Couple Cut Baby Out of Missing Woman, Left Her for Dead: Cops

The case of a missing pregnant woman. found dead in the woods of Northern. Michigan with her baby nowhere to be. found has taken another sick and twisted. turn after the victim's sister and. fiance were arrested last week. Her. biological mother and stepfather are. behind bars [music] charged with torture. and murder. >> This is frankly. evil personified. The courtroom was. rocked as prosecutors [music] talked. about the couple allegedly cutting the. baby from Rebecca Park's womb leading to. [music] her death. We are digging into.

the latest details on the family's. criminal past and alleged plan to hurt. Rebecca. Welcome to Sidebar, [music]. presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. By the way, as you're watching this, okay, and if you're in the content. creation game, if you're putting things. up on social media, have you ever. wondered how we're able to share so many. clips from all these stories so quickly? Here's a secret. Opus Clip. Okay, this. is an all-in-one AI editor that makes it. so easy to cut, create, and upload. videos across any platform. Through AI, Opus Clip generates B-roll, it refframes.

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about the discovery of 22-year-old. Rebecca Park's body in a Michigan. national forest earlier this week, we. were all waiting for the other shoe to. drop, right? Who was behind the killing. of this young woman? She was due to give. birth at any time. Where was the baby? Were the arrests of her sister, her. fianceé? Were they connected to her. disappearance in any way, her death? Was. there something else at play? These were. the questions we were asking. But I'll. tell you what, right now we are getting. answers, potential answers, and they are. dark. They are disturbing. I wish they.

weren't true. These are allegations at. this point, but if true, it is a level. of twisted that it's hard to imagine. Okay, these moments leading up to. Rebecca's demise. And now the question. is, my gosh, how many of her own family. members are potentially involved here. And I want to be clear about what this. means and what it doesn't. So, according. to social media posts from family and. friends, Rebecca spent time in the. foster system growing up. And she was. eventually adopted by a woman named. Stephanie Park. She reportedly had very.

little contact with her biological. mother, a woman named Courtney Barthamu. That is until recently. You see, Rebecca. was last seen in the Boone Township and. Cadillac areas. These are rural parts of. the state about 200 miles northwest of. Detroit on November 3rd. And according. to Wexford County prosecutors, Courtney. and her husband Brad Barthamu, so her. stepdad allegedly lured Rebecca to their. home and the events that investigators. say followed are the reason they are now. facing a laundry list of felony charges.

That's the update. According to the. Detroit Free Press, Courtney and Brad. each face charges of firstdegree. premeditated murder, felony murder, torture in a place of confinement, conspiracy to commit torture, assault of. a pregnant woman with the intention to. cause miscarriage or still birth, conspiracy to commit that assault, unlawful imprisonment, and moving a dead. body. These are very specific charges. and they tell pieces of his story,

right? And I should also mention that. that last count, the moving the dead. body is a misdemeanor. Now, they could. face life in prison if they're convicted. here, according to Cadillac News. To. give you an idea about what we're. talking about, according to the Michigan. Department of Attorney General's press. release, it is alleged that this mother. and this stepfather lured Park to their. home and quote, allegedly tortured Park. in an attempt to remove the unborn. infant, resulting in the death of both. We're going to stop right there because.

as we get into the charges, the. outcomes, as we try to understand more. about what may have happened to Rebecca. in the last few hours of her life, how. other family members could be connected. to all of this, I want to welcome on. criminal defense attorney and former. prosecutor Safa Robinson Ferrer. Safa, it's really good to see you. Thanks for. taking the time. This is a huge. development. This is a big development. The the week has changed. Okay, a lot. has changed. >> What do you take away from those. charges? the very specific charges that.

they're facing about what may have. happened to Rebecca Park. >> The charges that these individuals face. are very gruesome in nature. And I think. what we've come to find out, at least. thus far without the discovery process. proceeding as of yet, is that these. individuals are are alleged to have. plotted and schemed in order to lure. this woman to their home for the. purposes of removing that child from her. body. And so very gruesome, very. disheartening, and ultimately those. actions led to the death of that woman.

