:10
property covered in a blue tarp.
12:12
That is when this
12:14
criminal complaint, it details how
12:16
Jamie helped drag the body on the tarp
12:18
to a fire pit behind their home,
12:21
and they burned the body
12:23
and then move the
12:24
body to a
12:26
shed behind the property or move got
12:28
a tarp from that shed behind the property
12:30
and then actually
12:31
put the body in the back of Jamie's
12:34
truck and
12:34
moved it to
12:36
an area just a short ways away
12:38
from their home. Jamie was asked if
12:40
he could show interviewers where the
12:42
body had been taken to, and he
12:44
agreed and led agents and detectives
12:46
to where he and
12:48
Amber had left the body according to the
12:50
criminal complaint, and that's where investigators
12:53
found human remains. And
12:54
so I believe that's what led
12:57
to arrest then was the discovery of
12:59
those human remains in the
13:01
burn pile behind their The
13:02
water bins were taken into custody, and at
13:04
a press conference, investigators shared
13:07
details of what they believed to take
13:09
in place. Thursday was a
13:09
third and that is the day that they
13:12
announced the news conference. So we had not
13:14
learned of the names Amber and Jamie
13:16
Waterman until that
13:16
Thursday afternoon when the Benton County
13:19
Sheriff's Office announced that it was
13:21
going to be having a press conference
13:22
and announcing an update in the Ashley Bush
13:24
case. And that's when the were
13:26
informed
13:26
about the arrest of Amber and Jamie.
13:29
Over my career, this is one of the most
13:31
horrific
13:32
cases that I have been personally involved
13:34
with. There's still an active
13:36
case. I'll put that out
13:38
first that we will be limited
13:40
to what details
13:43
that we can give because this is a
13:45
fluid working case at this moment. Sheriff's
13:48
Office on October thirty first started working
13:50
a case of a missing person,
13:53
Ashley Bush. So
13:56
sad news to report that we have found
13:59
Ashley Bush
13:59
the
14:01
who was murdered in our opinion.
14:04
We also have found her baby
14:07
Baughry Grace Willis, who's
14:10
deceased as well, was found in a
14:12
separate location. Won't be able to
14:14
get into sales of that. We do have two
14:16
people in custody. This has
14:18
been a joint case that we've been
14:20
working with the FBI, Mid County
14:22
Sheriff's Office. And McDonald
14:25
County, Missouri Sheriff's
14:27
Office. The few people they
14:29
have in custody right now are Amber
14:31
Waterman. in
14:33
Jamie Waterman, Jane
14:35
Missouri, who are currently being held on
14:37
kidnapping first degree charges We
14:40
expect further additional charges to
14:42
come, and I'll let Nathan
14:44
Smith speak on where
14:46
we're going with all that. Well, at this
14:48
point, law enforcement have reason to
14:50
believe that both of them were involved
14:52
in this crime. And
14:54
obviously, as the facts play out and the
14:56
investigation Chronicles. We'll
14:58
know the extent of that involvement for
15:00
both of them. But evidence is at
15:02
this point that there was reason to hold both of
15:04
them for for charges. And then
15:06
we found out that the Benton County
15:08
prosecutor here in Arkansas is
15:11
charging Amber with
15:12
two counts of capital murder
15:14
and one count of
15:15
kidnapping on state charges here
15:17
in Arkansas. On a
15:18
winter night in a small community near
15:21
Denver, Colorado, Jim Matthews arrived
15:23
home late. He expected to find his twelve
15:25
year old daughter who'd been dropped off
15:26
after a Christmas concert. But when
15:28
he called out,
15:29
hi, Janelle. The house was
15:31
eerily quiet. His daughter's
15:33
shoes were on the floor, but she was
15:35
gone. And it would be thirty five years
15:37
before she would be found dead.
15:39
After the discovery of Janelle Matthew's body
15:41
in twenty nineteen, the police turned their
15:43
attention to a man who had told law enforcement
15:46
years ago that he knew something.
15:48
but they dismissed him. The
15:49
man did seem
15:50
obsessed with the case, but is
15:53
that all he was a true crime
15:55
fanatic? or a killer. Now,
15:57
a jury will decide if Janelle's murderer
15:59
was
15:59
hiding in plain sight the entire time.
16:02
Wondry and Campside Media's podcast,
16:04
suspect is back for a second
16:06
season with a story that attempts to
16:08
separate one man's true crime obsession
16:10
from a motive for murder. hey, Prime
16:12
members. Listen to the Amazon
16:14
Music exclusive podcast, suspect
16:17
vanished in the snow. In the Amazon
16:19
Music app, download the app today.
16:21
We all know
16:21
how tough it can be to find the perfect gift for
16:23
family members, especially parents and
16:25
grandparents who already seem to have everything. You want
16:27
to give them something meaningful, especially
16:30
family members so you don't see quite enough.
16:32
Skylight is the perfect gift.
16:34
It's a photo frame you can update
16:36
instantly by email from anywhere.
16:38
It sets up effortlessly in under sixty
16:40
seconds. Just plug in. Use the touch screen
16:42
to connect your wireless network and
16:45
enjoy. Sending photos to Skylight is easy.
16:47
Everyone in the family can use the app or just
16:49
email them to the Skylight, and they'll pop
16:51
up in seconds. Skylight's
16:53
vibrant touchscreen display lets you swipe
16:55
through photos and even tap a heart to
16:57
let the person who sent the photo, know you
16:59
loved it. one hundred percent satisfaction
17:02
guaranteed. If you don't love your skylight, they'll offer you
17:04
a full refund. Now as a
17:06
special offer, you can get fifteen
17:08
dollars off your purchase of a skylight frame. When you go to
17:10
skylight frame dot com and enter code
17:12
vault. That's right. To get fifteen dollars
17:14
off your purchase of a skylight frame,
17:16
just go to skylight frame dot com and enter code
17:18
vault. That's SKYLIGHTFRAME
17:22
dot com promo code vault.
