HOUSTON – When it comes to solving a murder, KPRC 2 legal analyst Brian Wice says more often than not law enforcement is attempting to beat a small window.
“Most homicides, if they are solved at all are solved within the first 48 hours,” Wice said.
However for now investigators are still trying to identify where was Heidi Broussard killed. Broussard and her newborn, Margot Carey, vanished from Austin on Dec. 12, sparking a wide search. A week later officials discovered Broussard’s strangled body in the trunk of a car parked at a home in northwest Harris County where her close friend Magen Fieramusca lived. Baby Margot was found alive at the home as well. She was reunited with her father, Shane, this week.
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“We don’t know anything other than the cause of death. We don’t know where it happened, we don’t know how it necessarily happened, other than the fact that this poor woman died from manual strangulation," Wice said.
Fieramusca is in the Travis County Jail, charged with tampering with a corpse and two counts of kidnapping in connection with the case. She faces a $600,000 bond.
An official with the Travis County District Attorney’s Office told KPRC 2 on Monday that no hearing has been set for Fieramusca yet.
Wice says a trial on the aforementioned charges may take place locally.
“In my estimation, she could be tried in Harris County for either or both crimes. Why? Because the court of criminal procedures says that in a kidnapping case, the defendant may be tried where the victim is abducted, where the victim was found, or any county in which the victim was taken,” Wice said.
Once murder charges are ultimately filed in the case, Wice says the county where the murder took place should be the venue for a murder trial.
However, important to note that no murder charges have been filed nearly six days after the discovery of Broussard’s body.
Wice says he expects a key development to emerge at some point.
“I will go out on a limb, and I will make a prediction that at some point, this citizen accused will likely say something that will lead to either cracking this case or to ultimately providing a statement,” Wice said.