Dateline NBC - Abducted

Episode Date: February 4, 2020

Andrea Canning reports on the case that made national headlines in December 2019, when a Texas mother was found murdered after she and her newborn daughter disappeared. Originally aired on NBC on January 31, 2020.

I'm Lester Holt. Tonight on Dateline, the story that made headlines nationwide. The mysterious disappearance of a Texas mom and her two-week-old baby. We love you and we miss you and we need you home. My daughter was gone. She left without anything. No baby formula, no diapers, no clothes. We were beside ourselves. This was really all hands on deck ourselves this was really all hands on deck this was absolutely all hands on deck we have to move heaven and earth to find that child

we were looking hard at the fiance everything hurts and i don't know what to do a lot of people thought that his interviews came across strange all of a sudden there was breaking news. Oh! Wait a minute. I just got a text. Oh, my God. This mystery is literally unfolding as you're live on air. Oh, my God. I don't even want to say this. Your heart skips a beat.

This is the devil's work. Why'd you take her away from us. Here's Andrea Canning with Abducted. Heidi Broussard with her newborn baby, Margo. The very picture of motherly bliss. Heidi just seemed so happy. It was exactly what she wanted. Her close-knit circle of friends was just as happy, watching Heidi cherish those first days with her daughter. It's just a beautiful thing to see. Like, she was glowing. Glowing. None of these friends ever imagined that their circle of trust would be broken.

It was really a lot of betrayal. Betrayal is a great word. We're all angry. We're all upset. Why did you take my friend? Why? She never hurt anyone. We begin our story in Austin, Texas. Thursday, December 12, 2019. Two weeks after Margo was born. It was a typical busy morning for 33-year-old Heidi. The bubbly young mom lived with her fiancé, Shane Carey, and their two children in this modest apartment complex. The day started early, seeing Shane off to work, tending to baby Margo, and getting her

six-year-old son Silas to school. I think she probably woke Silas up and started to get the baby ready while Silas got himself dressed. Destiny Fine was one of Heidi's closest friends. They probably brushed their teeth together because they did that quite often. I'm sure she made his lunch and got his breakfast ready and then they got out the door as quick as they could." Heidi dropped Silas off at school shortly after 8 a.m.

Nothing out of the norm there. Hours later, her fiancé Shane got home from work, expecting to see Heidi and baby Margo. After all, he saw Heidi's car in the parking lot when he pulled in. But Heidi and Margo weren't home. Shane wasn't too worried and went about his day. But as the hours passed, he realized his son needed to be picked up from after-school activities, so he headed out to get him. And when he and Silas got home, still no Heidi or Margo. That's when Shane became alarmed.

I spoke to Shane Thursday night. He asked me if I had heard from her. Have you talked to Heidi today? Because I can't find her, Rebecca. I can't find her. Rebecca lived hours away in Houston, but was like a sister to Heidi and talked to her all the time. And he's like, I went and got Silas, but I don't know where Heidi is. And I'm like, well, where's Margo?

Well, he says, she must have her. I don't have her. So it gives you chills. Oh, absolutely. Rebecca says it wasn't like Heidi to forget Silas. Not at all. And it bothered Rebecca that Heidi's car was unlocked with her purse inside and all baby Margo's things were still in the apartment.

I mean, Shane was like, the diaper bag's even here, Rebecca. Like, she can't even change Margo's diaper. Rebecca says she tried not to worry. She knew Heidi was friendly, loved to chat and help a friend or neighbor. Maybe she was in the apartment complex somewhere. She just started talking. You know, she was helping someone, helping someone talk through their problem

and just lost track of time. But as it got darker and colder outside, there was still no sign of Heidi or Margo. At about 7 p.m., Rachel West, Heidi's co-worker at an Austin restaurant, heard about what was going on and couldn't make sense of it. If anyone would know where Heidi was, she would. I was like last resort of where Heidi would be.

Because Heidi and I did everything together, you know. Did you try to call Heidi? Yes. Did it go straight to voicemail? Mm-hmm. And I texted her. I was like, Heidi, like, I literally just said her name in a text, and it was nothing. She would always respond to you, I'm sure.

