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JERSEY VILLAGE, Texas (KXAN/NBC News) — Heidi Broussard, an Austin mother who has been missing since Dec. 12, was found dead in the trunk of a car Friday near a home in Jersey Village, Texas. That’s near Houston. While Austin police would not confirm the identity of a suspect in the case, a woman who was a friend of Broussard’s was arrested on charges that match those of the suspect.

Broussard’s 3-week-old daughter, Margot Carey, was found alive in good condition, according to a report from NBC News. NBC News spoke with Tammy Broussard, Heidi’s mother, who told them those details.

On Friday afternoon, Harris Co. Institute of Forensic Sciences positively identified the body as that of Heidi Broussard. The cause of her death was also determined to be “ligature strangulation,” which is defined as a “type of strangulation that occurs with the use of mass that is not the body weight.” An example of this kind of death is being strangled by a rope.

In a briefing on Friday afternoon, Austin Police Department Chief Brian Manley explained that investigators are confident that the baby is Margot Carey but confirmation is still pending.

“Everyone [was] hoping for an outcome that appeared different than the one we had, and that was with a loss of life,” Manley said, after recognizing APD’s homicide division, missing persons division, special investigations unit, robbery unit, violent crimes task force and organized crime division; the Texas Department of Public Safety Rangers; the Travis County District Attorney’s Office; the FBI and its child abduction rapid deployment team; Texas Parks and Wildlife; Travis County Search and Rescue; and Child Protective Services.

The child is healthy and CPS is caring for her, according to APD. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said the girl is in a foster home and it is working with law enforcement to verify possible relatives.

APD would not name the person arrested in the case, but said that person is charged with two counts of kidnapping and one count of tampering with a corpse. Manley said additional charges may be filed as investigators uncover more evidence.

A car parked at the home on Bo Jack Drive where law enforcement have been since Thursday night is registered to Magen Rose Fieramusca, who is currently listed as being in custody at the Harris County Jail. Police records from Harris County say Fieramusca was arrested Friday by APD on two counts of kidnapping and tampering with evidence. That evidence was a human corpse, records say. She is being held on $600,000 bond.

She was arraigned on Friday morning on six different traffic citations.

According to court documents, the only criminal history Fieramusca has is a felony theft charge in Harris County in 2018, which was dismissed Nov. 5, 2019 because “probable cause exists, but case cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt at this time.”

Longtime friend of suspect and victim speaks out

Caressa Potter, longtime friend of both Broussard and Fieramusca, told KXAN reporter Steffi Lee that she had been in contact with Fieramusca every day since Broussard has been missing. Potter said they talked multiple times a day, and during those calls, Potter said she could hear a baby in the background.

Potter said Fieramusca told her friends and family she also recently gave birth to a baby named Luna Mae, but wouldn’t show any pictures of her.

KXAN has found baby registries under the name Maygen Humphrey with Amazon and Target. Descriptions for both indicate a location as Houston and a due date as Dec. 1, 2019

“Her story wasn’t too far fetched,” Potter said. “She did her research, I feel like — I feel like she really did plan this. She thought about this.”

Potter said Fieramusca used to go by the name Maygen Humphrey, but doesn’t know when she changed her name. She said the three met each other at church camp when they were pre-teens. Potter described Broussard and Fieramusca as “best friends.”

After the story broke, Potter said she was talking to Fieramusca and another friend, and all of a sudden, Fieramusca abruptly said, “I gotta go! I gotta go!” She then hung up and Potter hasn’t heard from her since.

Harris Co. Neighbors and Austin community react

Neighbors on Bo Jack Drive say it’s a quiet neighborhood, and every person KXAN’s Candy Rodriguez talked to was shocked something like this could happen in the area.

“When we found out the Texas Rangers were involved, it got a little more important to us,” Darryl Ehlert said. He has lived in the neighborhood for 35 years.

“I didn’t know what to think,” he said.

Ehlert said APD asked for surveillance footage from his doorbell camera, and specifically law enforcement wanted to know if a black SUV drove by Thursday night. Ehlert said his footage didn’t show one.

Darla Bundick also lives in the neighborhood, and when she talked to Rodriguez, she got emotional.

“This is very upsetting,” Bundick said. “And that poor baby, she’s not going to have her mom. I just can’t believe it.”

She added, “Perfectly nice people even though they stayed to themselves. How would you even… think something like this?”

Bundick said she knew about Broussard and Carey because their story made national headlines. “I’ve been watching. I’ve been following her story. How they’ve been missing and thought what in the world could’ve happened to them.”

KXAN’s Yoojin Cho reached out to families whose children play baseball with Broussard’s 6-year-old son.

They said they’re grieving this terrible loss.

Some families are working on collecting Christmas gifts, gift cards and baby items to give to Heidi’s family. They told KXAN Broussard’s son was a great player, and his mom was proud of every hit, every base run.

KXAN has a crew at the scene in Jersey Village and will continue to provide information from law enforcement as it becomes available.