Desperate Search for Baby After Pregnant Mom Found Dead

The case of a missing woman due to give. birth to a baby boy any day has taken a. tragic turn after her body was. discovered in the woods of northern. Michigan, but the baby was nowhere to be. found and the shocking developments. continued as some of her own family. members were taken into custody. It is a. story that has gripped true crime. sleuths across social media, but what. are the facts and what is speculation? We are getting to the bottom of it all. right now. Welcome to Sidebar presented. by Law Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

Look, as we're covering this, I will. tell you staying on top of the news is. so important, but with all the media. bias these days, who knows what to. believe? That is why I want to introduce. you to our sponsor Straight Arrow News. Straight Arrow News is a personalized. news platform that gives readers. fact-based journalism to inform and. build trust. It's media miss tool shows. readers headlines that are not seen in. mainstream outlets providing useful. commentary that cuts through all that. sensational spin. Their site and app.

also points out all the bias with their. media landscape tool to group sources by. political leaning for full transparency. So, if you're ready for a better way to. get the news, go to san.com/sidebar. or just click the link in my. description. This is Straight Arrow. News. Skip the drama. Get the facts. Welcome back to trustworthy journalism. When Rebecca Park was reported missing. on November 4th, her family says she was. 38 or 39 weeks pregnant and she could go. into labor anytime. As the weeks went by with no word from.

her without her showing up in any local. hospitals with a baby or to give birth, rumors started swirling about what might. have happened to her. 22-year-old. Rebecca was last seen on November 3rd at. her mother's home in Boon Township. This. is according to Wexford County. investigators. She apparently got into. the passenger side of a car outside the. home and once the sheriff's office knew. she was missing, they started doing. searches on foot, also with canine. teams, a drone. This is according to. news outlet Michigan Live. There was. also apparently volunteer search groups. that were not affiliated with law.

enforcement. They were out searching for. Rebecca. And on November 12th, so this. is 8 days after Rebecca was reported. missing, police issued a public announcement for. her to contact them hoping that maybe. she was scared and hiding out. The. sheriff's message assured Rebecca that. she wasn't in any kind of trouble. This. was according to Michigan Live. But there was still no sign of the. mom-to-be. Rebecca's phone was found on. a dirt road near her mom's house where. she was last seen. And police also said.

she might have had $2,000 cash on her as. part of an inheritance from a recently. deceased family member. And Michigan. Live reports that law enforcement had to. push back on all of these rumors and. speculation that was rampant online with. people both local to the rural area and. outsiders making these connections or. theories that really had no basis in. fact. They were instead based on small. town gossip. In fact, the sheriff. indicated, according to Michigan Live, that all of that misinformation was. hampering the search for Rebecca. Then.

you go to Tuesday, November 25th. This. is after being missing for weeks, the. sheriff announced that a female body. resembling Rebecca was found in the. Manistee National Forest. Authorities. wouldn't confirm her identity until. after an autopsy was performed. According to Michigan Live's reporting, the area where she had been found had. already been searched at least once. The. sheriff wouldn't comment on whether her. body may have been moved and it's our. understanding from the sheriff, he says. it was citizens who found the body, not.

law enforcement. In fact, when it came. to questions from reporters during that. news conference, Sheriff Trent Taylor, as well as the Michigan State Police, didn't really have much to say. We can't. answer that. >> Yeah, no no comment on that. Uh I don't have any comment on that at. this time. And both are details again. that we can't comment on at at this. time, but. hoping hoping in the future that we can. comment on that. Officials would later confirm that that. body was in fact Rebecca.