and that child. And so there are a lot. of moving parts to this case. specifically because you have this. woman's mother, biological mother, and. stepfather, which which is an odd. faction in and of itself to do that to. your child despite whether or not she's. was put into foster care system or not. But that and then there are other family. members that also have may have some. involvement particularly her sister and. so very sad case very difficult case and. the facts here are pretty gruesome you.

know to have to put forward you know to. the grand jury and to prosecute and all. of those sorts of things. So it's going. to be interesting to see what the. outcomes ultimately are here. >> But essentially she was killed while. pregnant. She was killed while pregnant. right and this is something that we. suspected because there wasn't a lot of. information about her body being found. um you know the details of the body and. when that happens you wonder what that. scene might have looked like for a woman. who was almost 40 weeks pregnant. I do. think it's interesting they're charging. them with felony and first-degree. murder, right? Why do both? >> So one of the things that the.

prosecution is going to always do is. they're going to overcharge it and. they're going to throw essentially the. kitchen sink at these defendants with. respect to their alleged conduct. Not. only based on the information that we. have, not only did they bring her to. this location or have her come to this. location, my guess and as the facts sort. of roll out throughout this prosecution. are going to be in my opinion that they. had her there and that they probably. tried to remove the fetus while she was. alive, while she was awake. And that's. where that torture aspect comes from.

So, they're going to charge these. individuals with the murder certainly. because she's unfortunately no longer. here. the torture aspect as well because. to do this or to try to extricate this. unborn child while this woman is alive. much less you know and ultimately. causing the death of that child as well. and the other elements or the other. offenses that they're ultimately going. to be charged with. So the prosecution. is always going to put forth as much as. they can especially a case of this. nature where you have the murder of a. woman and an unborn child. It's very sad.

something that the government's going to. want to send a message on. And to be. clear, when they're saying premeditated. murder, right, when they're saying. conspiracy to commit torture, conspiracy. to commit this assault, uh the intention. to cause miscarriage or still birth, how. are they going to prove that? How are. they going to prove there was this. criminal agreement, this criminal. understanding to do this, this plan, this intent? Are there text messages? Is. it just the state of the body that. Rebecca was in? And by the way, we don't.

have more details about where the baby. is. They're saying the baby's dead. We. don't know more about the remains, but. how are they going to prove what is the. intent here? What was the planning here? What was the agreement? >> Absolutely. So, with a conspiracy. charge, you have to have two or more. individuals that conspired to ultimately. commit an act. So, there's going to be. some sort of evidence or at least has. been some sort of evidence that would. establish that Mr. and Mrs. Bartholomew. ultimately created this plan. Did they. create this plan with more individuals? And you may see that via text message or.

text messages amongst themselves or. maybe some sort of social media diary or. note diary. There's something there that. the government has that's going to show. that they had a pretextual plan to get. this woman there. Not only that, but the. fact that this young woman actually came. to the home, that's going to satisfy yet. another element or portion of this where. she was ultimately lured to that. location. And while at that location, there's evidence that they in fact did. torture her and that resulted in her.

death. So again, my guess is going to be. that they tried to remove this unborn. child from her body for whatever purpose. or motive they had to even do that, which is sickening in and of itself, and. ultimately caused the death of this. woman. And then I think there's. information of that her body was removed. from that home and ultimately located in. another area. So now we're also talking. about concealment of a corpse, possible. evidence tampering, and I know that. there are some other family members that. are charged here. So it's going to be. interesting to see if they are charged. in connection with that evidence.

tampering or concealment or anything of. that nature or if if they were there. >> Yeah, I'm going to get to that as well. Um, and by the way, you know, going to. planning, do they have records of them. making purchases in anticipation of. this? So not just the messages, things. like that. You know, it it is. interesting. As disturbing as it is from. a legal point of view, you wonder how. the prosecution is going to build this. case and what they believe happened. here. Um it's just difficult to fathom. what this woman went through if these. allegations are true. Um so now I want.

