MOTHER HEIDI BROUSSARD & BABY MISSING, AUSTIN TX

[HairOfTheDog]

Heidi Broussard, 33, and her two-week old daughter Margot Carey were last seen Thursday morning at Cowan Elementary School in Austin, where she'd dropped off her fiance's six-year-old son.

Police have said they believe Broussard returned home with Margot sometime before her fiancé, Shane Carey, reported them missing around 7.30pm that night.

Carey has issued multiple pleas for the pair's return in tearful TV interviews, however he is the subject of suspicion by a lot of case followers. (It's almost always the significant other when a mother and child go missing without a trace.) 

In a FOX7 interview published Sunday, Carey addressed facing scrutiny over Broussard's disappearance and insisted that he hadn't done anything wrong. 

'I try to ignore that, I don't know how to handle it. But I know it's a question. I just ignore it,' he said. 'I know it's not true. It's negative.'

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[HairOfTheDog]

Time Line

Shane Carey says he last saw Heidi at 6:40am Thursday when he left for work

She was captured on surveillance video at his son's school at 7:50am.

Shane says he talked to Heidi on the phone at 8:00am and was unable to reach her afterwards because her phone was turned off.

He claims he went home at 2:00pm and found Heidi's car there -- Heidi's purse and baby bag were inside, but her keys and cell phone were not there.

He told reporters that he walked around the apartment complex looking in dumpsters for her keys.  (That's really weird to me.)

He then picked up his son after the school called to report Heidi had failed to retrieve the boy.

Carey reported Heidi and Margot missing after 7pm.

[HairOfTheDog]

Hopefully, Heidi and Margot are alive and Shane Carey had nothing to do with whatever's happened to his fiance and their daughter.

Personally, I find that a long shot on both fronts.

Here's footage of Shane Carey being interviewed.



Ref:  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...ghter.html

[BigMark]

They need to do a search warrant on his phone.

[HairOfTheDog]

They need to do a search warrant on his phone.

For sure.

That's probably underway now as long as LE was able to justify the warrant being issued.

All of his computers and devices should be checked too.

Unfortunately, Heidi's cell phone is still missing.  I imagine LE is working to get her phone records and determine the last location where it pinged.

LE is being very tight-lipped about the case.

[sally]

I'm sure they confirmed he was at work so he would have had to have done something with her and the baby between the time he left work and the time he picked up his kid. Which probably gave him about an hour or so as elementary school is out around 2.

[sally]

Or of course he could have had someone else do something to them.

[sally]

Or he could have done it after he got the kid, but then what did he do with the 6 year old while doing it?

[HairOfTheDog]

Yeah, those are all definite possibilities Sal.

It's also possible that Carey did something to Heidi and Margot when he got home at 2pm, picked up his son shortly thereafter, and then got rid of the evidence while he made sure the boy was distracted.  Carey didn't file a missing persons report until hours after he would  have picked up his son.

Or, if Carey worked in the field rather than in a building, it's possible he never really went to work or that he left much earlier than he claims.

It's also possible that Shane Carey is telling the truth.  It just doesn't seem very likely (to me).

Unfortunately, we don't have much information from LE.  Almost everything the public has been told is coming from Shane Carey (with the exception of the video showing Heidi at the son's school at 7:50am).

[sally]

It does not seem likely to me either. If he got home to find her missing with her car there and not answering her phone while she is supposed to be picking up his kid, you would think he'd check with the schooll rather than waiting for them to contact him.

[HairOfTheDog]

It does not seem likely to me either. If he got home to find her missing with her car there and not answering her phone while she is supposed to be picking up his kid, you would think he'd check with the schooll rather than waiting for them to contact him.

I've been reading all the articles I can find to try to get more confirmed information, from sources other than Carey.

It strikes me as really weird in his interviews that he asks the public to look for an 'awesome mom', perhaps in a 'suspicious van', and says that he 'can't imagine why anyone would want to hurt or touch these two beautiful women together'. 

I don't know.  Maybe his wording is just very weird due to stress, but it seems more like story-building to me.

Anyway, unfortunately, most of the information available from sources other than Carey comes from Heidi's and her friends' Facebook postings.

[HairOfTheDog]

Here are a couple of those Facebook details:

1.  Carey told one of Heidi's friends that he got a call from the boy's school at 6pm the day mother and child went missing.  

In one of his first interviews, Carey said he got home from work at 2pm, then got a call from the school saying Heidi hadn't picked up their son yet, so he went and picked up the boy and then called police when they returned and Heidi and the baby were still not there.

In the interview, it seemed like he got the call shortly after he arrived home, but maybe their son was enrolled in an after school program? Heidi was a working mother (Cracker Barrel), though she was on maternity leave when she was reported missing.

