Chapters
Shownotes Transcript
This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Whether you're selling a little or a lot, Shopify helps you do your thing however you cha-ching. From the launch your online shop stage all the way to the we just hit a million orders stage. No matter what stage you're in, Shopify's there to help you grow. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash special offer all lowercase. That's shopify.com slash special offer.
Warning. The following podcast is not suitable for all audiences. We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects. Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children. This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned.
In December of 2019, I was sitting in my bed in Austin, Texas when I got a call from my mom. She told me to lock all of my doors and be very careful because a woman and her infant child went missing nearby where I lived at the time. Now, being the person I am, I immediately took to the internet to find out all that I could about this case. The missing woman's name was Heidi Broussard.
Her missing 16-day-old baby was named Margo, and they lived directly across the street from me. In fact, after looking this up, I looked outside of my window and I could see reporters about 100 feet away filming her apartment, which made it all the more eerie. The day before, Heidi took her elementary school son to school, and that was the last time anyone had seen her or baby Margo.
Days would pass and there was still no sign of them, which just heightened everyone's suspicion that something horrible had happened. Within the week, Heidi and Margo's case quickly became an international story. It was all anyone could talk about. Everyone in Austin, Texas and all around the world were speculating on what could have happened. Was it the husband? Did she just run off?
Or was there something darker at play? But then about a week later, news broke that Heidi's body was found in the trunk of a car on a property in Houston, Texas. As it turns out, as I was lying in bed that morning, Heidi was across the street from me being abducted and murdered.
Not because she was a bad person or because she had wronged anyone, but because she had something they wanted. So this is the story of Heidi Broussard. I'm Courtney Browen. And I'm Colin Browen. And you're listening to Murder in America. Murder in America
Heidi Broussard had a great upbringing. She was an only child to her parents, David and Tammy Broussard, and was raised in Lake Charles, Louisiana. They had a really tight-knit family and spent all of their time together. And a huge part of her upbringing was going to church every Sunday with her mom and dad. Their faith was very important to them. Heidi also spent her summers going to church camp, where she met a number of lifelong friends. Some of these friends would later say that any time they were straying away from God, Heidi would always help them find their way back.
She was a great friend. The kind of friend that put others first and genuinely wanted the best for everyone. Heidi was also very adventurous. Her mother would later tell People magazine that when she was old enough, she started skydiving. She loved the rush of adrenaline it gave her. And she had always been that way.
Her mom said, quote, 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 the water. She loved to swim. She loved to go anywhere that they had rafting places, end quote. Friends described Heidi as very happy and optimistic. She would randomly break out in song whenever and wherever, quote,
The energy she brought was infectious and people loved to be around her. As Heidi grew up, she was on a journey of self-discovery. After high school, she started working at a casino in Lake Charles where she met a man named Shane Carey. The two would quickly hit it off and after a while, she found out she was pregnant.
The pregnancy was definitely a surprise, but if anyone was meant to be a mother, it was Heidi. Everyone always knew she would be the best mom in the world, and she was. In 2013, she and Shane would give birth to a son, who they named Silas. And as soon as she met him, all of the fears and anxieties about parenting went away. Heidi was meant for this.
In 2014, soon after Silas' birth, Shane and Heidi decide to pick up their lives in Lake Charles and move to Austin, Texas. Austin is a college town. It's actually where Courtney and I met. But it's also much more than that. It's got a bustling downtown, great food, music, beautiful nature, a big lake you can spend your summers on. It really has everything. And it's an amazing place to raise a family. So Heidi and Shane were thrilled about their future here.
At the time of our story, Shane was working for a moving company and Heidi was working at a cracker barrel in town. And after years of living here, they also found a good supportive group of friends. By 2019, Heidi, Shane, and Silas were settled down in an apartment across the street from me in Austin, Texas. And life was going really well, especially because Heidi found out she was pregnant with her second child.
Her mom would later say, quote, everyone was so excited. Silas was always rubbing her belly, end quote. At her gender reveal party, they threw darts at balloons and soon enough pink powder went flying everywhere. They were having a little girl and Heidi was over the moon.
On November 26th, 2019, at 10:12 PM, Heidi would give birth to her daughter, who she named Margo. And from the beginning, Margo was surrounded by people who loved her. All of Heidi's friends and family came to the hospital, and some of her best friends were even in the delivery room that day. It was one of the best days of Heidi's life.
Her friend told Dateline that after Margot was born, Heidi, quote, just seemed so happy. It was exactly what she wanted. It was a beautiful thing to see. She was glowing, end quote.
Now, obviously, we aren't parents yet, but it's a known fact that having a newborn isn't easy. You have to keep an eye on them 24/7, and simple tasks like taking a bath, eating, or grabbing your mail is difficult when you have a little one in your arms all day. Even further, Heidi still had to care for Silas, but luckily for her, she had a ton of support following Margo's birth. Her mother actually stayed with them at their apartment for two weeks just to kind of help out around the house and ease some of the responsibilities so that Heidi could focus on her newborn baby.
And for the first two weeks of Margo's life, Heidi was soaking up every last moment of this newborn stage. It was challenging waking up every few hours, having to feed, change diapers, and make sure Margo was comfortable in her new little world, but it was worth every second. Heidi's mother, Tammy, ended up leaving Austin to go back to Lake Charles on December 11th, 2019. By then, Heidi was back up on her feet and ready to take on life as a mother of two.
The following day, Thursday, December 12th, Heidi got up early with Margo and started getting ready for the day. It was a very typical morning. Shane got up and left for work, and then Heidi woke up Silas for school. She picked out his outfit, got him dressed, and then the two brushed their teeth together like they did every morning.
After this, they made their way into the kitchen where she gave Silas breakfast and made his lunch for the day. It was Heidi's first day by herself, but she was handling it with ease. And once everyone was ready, she loaded Margo up in her car seat and the three of them made their way to Silas' school. There was only about a week left before Christmas break, and that morning his school was having a book fair.