to move a little bit further to this. So. the court explained that Brad is also. being charged as a habitual offender. So. apparently facing his fourth offense. This means he has at least three. completed or attempted felonies on his. record already. In fact, as the judge. considered bond for Brad during his. Tuesday arraignment, it took him more. than a full minute and a half to list. all of the defendants's prior. convictions and citations, which include. everything from forgery and driving. without a license to attempted larseny, receiving stolen property. This is.

obviously a very different set of crimes. that he's facing right now. The public. defender who's representing Brad, who. appeared virtually, said that he'd. represented the defendant before, that. he'd always complied with his bond. conditions. The attorney also emphasized. that Brad had never faced accusations as. brutal as these in this case. Now, Sappa, how does the court weigh that? Right? On one hand, you look at the. prior record, all of this. Then you hear. the attorney say, "Well, wait a minute. He's never been charged with something. like this before. He's innocent until. proven guilty. He's always complied in. the past. Should he be granted pre-trial. release?" How does a judge weigh those.

two things? >> And the judge is going to weigh a couple. of things. They're going to weigh. whether or not this individual is a. threat to the community, so the wellness. and the safety of the community. And if. this individual were to go back out into. the community, would they reaffend? Would community members be in danger? But more importantly, bail, the. particular purpose of bail is to ensure. a defendant's return to court. Does this. individual have any prior failures to. appear? If this person has come to. court, regardless of any prior charges. that they've had, if this person has. come to court, and there's no reason to.

think that they are risk of flight, then. the judge is going to be more open to. giving that individual some sort of. lower bail or ultimately relays on their. recgnissance. Now, that wasn't the case. for this individual here. Based on this. person's criminal history and again, the. resuscitation of his history ultimately. caused the judge to keep this individual. in custody on a bail. Not only that, but. because of this individual's criminal. history, there is a good chance that. this individual would possibly receive.

an elevated sentence based on his prior. criminal history. Because he has such a. significant history because he's at. least a predicate or a persistent. offender, possible violent offender. based on whatever is in his history. That could certainly elevate the. sentencing guidelines that he would. ultimately face if convicted at a trial. >> And let me just highlight something. else. The brutality. The brutality was. laid bare by the prosecutor here, Johanna Kerry. Take a look. >> In this case, we have two individuals. that created a plan. They conducted.

research. They brought Rebecca Park to. their home. They forced her into a. vehicle and took her into the woods. where they stabbed her, forced her to. lie on the ground while they cut her. baby out of her, ultimately causing her. death and the death of the baby. This is. as heinous and as awful a case as it. could be and I don't believe there are. any circumstances in which Mr. Bartholomew should be granted any bond. >> By the way, I should say this too. So. details about what allegedly happened to. Rebecca that hadn't been made public.

prior to this point and you could see. the loved ones in the gallery reacting. to this horrifying news. And while the. prosecutor said that Rebecca's baby was. dead, there were no other details that. were provided about where the baby's. remains might be. I keep emphasizing. that, but it's an important note to. make. Now, Judge Cory Wiggins denied. bond for Brad, explained that he and. Courtney are going to be next in court. for a probable cause hearing, but it was. Courtney's turn. Okay. The same public. defender tried again to offer up. mitigating circumstances for why his. client should be granted pre-trial.

release. Take a look. >> She does have friends and family support. structure in the area. She also has a. variety of disabilities that I won't go. into too much detail just for respect of. her. Um, but she does have upcoming. medical appointments, MRIs, CAT scans, things of that nature, just so the court. is aware. >> Once again though, the judge ruled the. danger of Courtney trying to flee. outweighed everything else and she was. denied bail. Now, in a press release, the prosecutor said, "This case involves. a truly horrific homicide in which a.

young woman and her unborn child endured. unimaginable suffering at the hands of. the defendants. The brutality and. disregard for human life displayed here. are deeply troubling. While these remain. allegations until proven in court, the. evidence reflects an extraordinary level. of callousness and violence. We look. forward to presenting the full facts in. court." Now, let me go to this. When. Rebecca was reported missing, according. to 9 and 10 News, Courtney Boththamu. claimed that she'd been running errands. with her earlier in the day and then. allegedly saw her get into a black.