But there's a caveat. Her baby was not. with her when she was found and a search. for the infant was underway. Now, details about how the baby may have been. taken, they were not provided and by the. way, neither was Rebecca's cause of. death. That has not been released. Wexford County Sheriff Taylor said, quote, "The Wexford County Sheriff's. Office, along with multiple law. enforcement agencies, is working. diligently to determine the condition. and potential whereabouts of the baby. Because this is an active and ongoing.

investigation, the information that can. be released is extremely limited at this. time." Now, all of this is going on, we have an. unexpected twist. The very next day after Rebecca's body. was found in the woods, two of Rebecca's. loved ones were arrested and arraigned. in court. Rebecca's fiance, Richard. Fowler, and her sister, Kimberly Park. Now, to be clear, we cannot confirm if the charges that.

they currently face are actually related. to Rebecca's death, okay? Richard Fowler. was arraigned on two counts of delivery, manufacture of a controlled substance, and for being a habitual offender. Fowler, who's 43, is also a registered. sex offender and his bond was set at a. very high number. We're talking $1. million. Prosecutors say he's a flight. risk. Now, Kimberly Park was arraigned. on charges of tampering with evidence, lying to police, and a false report of a. felony. Again, it's unclear if that is.

in connection with Rebecca's case or. something else. Her bond was set at. $750,000, quite high as well. Now, at last check, both are still behind bars. If they do. make bail, they're going to be required. to wear GPS monitors. But we got to talk. about what this all means. Okay. So, to. help us break down the significance of. these arrests, what's maybe going on. behind the scenes in this investigation, why certain details are not being. revealed, what may be happened to this. baby, I want to bring on retired NYPD.

detective Dave Sarny. Dave, thank you so. much for taking the time. It's good to. see you. Um I I want to start with these. arrests because. authorities haven't confirmed whether or. not these charges are connected to the. death investigation. It would be. maybe a coincidence if they weren't. What are your initial impressions? Well, thanks for having me, but this. this this investigation has grown really. big. And I think what what happened is. when you look at the disappearance in. the first the last person that you see.

or states that you saw her last was the. mom. And her story. about the dark van coming in, she just. she just got in his car and left. I don't know whatever information that. she gave to the investigators at the. time, but you work off of that story. And the phone being recovered uh nearby. the house and family that seems to be it. seems to be a lot of. speculation now and that's one thing. about these cases. You don't want to. give everything out to the public. because what happens is paints the.

investigation. You know, the court of. public opinion is one thing, but the. courts when you want to put this case to. trial. And right now you have a missing. that is now turned up dead. There's a. baby that she was supposed to have given. birth to a a boy is not there. So, you have to kind of backtrack to. where the body's located and to the. parent to the mom. Speak to the mom and. you speak to her several times and then. try to talk and you talk they've spoken. obviously to the boyfriend. They've. spoken to the daughter and those stories. are either not jibing up according to.

what the investigation is going cuz now. you have. the the boyfriend being locked up on. unrelated charges right now. He's. dealing with the meth charges and this. is one part of it. This the daughter now. tampering with evidence, lying to the. police and you have the parents now. arrested. So, this is really getting. it's going to some really dark territory. when you think of how how families are. I mean, this is you know, you report a. missing, but you know, reality is I. don't think she was ever missing in the. first. Yeah, I I want to get to the to the that.

later development in a minute, but. focusing on this fiance and the. the sister, it is unusual, to say the. least. Um you mentioned a lack of. details being. uh released to the public. Why not. release the cause of death at this. point? Is it because how could that. jeopardize the investigation? And and. you have to wonder whether or not the. cause of death is somehow related. to the baby, right? And you know, where. is that baby? Was the. did she die under circumstances where.

that baby was extracted or removed? I. mean, that's where my thoughts went. Um. but I wonder what's the reason to not. release the cause of death. Well, it depending on how how the the. state of the condition of the body that. they located, uh you know, it was. outside. You don't know what postmortem. artifacts took place. Is there you know, that is the body been tampered body been. tampered with on one end, but we're. talking about natural environmental. issues, cold, rain, animals, uh. natural decomposition. So, they may not.