Always, always, always. Yep. Not this time. Hoping to find her, Rachel headed straight to the strip mall across the street from Heidi's apartment complex. I was like, maybe she's in the H-E-B. You know, so I went. The grocery store. Yeah, the grocery store.

Yes, she was up there. So I finally went to the apartment. I met up with Shane. That's when Shane called Heidi's mom, Tammy Broussard, and broke the news that her only child was missing. I said, call the police. I was not panicking. My husband wasn't either.

All he would tell me is he said, baby, we're going to find her. Were you scared at this point? Or was it like, no, she's fine. We'll sort this out. I was not scared. I was determined to go find her. Heidi's parents lived five hours away in Louisiana, but jumped in their car and hightailed it to Austin. And the Austin Police Department immediately responded to Shane's call and launched a missing persons investigation. But that first day ended with no news.

Where on earth were Heidi and Margo? When we come back, concern grows and the mystery deepens. We're exploring every avenue that we have and every possibility. You felt so helpless. We couldn't do anything. More often than not, if someone is missing or abducted, the person that did the crime is very close to the person that's missing. I said, somebody's got her. Really?

Yes. As the new day dawned over Austin, Texas, Heidi Broussard and her newborn daughter were still missing, nearly 24 hours after they were last seen. For Heidi's closest girlfriends, each passing hour was pure torture. None of us slept that night. I mean, we were just, you felt so helpless. We couldn't do anything. We had no idea where she was or, you know.

What you knew was that she had dropped Silas off at school that morning? Yes. And then? And then nothing. We knew nothing. But they were sure about one thing. Heidi would never just leave her family without saying a word. Lifelong friend Rebecca would swear on it.

She knew she could come to me if she needed to go somewhere. She wouldn't have left and not come to me. And Rachel had never known Heidi to run away from anything. She was too optimistic. The energy she just brought was super infectious and you wanted it and you wanted to be a part of why she was so joyous and because who doesn't want to be happy because Heidi was happy. In fact, most days she says Heidi couldn't contain her joy. That girl would never ever stop singing. The young mom grew up in Lake Charles, Louisiana, the only child in a tight-knit family, where church was a big part of her life, including Bible camp.

Heidi went to church every Sunday, and she raised her kids in church. And any time I strayed from my faith, you know, Heidi was the one that brought me back to it. Heidi met her fiancé Shane working at a Lake Charles casino more than a decade ago. Their son, Silas, was a surprise. But Heidi's friends say she was thrilled to be a mom. Six years later, she was expecting again. This time, a little girl.

Everybody was excited. You know, Silas was always rubbing her belly and everything. Her friends learned the news at her gender reveal party. They popped balloons. They threw the darts at the balloons. Oh, nice. In order to, and whichever balloon popped

that had the powder in it, it was going to be the color. They literally popped every balloon until the last one. Oh, that had the... That had the color in it that said it was a girl. So pink powder?

Yes, everywhere. Yes. And when Heidi had little Margo in late November, she was surrounded by loved ones. One of her close friends, Megan, drove from Houston for this special occasion. Even though she told Heidi she was pregnant too and due any day, Heidi was over the moon. For her, it was all about the children. They were her life.

Number one priority. She was the ultimate mom. Oh, absolutely. Oh, the best. They were her life. Number one priority. She was the ultimate mom? Oh, absolutely. Oh, the best. Look at you. Look at this. The bond between her and Silas is something that I am so glad I had the pleasure of seeing in my lifetime.

Heidi's mom had also seen that bond, and now it was leading her to a frightening conclusion. I said, uh-uh. Somebody's got her. Really? Yes. Because Heidi would have never left Silas. She would have never done that.

That's a really scary feeling. Who could have had her, though? At the moment, I didn't know. Heidi's friends couldn't bear the thought of Silas being without his mom and sister. They knew law enforcement was hard at work, but they couldn't just sit back and wait for news. So they launched their own investigation and started by spreading the word that Heidi had disappeared. We constantly posted online, you know, have you seen Heidi Broussard and her infant daughter? You know, if you see her,

please call local police. Carly Laughlin lived hours away, so she worked the phones, talking to anyone and everyone who came to mind. I tried to ask everyone I knew, mutual friends of ours, if they had heard from her or anything like that, and no one did. You must have just been like, where are you? Like, tell us where you are. Everyone was like that. Meanwhile, Heidi's Austin friends focused on organizing volunteer search parties to set out on foot. I searched every single day for her. Where did you go?