vehicle with an unknown driver. Rebecca's cell phone was later found. along the dirt road where Courtney's. home is. Once the sheriff's office knew. she was missing, they started doing. searches, searches on foot. They brought. in K-9 teams, a drone. This is all. according to News Outlet Michigan Live. There were also apparently volunteer. search groups not affiliated with law. enforcement that were out searching for. Rebecca. And 9 and 10 News reports that. it was Rebecca's father who found her. body in Manaste National Forest on. November 25th. And at first, law. enforcement would only say the body.

resembled Rebecca later confirmed it was. her after an autopsy. Now, Sappa, again, it goes to the idea of this brutal crime. scene, why they might not have wanted to. share details, but this is a pretty. quick investigation and quick arrest. >> Absolutely. And I think ultimately what. what information was gleaned from the. investigation pretty much narrowed law. enforcement in on these individuals, the. Bartholomew being the perpetrators of. this alleged crime. And I think that.

that was pretty easy for them to put. together once they had enough. information. And again, we've got that. cell phone that was recovered. What. information came off of that cell phone. that would have provided them some. additional information. We have the. statements from Courtney Bartholomew. that indicated that they had been. together earlier that day and law. enforcement's discussion with her. So. based on that discussion, you know what. was credible that she said, what was not. credible based on what she said. Again, we have these continuous searches and. search parties. We also know that there.

was a search warrant that was executed. on another property. So, we also don't. know specifically yet, but my guess is. going to be that whatever may have been. recovered at that property was also. evidence that showed or furthered the. investigation pointing to the. Bartholomew as the perpetrator and any. other family member that may have also. been arrested as a result of that, particularly her sister. >> Let me talk about that for a second. So, just hours after the searchers found. Rebecca's body, authorities announced. two arrests. This was Park's 43-year-old.

fiance, Richard Lee Fowler, and her. sister, Kimberly Park. They were in. custody. They were arraigned on December. 2nd. Now, the live stream of that. hearing was cut off by the judge who. said he wanted to protect the rights of. the defendants to a fair trial. But. Fowler was reigned on two counts of. delivery, manufacturer of a controlled. substance, and for being a habitual. offender. His bond was set at $1. million. Kimberly was arraigned on. charges of tampering with evidence, lying to police, and a false report of a. felony. Her bond was set at $750,000, still a high amount. The Detroit Free.

Press got their hands on a felony. complaint that was filed in Cadillac. District Court, which claims that. Kimberly lied to authorities, telling. them Courtney and Brad hit Rebecca in. the head, which allegedly caused a. seizure before they took her body away. Safa, what do you make of this? What do. you make of the apparent connection here. between with this fiance and sister? So, with respect to the fiance, it's going. to be interesting here because what he's. been charged with isn't necessarily. anything that's specifically related to. the crime or the murder of this young.

woman. So, with respect to the sister. here, you know, she's got a number of. charges that include tampering with. evidence, lying to law enforcement, and. things of that nature and filing a false. report. So, it's going to be interesting. to see what the actual role was and to. what extent was she involved. She. notably here, she's not charged with. conspiracy like the other two, like the. Bartholomew. So she does give testimony. or evidence or you know her statement to. law enforcement that indicates that her. sister was struck by Miss Bartholomew. Whether or not that's true, that could. be something that based on the evidence.

and how the body was located could be. materially false. So that could be the. basis for that filing a false statement. That's very possible. Here we've also. got that tampering charge where again if. she was at that scene and ultimately. helped to dispose of the body or dispose. of any piece of evidence that is where. that charge would essentially come from. But there she's got a charge there for. lying to law enforcement and filing a. false report. So there's something about. that conversation that ultimately led. law enforcement to believe that she was.

being untruthful. Whether or not that's. to benefit her own self or to benefit. the Bartholomew is going to be a. question at this point. Whenever I see. this, it does make me wonder, you know, who's involved, who has information, and. are they going to plead guilty and take. some sort of deal to testify against the. others, but I think it might be. difficult at this point to know if if. prosecutors would accept that and who. has information about who and what a. deal might even look like. >> Absolutely. And I think I think we can. pretty much bet that the sister is going. to ultimately probably testify against.