have an absolute cause cause of death or. manner of death right now. So, they just. have a right now they know the body's. deceased. It's now no longer a missing. person's case. It's a death. investigation. Investigate the way and. they may not have the answers right now. with this case and that's that's. understandable because it takes time. Because just because you have a body. doesn't necessarily you know what. happened to the body. So, that autopsy. is taking place. And even if they do. know the the cause of death, you. wouldn't have released it out to the. public anyway because are there other.

people involved in in her death other. than the people that now, which is the. family and the boyfriend? Are there. others involved in this? So, you know, [Music]. later arrest the fact that she's no. longer missing and that's good for the. investigation on that end. So, let the. investigation, you know, run its course. and I always tell people when it comes. to these things, you don't want the. public to know everything. If they do, then you have all of these, you know, these internet sleuths, you have all. these situations come up and if things. go the wrong track, then now that becomes a.

a core a problem in in a trial because. you said we had A, but now you're saying. it's B. Why did that happen? And we. don't want to And you know, these. investigations, you know, you want to do. them right, and you want to make sure. everything is done the proper way, and. you can't tell every everyone in in the. public what you're doing because if you. do, you know, it it's it taints the. investigation and further investigations. in the cases like. Dave, I have to ask you a question I. don't want to ask, but I have to. Um in. your experience, do you think this baby. is alive? Right? Because putting aside.

the circumstances with which this baby. was born, you need resources to care for a baby. Um and at the same token, if you think. the worst and you think something. happened to this baby and someone. disposed of this baby, there might be evidence of that, and it. might be difficult, right, to hide. evidence of what happened to this baby. What are you thinking about here? Well, I I I really think it depends on. the condition of uh of of the decedent. Um when they say the body there she they. found the body with no baby in it, it.

depends on the state of the body. Uh was. that Was that baby birth outside? And. this is the one thing we we know. apparently she was very close to term. Um. and she disappears around that time. That's a little scary. Uh given the fact what may have happened. and you you, you know, you do a a. boyfriend who's 46 years old who's a a. who's a user of drugs, meth, you know, crystal meth and the like, uh being. arrested for that. Uh do I believe, and.

this is speculation again, has that baby. been already trafficked out? Uh that's something you have to you have. to consider, and that's why you. >> When you say that, what do you mean. exactly? I think so and pick I think they had her. birth. I think somebody would they they. made an agreement. This is again. speculation, and this is something you. another angle you look at. Was this baby. given to another family or given to. somebody at at a reason as payment, whatever it is? Because it it depends on. the condition of the body, and that's. why the ME, medical examiner, coroner is.

going to look and see if if this baby. was birth. She was close to term. She leaves the day she apparently like. about a day or so after or before during. that time when she's dilating, she. disappears. Uh she had $2,000 on her. apparently. She leaves the scene around. that time, and she's gone, and then they. make the report because the family knew. where she was. The family knew what. happened. Was this an agreement? Again, speculation is always it's innocent. until proven guilty. Was there an. agreement to have this baby given or.

sold to somebody? And that's why the. condition of the body is important to. find that out. >> So so why not release more information. about that to the public so the public's. at least aware about what might have. happened? Because let me just tell you. something that was interesting. The. sheriff said during. a press conference that it was citizens. who actually found her body. Uh it was. not. uh law enforcement. It makes you wonder. why were they. researching that particular area that. had already been searched, but you think.

about this community, think about people. who might know them. Um. Again, I I don't know why not release. more information. I because this this is these are angles. you look at. We they don't know. Right. now you have a a a 22-year-old female. who is deceased found in found in the. woods. with apparently supposed to be pregnant. with no baby. And you don't want to throw those angles. out there, and I that's why it's all. speculation. Could the baby have been. born deceased? Could there be something.

else that has happened to this baby? That's why the investigation is going. that way. If you put things out into the. into the ether into into the internet. world into into the media, then we don't. want the media to change anything. because now you going to you don't want. to stick to one story because right now. as investigators go on as an. investigation, and I've done these, you. have to be unbiased. You're taking the. facts as you have them. These are things you'll maybe maybe. questions they'll bring out to. themselves, but it's not solid. So you. don't want to put it out there. And. that's why they're not saying anything.