Wooded areas, water, parks. I went to places she knew. Were you asking people, hey, have you seen this woman? Yes, I talked to numerous people. Destiny and I went knocking on doors in the apartment one by one. Oh yeah, we did the whole nine. Were you like kind of peering inside? Oh yeah,

without being too intrusive. Oh, I absolutely peered inside. Austin police officers were already canvassing the area with the help of the Texas Rangers and FBI. Special agent in charge, Christopher Combsbs coordinated the FBI's efforts. The Austin Police Department called us and asked us for any assistance that we would have. Why did they bring you in?

Austin Police Department is a very capable police department, but they don't often have to deal with mothers and missing children, where the FBI has teams that solely focus on that. At what point did you become involved in the case? It was a few days into the case, and to us it was pretty clear we needed to bring in our special child abduction response team. But despite the added manpower, days passed with no news. The longer that time goes by, frankly, the percent chance of recovering

the mother or the children alive goes down dramatically. Heidi's friends began to fear the worst. You have to be prepared for anything. You prepare for the worst and hope for the best. To deal with the stress and sadness of it all, Destiny and Rachel started a group text with Megan. What was the idea behind the group text? Mostly just to keep each other updated. Megan was in Houston and her whole thing was that she couldn't get there because she had a new baby and that she felt like she was helpless because she couldn't do anything. It was to keep her informed. And to lean on each other. And it was to lean on each other. After five days, local detectives held their first press conference.

But it wasn't the update everyone had hoped for. 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. Jacqueline Powell is a reporter and anchor at NBC affiliate KXAN. She was struck by the outpouring of concern for Heidi and Margo in the days that followed. People in the community were so invested. You know, people who didn't know this lady from Adam, they were very invested. I think especially because there was a newborn baby involved.

I mean, there's something not right at play. Yeah, so that's why people were so interested. The story went national. The FBI has now joined the urgent search for a mother. Let us turn now to that desperate search in Texas for a missing mother and her newborn baby. Scared and desperate for leads, Heidi's parents took to the airwaves to make a public appeal. NBC News correspondent Sam Brock spoke to them. But we're asking if anyone has her, that whoever it is that has her and knows anything, just please come forward and let our babies come home.

Despite the somber tone of the investigators and dwindling hope among Heidi's friends, her parents had faith she and Margo were alive. Do you feel hopeful at this point that they're going to find Heidi? Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh, yes.

And she'll fight to live, and she'll fight for that child, and she'll fight to get home. She will fight to get home to her son and to the family. For investigators, no one was above suspicion. More often than not, if someone is missing or abducted, the person that did the crime is very close to the person that's missing or abducted. Rachel found that out firsthand. I personally got interrogated for two hours. Really? Uh-huh.

I mean, did you feel like it was an interrogation? He asked me hard questions, and I was honest the whole time. Did any of the questions get to the point where it was like, did you do this? Or were you feeling like they were trying to get that out of you? He asked me if I would ever hurt Heidi and I said, no, you don't hurt people you love. Rachel says later she was told she was never really under suspicion, but they needed to be sure. But there was someone people around town were talking about. Someone very close to Heidi.

Coming up. Everything hurts. Everything hurts and I don't know what to do. A lot of people thought that his interviews came across strange. Heidi's fiancé, Shane, a man under the microscope. People all over were making comments. I did not rule anyone out. When Dateline continues. We love you and we miss you and we need you home. Five days after Heidi Broussard went missing, her parents were heartbroken, didn't know what to do.

But giving up was not an option. We will never stop. And the authorities, they will never stop either. We're not giving up. With the FBI's Child Abduction Response Team now on board, the investigation was in high gear. What the FBI brings to the table is resources and an expertise. The FBI team included high-tech specialists, behavioral scientists, and dozens of agents, adding boots on the ground in an already intensive search.

This was really all hands on deck in the search for Heidi Broussard and her daughter. This was absolutely all hands on deck. What we bring is so much more manpower that we can take the time and use that manpower to really search through every single piece of evidence. We brought 50 FBI personnel in, just focused on this. If there were any leads, nobody was talking about them. At their news conference, police said there was no person of interest.