Video footage shows Heidi walking into Cowan Elementary School at around 7:30 AM and once inside she gets some books for her son and then kisses him goodbye before walking back out of the school with baby Margo. No one had any idea that this would be the last time Heidi would be seen alive. It would be the last time she would ever see her 6-year-old son Silas.
because shortly after leaving Cowan Elementary, Heidi Broussard would encounter someone evil. Now, exactly what happened that day is still a little unclear, but what we know for sure is that after leaving the school, Heidi calls her fiance Shane. The two chatted about their morning, telling him about Silas's book fair and how she bought him three books. Then after they got off the phone,
She texted her best friend Megan about the birth of her baby girl named Luna. Megan and Heidi had been best friends since they were 11 years old and they happened to be pregnant at the same time. And obviously they were so excited because that meant their daughters could grow up and be best friends just like them. Now, Megan had just had her baby a couple days prior to this and she was a first time mother.
So that morning she texted Heidi advice on breastfeeding. But after their conversation, no one would hear from Heidi again. Now fast forward to 2pm that day. Shane was on his way home from work and he tried to call Heidi but it went straight to voicemail. But he wasn't worried just yet because he would be home in just a couple of minutes. So he would just talk to her then.
When he pulled up to their complex, he saw Heidi's car in the parking lot and the front door to their apartment was unlocked. So he expected to walk in and see Heidi and Margo. But something was off. Margo's car seat was inside as well as the books Heidi bought at the book fair that morning. But there was no sign of Heidi and Margo.
Now, they couldn't have been far because her car was still here. So Shane thought that maybe they just went for a walk. Heidi also had plans to hang out with a friend that day. So maybe the friend just picked her and Margo up. So Shane goes about his day as usual. Hours passed and Heidi still hadn't called him back, but he wasn't really overly concerned yet. That is, until he gets a call from Silas' school.
They called to let Shane know that no one had picked Silas up from his after-school activities. Shane looked down at the time and it was 5:30 pm and this is where he starts to get worried. Heidi always picked Silas up from school and she wasn't one to forget, so he immediately goes outside and there in the parking lot is Heidi's car. It hadn't moved.
And even more concerning was that her car was unlocked with her purse still inside of it. So, from here, Shane rushes over to Cowan Elementary School to pick up his son. Clearly, he's trying his best to keep his composure so Silas doesn't worry. But something inside is telling Shane that something isn't right. He calls Heidi several more times, but again, it goes straight to voicemail. In this day and age, that alone is concerning. No one goes hours with a dead cell phone.
More alarm bells start going off when Shane and Silas go back home and there he finds Marco's diaper bag, which holds diapers, formula, toys, everything. And this really sends him into a panic because no mother would leave behind a diaper bag if they plan to be gone for hours. Babies have to feed and have their diapers changed. So from here, Shane starts calling all of Heidi's friends.
First, he called her Austin friends, but none of them had seen her. Her coworker Rachel West told Dateline that Shane called her and he sounded so distraught, repeatedly saying, "Rachel, I can't find Heidi." So Rachel starts calling her. They did everything together, so at first Rachel thought that maybe Heidi just didn't want to talk to Shane. Surely she'll answer my calls.
But again, they went straight to voicemail. When none of Heidi's Austin friends had seen her, Shane even started calling her Houston friends. Houston is nearly three hours away, but he wanted to check with everyone just in case. And to his horror, no one had seen Heidi or Margo. So now it was time to call Heidi's parents.
The call no mother ever wants to get. Tammy said that when she answered the phone that night, she told Shane to call the police immediately. But she would later tell Dateline that she wasn't really worried at first. She figured this had to be a misunderstanding and that Heidi would be coming home any minute. But sadly, that wouldn't be the case. As Shane called the Austin Police Department to report them missing,
Heidi's parents immediately got in the car and started making the five-hour drive to Austin. And over the next few hours, her friends drove all around the city trying to locate them. Directly across the street from where we lived was this tiny little strip mall with an HEB. It was probably a two-minute walk from her apartment, so Heidi's friends went there to try and see if maybe she was just getting groceries.
but she wasn't there either. They knocked on neighbors' doors in the area, and they even looked in the woods around her apartment, but nothing. And as day turned into night, everyone had a growing suspicion that something horrible happened to Heidi and Margo.
As soon as APD got the call that a mom and infant daughter had disappeared, they immediately got to work, and they start retracing her steps that day. They looked at the surveillance footage of her dropping Silas off at school, and then it's clear that she made it home since the car seat and book fair books were inside of the apartment.
And since her car was there, they figured that something had to have happened either inside of the apartment or outside in the parking lot. But it was strange because there was absolutely no sign of a struggle inside. No scuff marks, no overturned furniture, there was nothing missing. Everything was perfectly in place. Which led them to believe that something happened outside of the apartment.
So, as APD was working to gather evidence, another day passed with no sign of Heidi and Margo. By then, people were starting to wonder if Heidi might have run away. It wouldn't be the first time something like that happened, especially with the stress of a newborn. But when this theory was run by her friends and family, they said that there was absolutely no way that that happened. Her friend Rebecca told Dateline, "She knew she could have come to me if she needed to go somewhere. She wouldn't have just left and not come to me."
And Rachel West said she just wasn't the type of person to run away from things. Heidi was a very optimistic person, saying, "The energy she brought was super infectious, and you wanted it. And you wanted to be a part of why she was so joyous." So the thought that Heidi picked up and left just didn't seem plausible. It was also right before Christmas. Heidi had plans for her children.
A shopping list was found in her car that read milk, eggs, peanut butter, Christmas stocking for Margo, baby socks. It was clear that Heidi wasn't trying to run away, but more than anything, everyone knew that she didn't leave on her own free will because she would have never abandoned her son Silas.
