Police believe they found the body of missing Austin, Texas, mother Heidi Broussard at a home in the Houston area, officials said in a news conference Friday.
Investigators found a baby girl believed to be Broussard’s daughter Margot Carey, who was reported missing along with her mother on Dec. 12, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley told reporters. The baby is alive and healthy.
Police are waiting for DNA testing to confirm the infant is Margot, Manley said, and the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office is conducting an autopsy to conclusively determine the identity of the dead woman.
One person has been arrested and faces two charges of kidnapping and one charge of tampering with a corpse, Manley said. Police wouldn’t name the person in custody, but said bond was set at $600,000.
More charges may be filed as the investigation progresses, Manley said.
“Although we are grateful that it appears as though we have safely recovered baby Margot,” Manley said, “again, we do believe that Ms. Broussard lost her life in this incident.”
Baby Was Found in Houston-area Home
Broussard and her newborn daughter were last seen around 7:30 a.m. on Dec. 12, dropping Broussard’s son off at an elementary school, police previously said. Authorities believed she returned home with the baby before disappearing. They were reported missing at 7:30 p.m.
Over the past week, investigators with local, state and federal agencies have interviewed family and friends, executed search warrants and followed-up on tips from the community, Austin police Detective Brad Herries said.
Police were eventually led to a residence in the Houston area, where investigators detained an individual on Thursday, Herries said. That evening, police executed a search warrant for the home and vehicles.
During the search, police found a baby whose “visual appearance is consistent with that of baby Margot,” Herries said. They also found the body of a woman and “early indications would lead us to believe that is Heidi,” he said.
The home remains an active crime scene, and investigators are still looking at multiple locations between Austin and Houston, which are about 165 miles apart.
The father of Broussard’s children, Shane Carey, pleaded for their safe return last week, telling CNN affiliate KEYE that he’d last spoken to Broussard at about 8 a.m. the day they vanished.
When he returned home from work at 2 p.m., Broussard and their daughter were nowhere to be found, Carey told the station. He went to pick up their son from school and then called police when he came home.