But the press in attendance had a person of great interest, Heidi's fiancé, Shane Carey. KXAN reporter Jacqueline Powell was there. When we went in that press conference, everybody's asking questions about Shane Carey, and police were very careful not to talk about him at all. But Shane seemed perfectly willing to talk. He was interviewed at length by police, and he made himself available to local and national media. I don't know. Everything hurts.

Everything hurts, and I don't know what to do. I have great support, but I don't know what to do. Like, what's the first step? Does it make you feel better to know we saw the FBI agents here today going and trying to get surveillance video talking to people? Oh, they did? That's what they been doing all morning. Oh, wow. Yeah, that feels, yeah. Yeah, that feels great. That does feel good. That's what they told me yesterday. He gave several interviews right off the bat and, you know, people thought he seemed to be all over the place. She loves her friends. She loves her family.

And she would tell somebody, you know, and all of her friends would know. Nobody. It's her from her. I was the last person to speak from her. A lot of people thought that his interviews came across strange. But I was thinking, you know, well, if your newborn baby and longtime girlfriend are missing and it seems suspicious to you, who am I to judge how someone's reacting? In the rough and tumble world of social media, there was no such reluctance. People were very critical of him.

You know, it's my job to go stalk his Facebook page and his social media and his dad's social media and people were brutal. Hey, good evening, everybody. The story of the missing mother and daughter caught the attention of Jay Risch, Melissa Baio and Christy Prado, hosts of a crime podcast called Jay is for Justice, which had more than 24,000 subscribers nationwide. Why did you choose that one to cover? Well, I heard about it and I immediately went back to a prior case that we had covered extensively and it reminded me of that a little bit. That was the Chris Watts case. Chris Watts, the Colorado man who also spoke to the media about his missing family,

he eventually pleaded guilty to murdering his wife, unborn son, and two daughters. As the podcast hosts reported on Heidi's disappearance, listeners offered their views in the J is for Justice chat room. What kind of things were people saying? Theories? Discussions? I think there were several theories. Maybe the boyfriend had something to do with it. Maybe she disappeared on her own accord. I think the primary one that, you know,

everybody was focusing on looking hard at the boyfriend because it's always the first one people look at. Heidi's friend Rebecca heard all of the talk about Shane. People thought Shane killed her. Oh, yeah. And the baby. People all over were making comments, the media, everybody, that it was him. I'll be honest, at that point I just wanted her back. I didn't care. Even if it was him, I did not rule anyone out. Everyone was guilty. None of Heidi's close friends wanted to believe it was someone close to her, and they were supportive of Shane. But they also knew Shane of Heidi's close friends wanted to believe it was someone close to her and they were

supportive of Shane but they also knew Shane and Heidi's relationship was far from perfect. Shane and Heidi had their ups and downs. I know their relationship was very rocky and they had split up a few times but I mean she always went back to him because she saw something good in him. Despite their sometimes volatile relationship, Heidi and Shane seemed to have repaired things and they'd happily embraced their role as parents. As the days passed and the chances for a safe return seemed to be slipping away, Heidi's friends, Focus and Fears were all about Heidi and Margo. Is your mind starting to wander to that a really dark place? Yeah. That she may not be

alive anymore? Yeah, that ran through everyone's mind and we knew we had to prepare for it if it did happen. They tried to brace themselves for the worst, but nothing could prepare them for the devastating truth that was about to be revealed. Coming up, live on the podcast, a stunning break in the case. Wait a minute. I just got a text. Oh, my God. Police rush to the home in Houston. What would they learn about Heidi and Margo? We were thinking, what was going on? Was she hiding out there? Heidi Broussard's friends were doing their best to keep the story of her disappearance public. One of them agreed to do an interview on that Jay is for Justice podcast,

which streams video and live commentary on YouTube. I appreciate you taking the time to talk to us tonight. I know that you're extremely busy trying to find Heidi, and that's what we're here to help you with. Thank you. It was December 19th, exactly one week after Heidi and Margo went missing. The purpose of the podcast that day was to find out a little bit more about Heidi. How long have you known Heidi? The interview went on for an uneventful 90 minutes. And then... Wait a second, you guys. We have breaking news.