He was her whole entire world, and even if she wanted to run away, she would have never left him behind. The day after Heidi and Margo disappeared, her fiancé Shane would speak to the media. Yes, it's my fiancé. Yes, ma'am. So Shane just going to talk to you then? Yeah, I look down when I talk. I'm sorry, I'm going to look down the whole time probably. Yeah, I'm tired. Yeah, so... And Shane is my... I know it's hard. Oh, okay. Yeah, I'll talk to you then, yeah.
And I know it's hard to not be swaying and all of that. Okay, yeah. No, no, you're doing great. I just want you to look for ice too. Yeah, thank you. So, yeah, we moved down here about five years ago. Yeah, so I basically went to Leonard High School. I already have friends over here, and they've been very supportive since what happened with Hadi and Margot.
It's hard to look up. - Do you have a good relationship with? - There's nobody. We have a loving and great family. Heidi has great friends. She is the most awesome person in the world. Loving mom. She supports everything everybody does. She could have like $4 in the bank account and just still want to give. So she's a great person.
So is Margo, our beautiful three-week-old daughter. So, yeah, there's no enemies. There's nothing that would be negative or anybody would want to harm us at all. Yeah. Like, I left the house. Look at the light. I left the house at 640, and that's the last time I spoke to my...
My son, dude I can't, this is weird. So you're moving my dad, you're moving like, I can't be professional, I'm not, this is, dude, okay, I'm gonna call you back or something. I don't know what to do, man, you make me nervous. I don't know. I just want to be natural, man, I just want to, like, this is not, I don't know.
Yeah, you know try and look at the camera where you will look at right now just whatever yeah, I look oh yeah, I'm sorry Okay, do that. Yeah, dude. Just do it. No pressure No, nothing if it works it works if it don't it don't that's just the way we got to do it That's gonna get the word out there. I don't care how okay you're ready. Okay. It's louder now. Okay? Yeah, so my other question was um
There is nothing valuable missing. Her purse and her wallet and everything was up here. Her cell phone is missing. It's been turned off. Whenever I pulled up around 140, it's just been off since then. So, like the car seat, everything is upstairs. There's no signs of anything. No. No.
No, ma'am. She would never disappear. She is an amazing mom. She would never... We have a six-year-old son named Salish. Beautiful kid. She would never leave him. I want to tell her to please come home. You know, your family's here. She wouldn't do this. I'm not telling her this. I'm telling this for the family. She's a beautiful kid. She's a beautiful family.
Beautiful dog named Zeus. She would not do this by herself. She would not be doing this. This is definitely something that happened that was wrong. So anybody that could share, post, do anything, one second helps to save a beautiful family, a beautiful kid. Just anything you could do. Just reach out. If you don't know me, I don't care.
If you see the post, if you see this news, reach out, keep your eyes open. Just be open-minded. Anything suspicious, do anything you can to help. Please. This is a three-week-old baby out there and a mom and a son that's missing her mom and family. - To the person that she with, what would you say to them? - Her, Margaret, my what? I'm sorry.
Okay. If you're involved, I don't care. Set her to the side. She'll find her way home. Just bring her home safe or put her somewhere safe. Hurt the baby. Feed the baby. She's only three weeks old. So...
Just find a way. You won't be in trouble. Just drop her off. She has a beautiful family. Drop her off anywhere. I don't care. Just make sure she's safe and okay. The baby's okay. And then right away. I don't know. I just want her home safe. It does not have to be here. Just drop her off somewhere safe. If it is somebody, just please come home. Or drop her off at my doorstep. I don't care. Just bring my family home.
No, just I love you, Heidi. I love you, Margo. Just anybody that can support us in any way possible. I'm about to be off. So, just any support, any old friends, share, post, like,
anything contact anybody if you see her just do whatever you can we definitely appreciate it i think it's i don't know now i gotta be honest with you guys when i first saw this i was convinced shane was guilty and so was the rest of the world many people compared his interview to chris watts's because shane was clearly uncomfortable the entire time he had strange body language
And he even laughed and smiled at times. But Shane Carey had nothing to do with Heidi's disappearance. He truly was a grieving family member here. And I think this is a perfect example of how we can't judge the way people react in these certain situations.
Everyone handles grief differently and at the end of the day Shane was innocent. But once this interview was released people were convinced that he did it and they absolutely tore into him on social media. People were going on his Facebook and his family's Facebook accusing him of murdering his wife and child.
Which is just so horrible because he's innocent. And the reason he was acting so strange is because he was having to speak to a camera on the worst day of his entire life. He did this to spread the word about Heidi and Margo's disappearance, but he was put under scrutiny for absolutely no reason.
People were also suspicious that Shane didn't call the police right away, because he did wait about five hours to call them, but I can kind of understand that. I'm sure for a while he figured Heidi would just come walking through the door, and then he was calling her friends for hours, and I feel like finally taking the step to call the police makes it so much more real.
So I get that. Now, there were also rumors spreading around that Shane and Heidi didn't have the best relationship. I guess Heidi's friends started telling people that they would break up every once in a while and were known to get into fights. So that definitely didn't help cool the heat down on Shane.
Yeah, and neighbors of theirs even came forward saying that Shane was acting strange after her disappearance. Like they saw him pacing and chain smoking cigarettes, which can also be the behavior of someone who's worried about their wife and kid. Another neighbor said that they heard someone arguing through the walls of the apartment on the day of her disappearance.
So there were a lot of rumors going around and they all made Shane look horrible. But again, he's innocent. Now at this point in our story, Heidi and Margo have been missing for two whole days. And with each passing minute, the probability of bringing them home alive is slim. And everyone in the community is just heartbroken. Here is what a neighbor told KVUE.
