A woman from Arkansas, aged 45, has been sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for orchestrating a deadly plot that ended in the murder of a pregnant woman. In a chilling act of violence, she attempted to claim the unborn child as her own by cutting it from the mother’s womb.

Amber Dawn Waterman admitted her guilt on Wednesday, accepting responsibility for the premeditated murder of 33-year-old Ashley Bush and her unborn daughter, Valkyrie Grace Willis, in 2022. Her guilty plea addressed two counts of capital murder, a decision that has now sealed her fate behind bars for life.

Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren handed down the sentence, which entails two life terms to be served consecutively within a state correctional facility. Additionally, these sentences will run consecutively to her federal sentences for kidnapping resulting in death and the death of a child in utero, charges to which she confessed in July 2024.

Waterman’s plea bargain spared her from facing the death penalty, a course of action that Arkansas state prosecutors had been resolutely pursuing. The Arkansas Supreme Court had determined that this state case was unaffected by double jeopardy concerns.

The Benton County Sheriff’s Office expressed the profound impact of this case on the community. In a news release following the sentencing, they remarked, “This case represents one of the most tragic and heinous crimes our detectives have ever encountered. It deeply impacted our community and will remain with us forever.”

“This case represents one of the most tragic and heinous crimes our detectives have ever encountered,” the Benton County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release after the sentencing. “It deeply impacted our community and will remain with us forever.”

During the plea and sentencing hearing, Benton County Prosecuting Attorney Josh Robinson read a series of victim impact statements from Bush’s family and friends, local NBC affiliate KNWA reported.

“More than anything in this world, Ashley wanted to be a mother,” Bush’s aunt reportedly wrote in one of the statements. “Trauma layered with shock and horror. A plea deal must not be interpreted as mercy or forgiveness.”

As part of the plea deal, Waterman is reportedly required to provide prosecutors with additional information about the crime to help give the family closure.

As previously reported, Amber Waterman admitted to kidnapping Bush from Maysville and transporting her to Pineville, both of which are in Arkansas. That kidnapping directly resulted in the deaths of Bush and Valkyrie.

Waterman used a false name — “Lucy” — to contact Bush via Facebook while the victim was 31 weeks pregnant. She pretended to help Bush get a job by telling her she had an opportunity the victim could fill. That interaction prompted an in-person “job interview” between the two women on Oct. 28, 2022, at a public library in Gravette, Arkansas, where Amber Waterman offered Bush a work-from-home position for a company based out of Arkansas.

“On Oct. 31, 2022, at roughly 11:45 a.m., Bush met Waterman at the Handi-Stop convenience store in Maysville,” federal prosecutors wrote in a news release. “Under the pretext that Waterman was taking her to meet a supervisor to further discuss employment, Bush got into a truck driven by Waterman.”

Amber Waterman then kidnapped Bush and drove the pregnant woman to the Waterman residence in Pineville.

“At about 5 p.m. on Oct. 31, 2022, first responders reported to the Longview store in Pineville for an emergency call of a baby who was not breathing,” prosecutors wrote. “Waterman admitted that she claimed to first responders that she had given birth to the child in the truck while on the way to the hospital. But in reality, she admitted, the child was Bush’s child, who died in utero, as a result of Waterman’s kidnapping that resulted in the death of Bush.”

A subsequent autopsy determined that Bush’s manner of death was a homicide and the cause of death was “penetrating trauma of the torso.” Authorities say that Amber Waterman shot and killed Bush, then used a knife to try to remove the unborn child from her uterus. She also attempted to burn Bush’s body.