JERSEY VILLAGE, Texas — One person has been charged in connection with the disappearance of Austin mother Heidi Broussard and her newborn after a body believed to be the woman’s was found Thursday at a home near Houston, according to police and her family.
A healthy baby was also found at the Houston-area residence, Austin police said Friday. The infant is in the care of Child Protective Services, and DNA testing was underway to confirm the baby was Broussard’s 3-week-old, Margot.
The missing woman’s mother, Tammy Broussard, said early Friday that police told her the body found in Jersey Village in Harris County is likely that of her daughter, who has been missing since Dec. 12. Tammy Broussard said the body was found in a car trunk.
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Authorities have not publicly confirmed the details Tammy Broussard said she was told. Austin police said in a statement Friday that an autopsy was being conducted to identify the body.
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Police also said Friday that one person has been arrested and charged with two counts of kidnapping and one count of tampering with a corpse.
Craig Cummings with the Texas Department of Public Safety previously told NBC affiliate KPRC of Houston that investigators were at a home in Jersey Village, in connection with the missing mother and her infant. A close friend of Heidi Broussard lives at the home, other friends told NBC News.
The FBI also confirmed it was at the site, but a spokeswoman declined to comment further.
Heidi Broussard, 33, and her baby were last seen in Austin around 7:30 a.m. on Dec. 12, when she dropped off her 6-year-old son at an elementary school, police have said.
Jersey Village is a community of around 7,600 in Harris County, northwest of Houston. It was not immediately clear what led law enforcement officials to the home there or what connection the residence may have to the case.
Heidi Broussard’s boyfriend, Shane Carey, who is Margot’s father, said earlier this week that her car was at the apartment in Austin the day she disappeared, but she wasn’t there.
He said all of Broussard’s belongings, including her identification and the baby’s diaper bag, were still in the apartment.
Broussard’s close friends told NBC News this week there is no chance she would have left of her own accord without her son.
Sam Brock reported from Jersey Village; Elisha Fieldstadt, Colin Sheeley and Kurt Chirbas from New York; and Phil Helsel from Los Angeles.