She was always really nice to us. Our kids got along pretty well. They would play when it was nice outside. And our thoughts and prayers were with him. Her children, they're both at their sides of their family. She was always a really good mom to her kids. We let them know if they need anything, you know, we're here. It's like, you know, that we weren't close friends with them, but we're still, we're all people. We should do things like that for each other.
Now, the Austin Police Department does not deal with these kind of cases very often, so they needed all the help they could get.
They ended up calling in the Texas Rangers, the Missing Child Abduction Response Team, the Texas EquiSearch, and several other members from the FBI. All hands were on deck trying to locate Heidi and baby Margo. But even with these extra resources, no one could find them. Here is Detective Brad Harries talking with the media about the case. - A person of interest.
So we have an ongoing current investigation. I'm not ready to get into anyone that we have as persons of interest. To be perfectly honest with you, this case is unique in that we don't have a person of interest right now. We're exploring every avenue that we have and every possibility. And to be perfectly honest, anything is possible at this point. We're working down every angle to try and exclude possibilities and narrow that down to locate Margo and Heidi. And that's why we need the public's help. And if you see Margo or Heidi or have any information about their
whereabouts, please contact the Austin Police Department. It's possible that Heidi and Margo have left on their own accord. It's also possible that there may be something nefarious or foul play involved. And to be honest, we don't know the answer to that question. And that's what we're continuing to work on as we speak right now. But even though APD said that Heidi running off was a possibility, her parents, Tammy and David, knew that that just wasn't the case.
The fact that she was gone meant that someone had her. Here they are speaking with the media. - As far as her leaving on her own accord, no. I just, you can't make me believe that in a thousand years. Definitely, I mean, something's not right. - Something's definitely wrong. - So you think she's probably in trouble somewhere?
Somebody, something happened. She would not just leave. Oh no, she wouldn't do that. Her son, she'd never leave her son. But despite the odds Heidi and Margo were facing, Tammy and David Broussard were still holding on to hope that they were alive. We love you, baby, and you and Margo. We're waiting to see them again.
And Heidi's loved ones just felt so hopeless. They were even conducting their own searches around Austin, but to no avail. Heidi also had friends that lived in other cities that were unable to help search because of their own obligations. So her friend group set up a group chat where they sent updates every day on what was going on in the case.
But as we all know, these kinds of crimes are rarely ever committed by strangers. So authorities grilled everyone close to Heidi. Her friend Rachel, who lived in Austin, said that she herself was interrogated for two hours and they were asking really hard questions like, "Would you ever hurt Heidi?" To which she responded, "No, you don't hurt people you love." So if Rachel was interrogated that hard, I can't even imagine how hard they went on Shane.
By Wednesday, they still didn't have any information leading to Heidi's whereabouts. So investigators decide to set up a tip line. And what do you know? The following day, they get a promising lead. It was a tip from one of Heidi and Shane's neighbors.
Now, we don't know why it took them so long to send this in, but the person said that they saw Heidi in the parking lot of their apartment complex on the day she went missing. The witness said that Heidi was walking through the parking lot holding Margo, and she seems happy as she walked towards a 2015 silver Nissan Versa. Heidi began talking with a woman sitting in the passenger seat.
And after a few moments, Heidi and Margo willingly get into the backseat. Then not long after, the vehicle takes off and leaves the parking lot. So this information is huge. Up until now, authorities basically had nothing to work with. And now we see Heidi and Margo leaving. The last sighting of them before their disappearance.
Now, the neighbors said that there could have been another person in the car since the woman was sitting in the passenger seat, but still to this day, we don't know. But following this tip, investigators go to work trying to find the owner of this vehicle. There were some rumors going around that maybe Heidi contacted this person to try and help her run away. If she didn't want to be with Shane anymore, then this person could have helped her leave.
But again, her family said that was impossible. For one, if that was the case, then why wouldn't she bring Margo's diaper bag? And two, Heidi willingly got into the car, but she clearly didn't put Margo in a car seat. And her family said she wouldn't have put Margo's life in danger like that. So behind the scenes, police were zeroing in on a suspect.
And the fact that she willingly got into the car meant that she knew her abductor. So I'm assuming they started looking into Heidi's friends that had a silver Nissan Versa. And soon enough, they found someone.
They ended up putting the suspect's picture in a photo lineup and they showed it to the neighbor who told authorities that they were pretty sure that was the person Heidi got into the car with, but pretty sure isn't a smoking gun. So from here, the authorities obtained a search warrant on their suspect's computer and what they would find was indeed a smoking gun.
They found that in the weeks before Margo's birth, up until her disappearance, this person had looked up Heidi Broussard's name online more than 162 times. That is a lot of creeping in such a short amount of time.
They also found that the person deactivated their Facebook the day before their disappearance. And on the day of their disappearance, they searched "Amber Alert Austin" and "Reasons for Amber Alert." Then on December 14th, two days after the disappearance, the person searched "Bodies found in Austin, Texas."
But the most incriminating thing of all was that their cell phone pinged near Heidi's apartment on the morning they went missing. Armed with this information, investigators had enough to obtain a search warrant of the suspect's home, which was located three hours away in Houston, Texas.
The news of the search warrant was kept quiet from Heidi's friends and family, so no one knew what was going on. At the time, one of Heidi's friends agreed to be a guest on a podcast called J is for Justice, and their video was live on their YouTube channel as they discussed Heidi's case. The point of Heidi's friend going on their podcast was to bring awareness to it all.
But after about 90 minutes, people started commenting in the live chat that a raid was going on in Houston, Texas. There wasn't a lot of information about the raid, but they did know that it had to do with a missing persons case in Austin. So putting two and two together, they figured the raid likely had to do with Heidi and Margo. Local news helicopters were posting aerial footage of the house
And strangely enough, in the backyard, parked right up against the back door to the house, was a silver Nissan Versa. Now this was very suspicious, so one of the hosts of the podcast googled the address of the home, and what do you know, a baby registry popped up. There is a baby registry to the owners of that house.
