FATAL BETRAYAL?

Slain mum Heidi Broussard’s family in shock as detectives arrest her best friend

Outgoing, adventurous and funny, Heidi Broussard doted on her 6-year-old son, Silas, and shared updates about her pregnancy – a girl she and fiancé, Shane Carey, had already named Margo – with her wide circle of friends, posting pictures on Instagram of herself cradling her expanding belly. When she went into labour on November 26, Shane was there, as was her best friend, Magen Fieramusca, who was pregnant herself, and due around the same time as Heidi. She had travelled from Houston to hold Heidi’s hand in the delivery room while Heidi’s mum, Tammy, and father, David, raced to meet their new granddaughter in Austin, Texas. “Magen was Heidi’s friend,” says Tammy, “for a long time.”

So three weeks later, on December 12, when Heidi, 33, vanished with little Margo, Fieramusca was in a text group of Heidi’s friends, trying to figure out what could have happened to the vibrant young mum and her baby girl. Fieramusca shared that on the day Heidi disappeared, she had texted breastfeeding questions to her since they were both new mums. Meanwhile, Austin police canvassed Heidi and Shane’s apartment complex, and the FBI and Texas Rangers joined the search as community volunteers mobilised to find the pair. “Heidi had so many friends,” says Tammy. “Everyone loved her. We thought Magen loved her too.”