All of a sudden in the chat, there was breaking news that there was a raid going on in Houston, Texas. New developments in the case of a missing Austin woman and her newborn baby. At first, I blew it off. I was like, this has nothing to do with what we're talking about. Northwest Harris County home swarmed by FBI and Austin police. J is for Justice subscribers are a big part of the podcast, providing running commentary.

I had 3,000 people in my chat room. They were very persistent. Why was everybody so persistent? They were seeing that it had to do with a missing person in Austin and that the Austin Police Department was at this raid in Houston. Oh, wow. It says it may be connected to a high profile case. In that moment, the podcast about Heidi took on a sudden urgency. As local news helicopters hovered over the house in Houston,

Jay asked her chatroom followers for help. I'm wondering right now, this home that they're at right now, I know that there's people in this chat that can find out who lives in this home. So if someone can look that up, I know I have tons of sleuths in here. Listeners quickly found the address and posted it. Heidi's friend Carly Laughlin was in the chat room and decided to do some sleuthing of her own. I started googling who the address belonged to. What did you find out? A baby registry popped up. You put in an address and a baby registry pops up? Yeah. Interesting. Carly jumped back into the podcast and typed her discovery into the live chat. Someone just said in the chat that there is a baby registry to the owners of that

house. Okay. Megan Humphrey and Christopher Green have the baby registry. Oh my God, that's Megan's house. Oh my God. Oh my God. Megan, 33 years old, had been friends with Heidi since they were teenagers. She told Heidi they had due dates just days apart, and they'd been happily talking about their pregnancies. She was the one who drove all the way from Houston to be at Heidi's side when Margo was born. And when Heidi went missing, she joined the circle of friends trying to find her. She was very actively involved in calling all of the friends and checking and seeing if we had heard anything.

Was she upset? Just as upset as the rest of us. Just devastated that she and Margo were missing. Megan also tried to comfort Heidi's parents. She called Heidi's parents. What did she say to them? Just how concerned she was and making sure they're okay. During one call, Heidi's mother expressed concern for Megan,

reminding her to take care of herself. And I told her, I said, are you eating? Are you taking care of your baby? Taking care of yourself? And she was like, no, I like, now I'm worried about Heidi. I said, Heidi would want you to feed your baby. Now, on the live podcast, Heidi's friend was trying to make sense

of the breaking news in Houston. That's Megan, her best friend, that met her at church camp with me. What? She would not be there. I'm saying Heidi would not be there. I saying heidi would not would not be there megan i've talked to megan every day all day wait a minute wait a minute this girl megan just had a baby yes how long ago luna she's 14 15 days old 16 days old her and heidi best, best friends. Oh, wow. And does Megan doesn't live in Houston, though, does she?

Yes. Oh, my God. What are you thinking in that moment as all this information is swirling around you? It didn't make sense. We were thinking, why was she at Megan's house? What was going on? Was she hiding out there? What was going on? You're thinking, though, that she could still be alive.

Yeah, because Megan was her friend. Then, suddenly, more alarming news from that raid in Houston. Oh! Wait a minute. I just got a text. Oh, my God. I'm over here freaking out, guys. Sorry. Oh, my God. I'm over here freaking out guys. Sorry. Oh my God. I don't even want to say this out loud. I can't. We'll mute everybody else and just tell us. Okay. I'm going to mute chat. I'm going to mute YouTube right now. News choppers at the scene broadcast pictures of a car parked right up against the back of Megan's house.

Strange. What was happening? Coming up. I felt like I was in a dream. The revelation that would stop everyone cold. My life was like crashing down in that moment. It completely crashed. When Dateline continues. Thursday, December 19th, 2019. As day turned to night, all eyes were focused on this home in northwest Houston. Police entered the house where Heidi Broussard's close friend Megan lived with her ex-boyfriend. They'd been tight-lipped about their investigation. Squad cars, ambulances, and a medical examiner's van were standing by. All of them would be needed.

Word of Heidi came first. It was the news no one wanted. The devoted friend and loving mother. Authorities say she was found stuffed into a duffel bag in the trunk of Megan Humphrey's car and that she was strangled. It's shocking. Yeah. And so unbelievable. First you break down because they're missing. And then you break down to find out that she was dead. But then when you find out the details, I start getting angry. My life was like crashing down in that moment. I mean, my life started crashing down the night Heidi went missing. But when they found her, it crashed.