Megan Humphrey and Christopher Green have a baby registry. Oh my God, that's Megan's house. Oh my God. Oh my God. What? That's Megan, her best friend that met her at church camp with me. Now, for whatever reason, Megan went by two different last names, Megan Humphrey and Megan Faramuska. But clearly after hearing this live on their podcast, Heidi's friend was in shock. I've talked to Megan every day all day.
She's been like sick over this. She just had a baby and she's breastfeeding. This girl, Megan, just had a baby? Yes. How long ago? Her name's Luna. She's 15 days old, 16 days old. Her and Heidi are best, best friends. She was there in the room when Heidi had Margo. Did you see her baby? I haven't seen pictures of her. But it's a girl? Yes. Megan for sure like had a baby. She said she told us she went to a birthing center and had her baby. Oh my God.
The due date on Megan's registry was December 1st, which happened to be Margo's original due date. Another name on the registry was Chris Green, Megan's ex-boyfriend and the father of her baby. He was also the owner of the house that was being raided by the police. Now, while that was happening, another group of officers found him at a Target.
He was apparently buying formula for his new baby. When the police approached him, they showed him a picture of Margo and he said, "That's the baby at my house." He then told the officers that he had been dating Meghan but they broke up in March of 2019. But shortly after their breakup, he found out that Meghan was pregnant. So even though they weren't together, he was prepared to be a father to their child. So where does Chris fall in all of this?
Well, from the information out there, it's believed that Chris thought the baby was his daughter. He said that on December 12th, Megan told him she was going on a beach trip with some family members. But the next day, she sent him a picture of a little baby. And she told him that she ended up having it the day before, in the woodlands, Texas. She said she even ended up going to a birth center all by herself, and she had the baby there.
So he started asking questions, but Megan shut them down. She said she didn't know the name of the birthing center or anything. So he just stopped asking questions. Now, you might be wondering, how did he not know? Well, Chris said that he had never seen Megan's stomach grow. But that happens sometimes. Not everyone gets a huge baby belly. He also said that on the rare occasion he touched her belly, it didn't feel right.
So, now the police had a picture of what was going on. Megan had faked her pregnancy and had stolen Heidi's baby. Apparently, investigators told Chris that the baby was likely Margo Carey, not his daughter. Chris then told the detectives, "She's not my child? Are you serious? Go get that baby! What are y'all waiting for, man?"
Now, keep in mind, Heidi's friends and family are learning of the raid going on at Megan's house, but they keep thinking to themselves that this has to be a mistake. Why would Heidi be hiding at her best friend's house in Houston? But Heidi wasn't hiding there. She was hidden there. Like we mentioned, in the backyard of the home, the silver Nissan was parked right up against the back door.
It was very suspicious looking because there wasn't even a driveway back there. Someone was clearly trying to hide something in that vehicle. As police approached the car, they were hit with the unmistakable smell of decomposition. So from here, they opened up the trunk and there in a large black duffel bag was the body of 33-year-old Heidi Broussard. She had been strangled to death.
At this point, Megan Faramuska was standing in the backyard with the officers holding a baby monitor in her hands. She was quickly placed under arrest as the officers went inside of the home to find baby Margo safe in a baby swing. Outside of the home, there were reporters everywhere.
So police stood shoulder to shoulder blocking the news cameras as Margo is brought out of the home in a little bundle into an ambulance.
It is heartbreaking circumstances that bring us here today. As you all are well aware that there has been a lot that has developed in the overnight hours. This all began back on December 12th when 33-year-old Heidi Broussard and infant daughter, two-week-old baby Margo Casey
were last seen as they dropped off their sibling and their son at school. And we have been investigating their disappearance since that time.
On Tuesday, APD Detective Harries gave a very thorough briefing to the media on what had been developed at that point through the investigation. And there's a lot that has happened since that time. Most notably, the events that took place out in the Houston and Harris County area overnight and into the early morning hours today.
What we will confirm at this point is that we did recover an infant female child that we do believe at this time is Margo. However, we are awaiting the results of DNA testing to confirm that identity and that testing may take us between 48 and 72 hours to get that confirmation.
When everyone heard the news about Heidi, they were devastated. Many of them were holding on to hope that she was still alive, and they couldn't even believe the news that they were hearing. Heidi had been murdered by one of her best friends, all so she could steal her baby.
Heidi's friend would later say, "My life started crashing down the night Heidi went missing. But when they found her, it crashed. It completely crashed. It felt like we were in a dream. This happens to different people, but this doesn't happen to us. You never think you're going to wake up one day and find out that someone like your little sister is dead.
But as devastated as they all were, the fact that Margo was still alive was their silver lining. Now, unfortunately, before they could give Margo back to her father, they had to do DNA testing on her to make sure it was in fact Margo Carey. But eventually, they got the confirmation and she was reunited with her family. In the meantime, Megan Fiermuska was brought to jail on charges of kidnapping and tampering with a corpse. They didn't know the full story yet, so they couldn't charge her with murder, but eventually they would.
But before we get into that, let's take a look into Megan's life and her friendship with Heidi Broussard. Megan and Heidi went way back, all the way back to their childhood. They actually met at church camp at the Texas Bible Institute in Columbus, Texas, when they were only 11 years old. And from then on, they were best friends.
Everyone said that Heidi always called Megan her bestie, and throughout the years they were always there for each other during important milestones. In 2013, when Heidi became pregnant with her first child, Silas, Megan helped her plan the baby shower, even though she lived miles away from Lake Charles.