Anyway, if 6pm is the accurate timing of the call from the school, Carey had 4 hours alone after he says he returned from work that day.  What did he figure Heidi could be doing with the baby for 4 hours without her purse or baby bag?

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[HairOfTheDog]

2.  Carey and Heidi have been a couple for many years and engaged since 2012.  

The six-year-old son is the biological child of Shane Carey and Heidi Broussard, as is missing newborn Margot Carey.  

Shane Carey also has an older daughter from a previous relationship.  

If this is correct, it makes it even less likely to me that Heidi would have taken off with the baby voluntarily and without her belongings.  The descriptions of her don't match with someone who would leave her own little boy behind.


Ref: https://heavy.com/news/2019/12/heidi-broussard-missing/

[Duchess]

I feel cynical and judgemental. I don't believe Shane and I think he killed his partner and newborn. I don't want to think so badly of someone who could be suffering but I don't think he is.

[HairOfTheDog]

It's understandable to be cynical and judgmental.  After all, so many times cases of missing women and/or children turn out to be murders at the hands of those closest to them.

I don't know if that's the case here, but it could well be.  

Shane Carey's demeanor and word choices seem to add to the standard suspicions surrounding the spouse / significant other.

[HairOfTheDog]

One thing we know -- this wasn't a robbery turned kidnapping.  Nothing of value was missing from the car or the house.  

And, it doesn't seem probable that Heidi pulled a runner (because she was abused, or because she was involved with someone else, or because she had post-partem depression, or something like that).  I don't think she would have left her son, her ID, the baby's bag and such behind if that were the case.

So, I think the most likely scenarios are (1) Heidi and the baby are missing at the hands of Heidi's fiance and the baby's father, or (2) Heidi was ambushed by someone who was familiar with her daily routine (or followed her from the school that day) because the perpetrator wanted a newborn no matter what it took.

[HairOfTheDog]

Update

Austin Police have given few details about the disappearance so far but are expected to provide updates on the investigation this afternoon. 

The FBI and Texas Rangers have joined the search efforts for the mother and daughter.

Investigators are trying to determine if Broussard left on her own or if the pair are victims of foul play. 

Detectives have been interviewing her family and friends and reviewing surveillance footage from the Austin apartment complex where Broussard lived. 


Full piece:  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...tion-small

[HairOfTheDog]

There was absolutely no new information provided at LE's press conference today. It was simply a re-iteration and reassurance that LE has been working the case diligently.

As of now, police say, they have no evidence that Broussard or the baby have been hurt, but they are not ruling out any possibility.

Snip:

According to Austin PD Detective Herries today:

"Our assumption is that they're alive and the sooner that we can find them, the better.  

So we have an on-going current investigation. And if you see either of them or have any information related to Margot or Heidi and their whereabouts or the circumstances surrounding their past five days, we ask that you contact the Austin Police Department.

I'm not ready to get into anyone that we have as a person of interest. To be perfectly honest with you, this case is unique and that we don't have a person of interest right now. 

We're exploring every avenue that we have and every possibility. To be perfectly honest, anything is possible at this point. We're working down every angle to try and exclude possibilities and narrow that down to locate Heidi and Margot." 

Story and press conference video:  https://www.knoe.com/content/news/FBI-no...84681.html

[HairOfTheDog]

Heidi Broussard found deceased -- Baby Margot found alive

Numerous law enforcement officials surrounded a home in Houston on Thursday, in connection with missing Austin mom Heidi Broussard and her infant daughter, Margot.

Investigators secured the area with crime scene tape and were specifically concentrating on a Nissan parked in the driveway. The car reportedly belongs to someone that Heidi knows.

At around 8:15 p.m., authorities entered the residence. Officials removed a body from the location after a medical examiner’s van arrived on Thursday night. 

Heidi’s mother Tammy Broussard  reportedly said that while a positive identification is still pending a completed medical examination, she has been informed that the deceased woman is likely her daughter.

Heidi’s infant daughter Margot Carey was also found in the home. Very fortunately, the newborn baby is in good condition according to her grandmother.

There are no other details released as of yet.  So, we don't know to whom the suspicious vehicle belongs, whether arrests were made at the residence, the motive, or anything of that sort.  Hopefully, LE will hold a press conference today.

Ref: https://www.crimeonline.com/2019/12/20/b...born-baby/

[HairOfTheDog]

Update

CBS Austin has confirmed with those close to the investigation that police have people in custody related to the case.

CBS Austin's Melanie Barden has confirmed through agencies participating in the search for Heidi that a car at the residence, a gray Nissan seen in aerial video, belongs to her friend who was interviewed as part of the search.

I know of three friends of Heidi's who were interviewed while Heidi and Margot were missing.

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