It completely crashed. Yep. Yep. I felt like I was in a dream. This happens to other people. It doesn't happen to us. You never think that you're going to wake up one day and someone who is like your little sister be gone.

You just never expect to be a part of such a horrible story. Knowing Heidi's fate only made those watching these events unfold worry even more about Margo. Then, a flurry of activity. Not far from where Heidi was found, police formed a human shield in front of news cameras as a small bundle was carried to an ambulance.

It was Margo. Margo was alive and unharmed. Heidi's mother, Tammy, got a call from detectives about her granddaughter. What did they tell you? She said that she had Margo and Margo was safe. What's that moment like where you learn that Margo is okay? I was happy. I couldn't even think of something like this happening to my grandbaby and my daughter. Rebecca heard that good news from her sister.

That was a silver lining in that sobbing moment on the phone with her. She's like trying to stop me because I'm hysterical. And she's like, but Becca, Margo's alive. She's alive. It's a miracle that Margo was alive. Oh, my God, yeah. Well, because anybody who could be that dark and do what they did to Heidi, who knows what they're capable of. As for Megan, she was found in the house with Margo.

She was ultimately taken into custody and initially charged with kidnapping and tampering with a corpse. Megan was booked under her legal name, Faramuska. Some who knew her say they didn't even recognize her. When we saw those pictures, it just wasn't who I remembered. She looked different, but almost dark, like something's changed in her. Megan, who had been so close to Heidi,

had talked to her about her own pregnancy and joined the efforts to find her. In Megan's arrest warrant affidavit, police laid out the leads and evidence that they say led them to Megan's door. Among them, Megan told her ex-boyfriend that she'd given birth and he believed it was his baby, even though they'd been broken up

for several months. Megan told him she delivered the baby on December 12th near Houston. But according to police, her cell phone pinged near Heidi's apartment in Austin that day, the very day Heidi and Margo disappeared. Security camera video from one of Heidi's neighbors captured images that day of a woman believed to be Heidi carrying a baby to a car with another woman in it. They talked to a witness who told them she was 60 to 70 percent sure that the woman in the car was Megan. And the car was later seen driving away. And there was something else in the document about what investigators say Megan was doing before Margo was even born. So from looking at her internet searches, they found that from just a couple of weeks before Margo was born until they were investigating, that more than 162 times Megan Fiermuska had searched Heidi Broussard's name name which to me sounds like you're obsessed when they heard all

this heidi's friends were angry and quick to judge megan they said they felt deceived by the concern she expressed during the week heidi was missing i confided in her my feelings i had texted megan and i just said i'm sick over this like i physically sick. And she texted me back something similar. And everything she texted me was just, you know, wishing that things were different. And she really played this story and made me feel super betrayed. I mean, it disgusts me down to my core that it turned out this way because she really played it. It's crazy. Like, you're best friends. You took your best friend's baby and you don't do that. You don't do that. Megan Faramuska sat in the Travis County Jail. Five weeks after her arrest, the case against

her took a more serious turn. Megan was charged with capital murder in the death of Heidi Broussard. Megan has not spoken publicly, nor has she entered a plea. But in statements after her arrest, her lawyers warned against the rush to judgment until all the facts are in, and say they intend to defend Megan vigorously. They insist the account in the arrest warrant affidavit is, quote, nothing more than mere allegations, end quote. Megan vigorously. They insist the account in the arrest warrant affidavit is, quote, nothing more than mere allegations, end quote. Finally, they say, at this point, under the law,

she is presumed innocent. But if Megan did what she was charged with, the one question everyone had was, why? Coming up. For her to be there for the birth was very odd megan what was she doing there heidi trusted megan yep i trusted megan i don't think megan did this by herself you think there was another person yes Three days after Christmas, Heidi Broussard was laid to rest in her hometown of Lake Charles, Louisiana. The funeral, I'm sure, must have been extremely difficult. Yeah, it was. Someone said that they could hear baby Margo when it was silent in the funeral. They could hear her. The pastor even made a comment.