Then throughout the years, pictures of the two best friends showed them spending their summers together on the water, eating at nice dinners, attending bridal shows together. They always looked happy and supportive of one another. When Heidi found out she was pregnant again in early 2019, Megan seemed very excited. She was even more excited because she found out she was pregnant too.
and their daughters had very close due dates, meaning they could be best friends just like their moms. Heidi had no reason to believe that her best friend was lying. Why would she? Over the next couple months, the two talked all about their babies, their pregnancy, what they were going to name them. Heidi decided to name her baby Margo, and Megan was going to name hers Luna.
The only issue here is that Megan wouldn't end up having a baby. Now, we have no idea if she was ever even pregnant at all. It could be the case that she was pregnant and had a miscarriage, but from what I could find, there is no information out there that supports that. And most people believe she made up the entire pregnancy.
Now, on November 26th, 2019, Heidi went into labor and texted all of her friends and family that baby Margo was about to make her entrance into the world. Megan Faramuska rushed over to Austin so that she could be there for Margo's birth. She actually stayed the night at their apartment right across the street from me while Heidi was in the hospital.
According to Shane, they gave her a key and she was supposed to return it, but she never did. Now, disturbingly, Megan was in the delivery room when Heidi gave birth to Margot.
And according to people there, she was acting very territorial of Heidi's new baby. For instance, when Shane's parents, the grandparents, came into the room to hold Margo for the first time, Megan took her out of her grandpa's arms because she wanted to hold her, which is just so out of line and in hindsight, it's very creepy.
Megan also told the nurse at the hospital that she was 37 weeks pregnant and that she would be having her baby any week now. And there are some different accounts. Some people say Megan didn't look pregnant at all. Other people said that she would waddle when she walked and that she looked very uncomfortable, like a pregnant person does at the end of their pregnancy.
So we don't know. But in the weeks after Margo's birth, Meghan was obsessing over her. Like we mentioned, she looked up Heidi's name on social media over 162 times. Many people believe that Meghan couldn't get pregnant. And when she saw that Heidi was pregnant with her second child, she became jealous.
So afterwards, she started telling people that she was pregnant too. And then she started coming up with a plan to steal her best friend's baby. Again, we don't know this for sure, but based on her obsessive creeping on pictures of Heidi and Margot, Megan was clearly spiraling.
On December 8th, 2019, Megan texted Heidi to let her know that she had given birth to her daughter Luna, which again, was a lie. Then a couple days later, on December 12th, she texted Heidi asking for breastfeeding advice. Being the good friend Heidi was, she texted her all the tips and tricks she knew.
All the while, Megan was on her way to Austin to steal baby Margo. Now it's here when the story gets a little blurry. You see, Megan Faramuska ended up pleading guilty to the murder of Heidi.
which means there was no trial exposing all of the details of the case. Usually it's there where the prosecution paints a nice little picture for us podcasters, but that's not the case here. So what we do know is that Megan's phone pinged near Heidi's apartment that morning. If I had to speculate,
Megan probably called her and said, "Hey, I'm in the area, my daughter's with me, do you want to meet her?" And since that's her best friend, Heidi obviously said yes. So Heidi makes her way out into the parking lot with Margo in her arms.
If you remember, the neighbor who saw this interaction said that Megan was in the passenger seat of the car, and she wasn't sure if there was a driver. Now, no one else has ever been arrested in connection to this crime, so we aren't making any accusations here, but Shane Carey, Heidi's fiance, believes that Megan didn't act alone, so there very well may have been someone else in the car with her. We aren't going to name any names, but I feel like it's not hard to figure out who they are suspicious of.
But nonetheless, Heidi willingly gets into the backseat of the car with Margo. Again, I'm just speculating here, but maybe she had a car seat in the back and Megan told her to hop inside so she could meet baby Luna. But there wasn't a baby in the backseat. And from here, the car drives away and Heidi Broussard is never seen alive again.
Now, it was confirmed that her cause of death was strangulation, but where she was strangled is a huge question mark in this story. From what I could tell, Megan's car wasn't in the parking lot very long, so it didn't seem like she was strangled there, but it also wouldn't really make sense for her to be driving around with Heidi in the backseat if Heidi knew something was awry. I feel like that would be really risky.
I saw some people speculating that maybe she willingly drove to Houston and she was strangled there, but that doesn't really make sense because Heidi had to pick up Silas from school that day, so she wouldn't have driven three hours to Houston on her own accord. So in my personal, unprofessional opinion, I think she was strangled in Austin, then put in the trunk of the car, and then Megan drove back to Houston with Margo.
Something else to think about is that Heidi's friends and family are convinced that Megan didn't act alone because Heidi was a strong woman and they said she could definitely have overpowered Megan, especially if Margo's life was in danger. Which also begs the question, if Heidi was strangled in Austin, I really don't think Megan could have put her in the trunk all by herself. Yeah, there are a ton of questions about this case that might not ever get answered because there wasn't a trial.
But following Heidi's murder, Megan makes the drive back to Houston with baby Margo. She claims she told her ex-boyfriend Chris that the baby was his and he supposedly believed her. Now, hours later, Shane would get home from work and by that night, everyone was worried sick about where they were.
Like we mentioned, Heidi's friends put together a group message so they could send updates, and apparently Megan constantly talked about how she wished she could be there to help look for Heidi, but she couldn't because she just had her baby, which is a reasonable excuse.
Some of Heidi's friends even talked about how Megan said she was physically sick over Heidi and Margo's disappearance. She was really playing the part of a concerned friend. Over the next few days, she would even call Shane and Heidi's mom Tammy asking for any updates. They thought she was genuinely concerned, but in hindsight, she was probably just calling to make sure she wasn't a suspect.
Heidi's mom said that at one point, Megan had called her for updates. And she told Megan, don't worry, we're handling everything. You just focus on your baby and take care of yourself. Which is just so disturbing because the baby she was taking care of was Margo. Now, from the beginning, investigators were suspicious that the person who committed this crime was close to Heidi.