17:24
In light
17:25
of the arrest and charges being filed, McDonald
17:27
County coroner B. J. Goodwin shared what he
17:29
believed had actually taken place on Monday
17:32
when Ashley Bush disappeared, and
17:34
Amber Waterman showed up to meet with
17:36
paramedics. And he says that
17:38
it was
17:38
obvious why he they wouldn't want EMS
17:40
to come out their property because according
17:43
to what
17:43
we know now in the criminal complaint,
17:46
Ashley's body was
17:46
out on the property. The coroner says
17:48
that
17:48
Amber refused any medical
17:51
treatment even though to
17:53
their
17:53
knowledge she had just had a baby. But what
17:55
the coroner says happened is that
17:58
she cut the baby
17:59
out of Ashley Bush and put the
18:01
placenta in her pants to make it
18:04
appear as if she had had that baby.
18:06
The criminal complaint and
18:08
the coroner both
18:10
alleged that Jamie didn't know
18:12
about any of this until Amber
18:14
confessed to him and showed
18:16
him the body. that
18:17
his involvement would not have happened
18:20
until he
18:21
saw Ashley's body and
18:23
helped Amber burn it.
18:24
Goodwin also shared that Amber and Jamie appeared to
18:26
have a troubled marriage. He told
18:29
us that
18:30
when EMS
18:31
crews were on seen
18:33
with them on that Monday night that
18:36
Amber
18:38
told them who Jamie was, that
18:40
he was,
18:41
her husband, that he was
18:43
planning on divorcing her. So
18:46
the coroner says
18:47
that for the last few years, she had been
18:49
telling him that she was pregnant but then
18:52
kept miscarrying and the coroner's
18:53
thoughts were that he believed
18:56
Amber needed this baby to
18:58
keep JB in the marriage. The
19:00
woman investigator say his FONSIBLE
19:02
FOR LURING A Pregnant Benton County
19:04
WOMEN ON FACEBOOK, KIDNAPPING AND
19:06
THEN KILLING HER APPEARED IN FEDERAL
19:08
HORT TODAY. Reporter:
19:09
THE U. S. ATTORNEY SAYING THEY BELIEVE
19:11
AMBER WATERMAN COMMITTED THE CRIMES IN AN
19:13
ATTEMPT TO KEEP THE UNBOURNED BABY AS
19:16
HER OWN.
19:16
there's evil in our world. And
19:18
this is a safe place to live,
19:20
but that doesn't mean evil can't happen
19:23
here. you know, you should
19:25
always be diligent and make sure
19:27
that you're taking care of your loved
19:29
ones and yourself and meeting strangers
19:31
that you've met online at
19:33
any ANY ASSPECT IS DANGERS. I THINK THERE
19:35
WAS A LOT OF DISCUSSION IN THE
19:37
COMMUNITY AND EVEN IN THE NEWS
19:38
ROOM OF what
19:41
happened?
19:41
And then how could
19:42
this happen? It's pretty
19:46
unnerving
19:46
to think about possibilities when
19:49
you read through these criminal complaints and
19:51
you listen to
19:52
what the coroner had to say. And
19:54
of course, all of these are accusations
19:57
and allegations but these are the kinds
19:59
of details that you
19:59
don't hear of every single day. And
20:02
when we spoke to the corner, you know,
20:04
he called her a cold
20:06
blooded killer and
20:07
don't say that every
20:08
day, especially in the line of work he's
20:11
in. My
20:12
whole adult life has been centered
20:15
around death. but never
20:18
never seen
20:20
so
20:20
much wickedness and evil.
20:22
and that's only way to describe it.
20:25
Well, Ashley
20:26
Bush leaves behind three
20:29
children, her fiancee and many
20:31
grieving family and friends just
20:33
a
20:33
few months ago, I was in her condition,
20:35
I was pregnant as well. So
20:37
I think it it
20:39
it hits home a little
20:41
harder because, you know, I go
20:43
home and and rock my baby and
20:46
just think about how she should be here doing
20:48
the same. But out more of love and
20:50
support that they have received. It
20:53
it's what's getting them through this and
20:56
it Even though evil
20:58
is in the midst
20:59
of of all of us, the
21:02
love and support, the
21:05
good, outweighs the evil. she
21:07
leaves a very kind
21:10
and gentle legacy behind in
21:12
her children. You can tell
21:14
how doting and and caring she was
21:17
by the way her children behave
21:19
and and who they are.
21:20
On November sixteenth, the watermans
21:22
were indicted by federal grand jury for their alleged role in the
21:24
kidnapping and murder of Ashley Bush. Amber
21:27
and her husband Jamie were charged in a
21:29
two count indictment
21:30
Amber is charged with one count of kidnapping
21:33
resulting in death, and Jaime is
21:35
charged as an accessory. The indictment
21:37
alleges that Amber Waterman kidnapped
21:39
Ashley Bush in order ACLAIM HER UNBORN BABY
21:41
AS HER OWN. THE ADIEMENT
21:43
ALLEGES THAT JAMIE WAS AN ACCESSARY BECAUSE HE
21:45
TRIED TO HELP HIS
Podchaser is the ultimate destination for podcast data, search, and discovery. Learn More