He said, let her cry. He said, it's a beautiful sound. None of us minded it. We didn't. We were glad that she was there. The story could have been worse. Still, it's such a painful story for Silas. The wail that he let out after he comprehended as much as he could

that his mama was never coming home, like, it's too much. And that replays over in my head. It's too much. Nobody should ever have to be a part of that. God, I thank you for Heidi. Soon after the funeral, back home in Austin, Silas, Margo, and their dad attended another memorial service. But now I see. The community was now supporting Shane, not whispering about him.

After Megan's arrest, no one, including authorities, believed Shane had anything to do with Heidi's disappearance or murder. It's going to take Shane months to recover just from what he was put through in this whole searching for Heidi. Support and time may bring some healing to Heidi's family. But it's also bringing more questions about the case. What would be justice for Heidi at this point in your mind? Everybody who was involved to be brought to justice,

because I don't think Megan did this by herself. You think there was another person? Yes, Heidi is very, very strong, especially when it comes to her kids. If her kids are in harm, forget about it. You've got an angry mama bear, and she'll do anything for her kids. So if she thought in that moment Margo was going to be harmed. She would have done anything and everything. To date,

authorities have not said if they're investigating a possible accomplice. In hindsight, Heidi's friends also had questions about something that happened in the hospital the day Margo was born. Megan was there as Margo was being introduced to Heidi's family, including the baby's grandfather, Ty. Rachel West had heard about what happened. I just heard that Ty was holding Margo, and Megan kind of came and took Margo out of his arms, and you're not going to fight over a newborn baby.

That's odd. Ty is Margo's grandfather. He's pops. So, no, you should never, ever take a baby out of a grandfather's arms for the first time. Tammy Broussard and her husband David got to the hospital after that incident. But Tammy says she was surprised and bothered that Megan was there. For her to be there for the birth was very odd. Megan? Yeah, I was thinking to myself, what was she doing there? And when I walked in and saw her, I thought it was very strange.

Police cited that scene in the arrest warrant affidavit. Also, according to the document, the FBI provided an assessment of something known as maternal desire. We asked the FBI's Christopher Combs about that. He would not discuss specifics of this case, but he was familiar with the term and told us he's aware of instances of women taking children from their mothers. We have seen in a number of occasions where a woman has either lost a child or has been unable to have a child, where that takes over their mind. It possesses their mind into trying to obtain a child. And that's either through stealing them in

hospitals. And we've seen that or by befriending women who have children. And if the arrest warrant affidavit is correct, and it was Megan who got Heidi and Margo into her car, Rachel says that's not surprising at all. If that was Megan in that video, how do you think she got Heidi out to the car with the baby? I think Megan was like, hey, I'm coming through town. I'm here. Surprise, I'm here. Come down.

Like, come see me real quick. I gotta go. That was something Heidi did sometimes, hang out in the car, listen to music. Oh, yeah. Heidi and I numerous times would just sit in the car, listen to music, and just talk. And it was some of my favorite moments with her. So you don't think it would have been that hard to get Heidi out to the car with the baby? No, especially it being Megan.

Heidi didn't think twice. Heidi trusted Megan. Yep. I trusted Megan. As for baby Margo, she remains safe with family. Go, Babo! And her family says she's advanced for her age, having learned to walk before turning one. They also say she's happy and doing great.

Life will, of course, be different, but she and Silas will be loved. Are you hopeful for the future for Silas and Margo? Yes. And as much as we can between Shane and Ty and me and David, we're just going to make sure that they have the childhood that they should have and what Heidi would have given them. And the family won't have to do it alone. Heidi's circle of friends has made a firm vow to help as well. I've known Silas since he was two. That's my boy. Oh, I love him more than life. I hate that he's in so much pain. I love Margo.

I'm going to be there. Those kids are my priority now. Will you and everyone else make sure that Heidi's memory is really kept alive for Silas and Margo? Oh, absolutely. It's a big part of my future. Those kids will know who she really was and how much she loved. I want them to remember her for her contagious laugh and her bright blue eyes. That was Heidi's life. It's what she did. Make somebody smile. She'd give compliments to strangers. She was that girl. So that's what people need to

remember. And that's what people need to bring into their everyday lives. We could all use a little bit of love, a little bit of Heidi. That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt. Thanks for joining us.