So they investigated all of her friends and family, including Megan. The founder of the Texas EquiSearch is a man named Tim Miller, and his entire career is dealing with this kind of stuff. But he was tasked with interviewing people close to Heidi, and he said he was more suspicious about Shane. Megan wasn't on his radar at all. Shane was questionable in my mind.
He was, and his stories weren't just quite as consistent as I thought. But then, you know, another friend gave me some friends of Heidi's and said, why don't you call them? So my first call was to Megan. And she answered the phone, and I told her who I was, and she said, yeah, I've seen you on TV so many times, and just thank you for helping me.
find my friend and I said, "Well, Megan," I said, "What's your heart telling you on this?" And she said, "Shane did it." She says, "I was there 10 years ago when they met. I told Heidi, 'Stay away from this guy. He's trouble. The relationship's on and off. There's been a lot of abuse going on." Shane keeps saying, "Well, that baby's not even mine and stuff." She called me back in May and said that her and Shane had a terrible fight and, and
And she just went on and on and on, and to the point that literally probably 45 minutes later, I said, "Megan, listen, I gotta go. I'm getting a call on the other line." And said, "Mr. Miller, thank you for what you're doing." She says, "I'm gonna keep talking to people and everything. If I come up with anything, is it okay if I call you?" And I said, "Megan, please do. Please call me." And I mean, looking back at that conversation on Sunday to now,
So not only was she a good liar, but she was also trying to put the blame on Shane, Margo and Silas' only living parent.
As all of these details came to light, Heidi's loved ones were shocked. They all knew Megan, and they never in a million years suspected that she would have been responsible for all of this devastation. Heidi's mom told Dateline, quote, First you break down because they're missing, and then you break down because you find out that she was dead.
She also told People magazine, End quote.
Now, Megan Firamuska didn't have a completely clean record. In 2018, she was arrested for stealing from a check-cashing business she worked for, and her boyfriend, Chris Green, paid to bail her out because he was dating her at the time. Now, the case would end up getting dropped because they didn't have enough evidence to charge her with theft. But her attorney in that case, Eric Devlin, told KHOU, "...when I first met her, she wasn't pregnant, clearly did not appear to be pregnant at all."
But then he said the last time he saw her, she looked very pregnant. And again, we don't know if she ever was. But following her arrest, Megan was brought back to Austin where she sat in the Travis County Jail, charged with capital murder. Her bond was set to $600,000. Her lawyers would make a statement telling the public not to rush to judgment until all the facts were available.
Now, in Meghan's arrest warrant, the FBI added an assessment of maternal desire, where the thought of having a baby takes over someone's mind. In cases like this, women will do anything to get that child. They'll even steal babies from hospitals or cut babies from the mother's womb. That's likely what happened here. Except the victim wasn't a stranger. It was Meghan's best friend. When Heidi's loved ones saw Meghan's mugshot, they said they didn't even recognize her. She looked scary, like something dark had come over her.
On December 23rd, 2019, Margo's DNA results came back and she was finally reunited with her family. And two days later, they spent Christmas together. It was Margo's first Christmas and she didn't even get to spend it with her mom. Three days after the holiday, everyone made their way to Lake Charles, Louisiana for Heidi's funeral.
There, her mother said, quote, "I want them to remember her for her contagious laugh, her bright blue eyes. That was Heidi's life. That's what she did. Make somebody laugh, give compliments to strangers. She was that girl. So that's what people need to remember. That's what people need to bring into their everyday lives. We can all use a little bit of love, a little bit of Heidi."
People in attendance said it was one of the saddest funerals they ever had to sit through. They said that Silas, her six-year-old son, was having a really hard time coming to terms with his mother's death, and that when he finally realized what was happening, he let out a wail, a sound that frequently plays in their heads.
At one point during the service, Margo even started crying, to which the pastor said, "Let her cry. It's a beautiful sound." And it was. Margo's cries were a great reminder that she was still here, safe and alive, reunited with her family. After the service, Heidi's loved ones released balloons in her honor,
But this wasn't the kind of service where you feel any sort of closure afterwards. They all still had a long journey ahead of them. And based on Megan's attorney's statements, it didn't seem like the legal process was going to go smoothly.
Megan ended up getting indicted on charges of kidnapping and capital murder on January 28th, 2020. Her bail was set at $1 million. But keep in mind, this entire case unfolded right before the entire world shut down for COVID. So there were some delays in Megan's court processes. For years, nothing really happened.
But then in 2022, her attorneys tried to get the case dropped because on the day of the raid, the officers went into her home before a search warrant was given to her. So they tried to claim that the pictures and videos from inside her house should be thrown out since they didn't lawfully take them. But the prosecution said that they had reason to enter the home without a search warrant because they had reason to believe Margo's life was in danger.
Apparently, she had been struggling with jaundice before her abduction, which can lead to some health problems, so in their minds, they had a right to go inside without a warrant. Now, a warrant had been signed, it just wasn't in Megan's hands at the time. So they were trying to get the case dropped due to this technicality. But in May of 2022, a judge denied their request. He said that the warrantless entry into her home was justified. On February 22nd, 2023...
Megan ended up taking a plea deal. She would plead guilty to the murder charges and waive all of her rights to appeals.
and in turn they would drop the kidnapping charges. So she took this deal and was sentenced to 55 years in prison. Megan Faramuzka will be eligible for parole in 28 years when she's 65 years old. District Attorney Jose Garza released a statement that said, "We are hopeful that this outcome will bring closure to the Broussard and Carey families and help them continue their healing process."
This outcome will save the families from having to endure the difficult post-conviction litigation process. We are grateful to our prosecutors and law enforcement partners who worked tirelessly on this case and secured justice for the victims' families and our community. Tammy Broussard, Heidi's mother, was able to confront her daughter's killer at her sentencing trial. And here's what she had to say.