the Bartholomew. um we can pretty much. expect that whether she's going to. receive a significant benefit is going. to remain a question, but it's oftent. times in the prosecution's best interest. for the strength of their case to begin. flipping individuals or defendants. against one another. And I think that. the sister is going to be the easiest. person to flip against the Bartholomew. also whether or not Courtney Bartholomew. was going to flip against her husband or. vice versa in terms of pointing the. finger at one another for who actually.

was the one that committed the act that. resulted in her death or the petting or. the individual acts that resulted in her. death. There's also going to be a. question of if one of them can argue. they were under duress or they were. being threatened or coerced to. participate in this type of event. And. so all of those things are going to. factor in as this case continues to. progre progress and you start to see. defenses on the defendants's behalf. >> And let me also mention something else. There's another disturbing revelation. So we now know that both Richard Lee. Fowler and Brad Bartholomew are.

convicted sex offenders. In fact, Michigan court records show that in. 2023, Brad was arrested for failing to. register and report in with law. enforcement. He was sentenced in 2024 to. 100 days in jail. We were able to locate. both men on Michigan's sex offender. registry. And according to the site, Fowler has sex crime convictions dating. back to 2003 with at least one of them. being directly connected to children. And Bartholomew's convictions involve. possession of child sexual abuse. material, criminal sexual conduct. Sappa, real quick, is any of that going. to play into the case?

>> Generally speaking, it's not, but if the. prosecution can get it in, they will. So. oftent times prior criminal convictions. or prior bad acts are not allowed in a. case to show that the defendant acted. with propensity or in coordination with. those prior charges. So the court wants. to essentially prevent information. coming in that indicates well they were. a criminal before they did these things. before. They must have done what they. are alleged to have done in this. particular case and the court has to. make a fine line determination as to. what information may ultimately come in.

There are certain exceptions to that. rule, but generally speaking and overall. the sexual abuse or sexual assault. allegations that were previously there, there's no basis for them to come in. unless the prosecution makes an. application. And there's a very fine. line when those things can come in. And. it's usually to ultimately weave in the. narrative of what the prosecution's. theory is. And I don't think that that's. going to be the case here, especially. considering how long ago those. convictions were obtained. Now, Rebecca's story, by the way, I should. say this, has led to rampant speculation.

online about the family dynamics behind. the scenes. According to multiple social. media posts by true crime content. creators following the case, Fowler, Rebecca's apparent fiance, the father of. her child, had previously dated. Courtney, so Rebecca's biological mom. There has also been rumors on social. media that there was a burn barrel with. flames shooting up that was spotted on. the Barthamu property around the time. Rebecca went missing. Some have. speculated whether the baby's remains. may have been disposed of in that. barrel. To be clear though, authorities. have not confirmed this information. But.

you do wonder what could be the motive. for Courtney and Brad allegedly doing. this, right? Choosing to hurt Rebecca. Brad's sister, Stacy Davis, told the. Detroit Free Press that the couple. wanted a baby but couldn't conceive one. Now, you wonder, is that the. possibility? We don't know. I will tell. you as this case progresses, we were. probably going to get more information. Rebecca's adoptive mother, Stephanie. Park, spoke to 9 and 10 News saying, "We've been silent because we do care. We wanted her found. We did not want to. push anybody that would be involved in. this way so that she would be able to be. found. I never suspected her as running.

away with the baby. So, we've been. preparing ourselves for this outcome.". She had some mental illnesses and some. troubles. She was a loving person, but. she had her problems. She deserves to be. remembered as the sweet girl that she. was when she was younger. By the way, 9. and 10 News reports that Rebecca's two. other sons, ages three and a half and. two, they're in Stephanie's care, as is. Kimberly's one-year-old daughter. According to reporting from Cadillac. News, there are probable cause. conferences for both defendants that are. scheduled for December 9th. Preliminary. examinations scheduled for December. 16th. So, we'll keep an eye out for.

that. Safa Robinson Ferrer, thank you so. much for taking the time. Appreciate it. >> Thanks for having me. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcast. [music] You can follow. me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.