This statement is about my daughter and who she was and how her life she touched throughout the life that she was here. Heidi's hugs were strong, full of love. They lingered in the atmosphere. I still feel them now. She loved beyond measure and she never gave up on anyone. When I think of her, which is every moment and everything I do,
I ask what would Heidi say or think? It gives me comfort even when I cook. Thinking of her gives me peace amidst the pain. And she loved Christmas and we miss her dearly. She's forever strong in the midst of all the people, people's lives she touched. And she'll live for me.
Megan Faramuska cried the entire time Tammy read her statement.
It seemed like the reality of what she did was finally hitting her. And this story is truly so horrific because Heidi trusted Megan. She was her childhood best friend, a person that she was supposed to love and want the best for. But instead, Megan was overcome by jealousy that Heidi got to have a child when she didn't.
She became obsessed with Margo and that obsession led her to do the unthinkable. Because of this, Margo and Silas have to grow up without their mother. Margo is 4 years old now and Silas is 10. If she hasn't already, Margo will soon start asking questions about her mom and Shane will eventually have to tell her.
A story that will make her realize there are evil people in the world. And her mom's best friend was one of them. But I hope at the end of the day, Margot will notice all of the amazing people that have stepped up to love her and her brother.
Heidi's friends and family know that they will never be able to fill Heidi's shoes, but they have vowed to do everything in their power to make sure Margo and Silas know just how much their mother loved them.
As a lot of you probably know, Courtney and I's time is already really stretched thin. We have multiple projects that we're working on. I'm working on a documentary. We're posting a video every week on YouTube, a podcast, a second podcast. So we don't have a lot of extra time in our lives, especially when it comes to cooking. I know that for myself at the end of a long workday, the last thing that I want to do is get in the kitchen and cook myself something. And meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking can be a huge hassle.
But Hungry Root makes it possible to spend less time doing all of that and more time doing what you love. Hungry Root is simply the easiest way to eat healthy. They send you fresh, high-quality groceries, simple, delicious recipes, and essential supplements.
It's like having someone else do all the planning and shopping so you don't even have to think about it. And something that Courtney and I love is that Hungry Root gets to know your personal health goals, dietary restrictions, favorite foods, how much time you want to spend cooking, and more. Then they build you a personalized cart with all your grocery needs for the week, including easy four-ingredient recipes to put those groceries to use. Each order is free,
The groceries that Courtney and I received from Hungry Root were of the highest quality, and the meals that we made from them not only were quick and easy, but they were delicious to boot. And that's because everything from Hungry Root follows a simple standard.
It's got to taste good, be quick to make, and contain whole, trusted ingredients. Right now, Hungry Root is offering Murder in America listeners 40% off your first delivery and free veggies for life. Just go to HungryRoot.com slash MIA to get 40% off your first delivery and get your free veggies. That's HungryRoot.com slash MIA. Don't forget to use our link so they know we sent you. Anyways, let's get back to today's episode.
Go to your happy place for a happy price. Go to your happy price, Priceline.
This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Whether you're selling a little or a lot, Shopify helps you do your thing however you cha-ching. From the launch your online shop stage all the way to the we just hit a million orders stage. No matter what stage you're in, Shopify's there to help you grow. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash special offer all lowercase. That's shopify.com slash special offer. ♪
Hey, everybody. It's Colin here. Thank you again for listening to this week's episode of Murder in America. This story hit close to home. We have a personal connection to the story. And yeah, this was all over the news in Austin when it happened. I vividly remember it. This story was so huge back in 2019. And I remember following it like right when it happened because it's
It literally happened right outside my bedroom window. So yeah, that just made it so much more real when something happens so close to home. But I want to give a shout out to our new patrons this week. Oh my gosh.
God, every single week we grow the Patreon family and you know how much we love you guys. If you're wondering what Patreon is, we drop the ad-free version of every episode on Patreon as soon as the episodes go live on all streaming services. So if you don't like the ads in the show, if you want us to read your name at the end of an episode, enshrine you forever in the Murder in America canon, just sign up to become a patron. And like we said, we have so many big updates coming on Patreon soon.
You can also follow us on Instagram if you want to see photos from the cases that we cover at Murder in America. And you can also join us on Facebook. So just look up Murder in America on Facebook and come join our official group where we love hanging out and talking to everybody. We have some dark stories coming up, so prepare yourself for the next couple of months. Courtney and I...
are excited to share our hard work. We have some really exciting news that's been developing behind the scenes. So yeah, everything's on the up and up, but I just want you all to know from Courtney and I that we love y'all so much. Thank you for listening. And as always, guys, I will catch you on the next one.
Hello, I'm Shelby Scott, the host of Scare You to Sleep, a podcast where I tell you spooky bedtime stories full of creepy sound effects and music that is soothing yet unsettling to help immerse you into a world of horror. This is a show for those of us who have realized that we are not alone.
Horror can be a strange but relaxing escape from reality. Speaking of escapes, sometimes I lead you through guided nightmares, like a guided meditation, but instead of flowery meadows, I take you on a journey through your own personal nightmare.
So come get lost in the terror with me. Listen to Scare You to Sleep wherever you listen to podcasts or find us online at bloody.fm. Sweet screams.
Why horror?
We go extremely deep with the films in discussion. For us to accomplish this, we break down each film, scene by scene, spoiling literally everything. You can find Nightlight, a horror movie podcast, every Friday on your favorite podcast service. And remember, everybody, don't forget your nightlight.
Welcome to Bloody FM's The Hotel, a horror podcast with new episodes on the 1st and 15th of every month. Each night a guest dies a horrifying and fantastic death in a hotel, that's me, who assumes the shape of anything from a five-star resort down to a roadside roach motel. Listen on the 1st and 15th of every month on Bloody Disgusting's Bloody FM network, wherever you listen to podcasts.