As a speculation, if that's why the body. if that body, and she was close to term, if that body shows from the ME that she. gave birth to that baby, where did she. give birth to that baby? You know, what. And that's why all the the social media, anything that these individuals had. contact, which means their cell phone. records, cell sites, all these things. are being looked at to to see if there. was some sort of, you know, darker side. to just her missing and the baby. missing. Was there maybe a plan in place. to have this happen? And you know, the.

boyfriend's 46 years 20 almost a quarter. century older than this this girl. And the mom and the the the dad, you. know, this is something that's really. the daughter's involved. You know, you you don't think the worst, but that's why you let the the facts. lead you. The totality of circumstances. will lead you to what happened. Will. they find the baby? And the thing is if. the baby was born to term, that's why the ME and the coroners are. doing the their due diligence to make.

sure that's what happened or not. Yeah. Well, I will tell you this in another. maybe unexpected move, the judge in this. case decided during a live stream of the. arraignments that there would be no more. live streaming. Will please state your. name for the record? Kimberly Park. All right. Uh ladies and gentlemen, um both here in. the courtroom, to the media, and those. on live stream, the court has an ethical. duty to make sure that the defendants in.

these cases are able to obtain a fair. trial. The court is well aware of the. publicity that this case has received. across the country and perhaps around. the world. So in order to protect the. defendants' interests in this case, the. court is going to take the uh courtroom. off of live stream, and we will only deal with what is here. in the courtroom. I'm also ordering that. any um media present not live stream the. proceedings. The court has no way to. protect.

that anything that is being live. streamed is not out there for. perpetuity. So for those reasons, I'm. not authorizing you to live stream. You. can record and cut and paste and put a. story together, but I am not authorizing. a live stream. Well, disappointing to. members of the public who want to find. out the latest on the case, the court is. protecting itself, the defendants from. problems down the road. I can understand. that. Um I'm one who always wants more. transparency in terms of particular if. you need the public's help for more. information in an ongoing investigation, but also I think it's good for the.

public to understand our justice system. and how it works. Your thoughts on. something like this? Yeah, that's why I always try when I I I. teach at John Jay College, and I. currently work with my kids or walk my. kids through the. trial processes. This is an arraignment. This arraignment is going to where the. person the people involved get notified. of the charges against them. And the. judge is using his discretion, rightfully so, so this case doesn't get. overturned or there's appeal based on. what he does during this during the. arraignment process or during the entire.

trial process. So you do everything. according to plan, you do it the right. way. I. We have to understand the 10 one of the. 10 major tenets of the criminal justice. system in America is you are innocent. until proven guilty in a court of law. They've been arrested based on probable. cause. They are being They're being. notified of the official charges against. them. The bail has been set for both the. uh sister and the boyfriend. The the. parents have been arrested. They haven't. released that those charges yet. They. No, that'll happen at arraignment. regardless. They may release it by media.

or not. It may just come at arraignment, but it's to keep the trial. done the right way. We don't want to see. cases turned on appeal based on things. that we could have controlled at the. time, and I think the judge is doing the. right thing. Regardless of what the. public wants, this is the criminal. justice system in America, and you want. to make sure everybody has a right to. due process, a right to fair trial. Now, when it comes to Kimberly, let's. talk about this. She apparently had an. active presence on social media when it. came to the search for Rebecca. Okay, so.

on November 13th, Kimberly apparently. tagged her sister in a post saying, "Sissy, please come home. I miss you. I. need you. Sis, you're driving me stir. crazy." And then there were 15 crying. emojis. Nearly 2 weeks later, when it was. believed that Rebecca was the woman. whose body had been found, Kimberly. posted, "My was found. I'm. breaking so bad. I'm sorry, sis. I'm. sorry that I failed you. I love you, sis." Now, Dave, what do you make of. these social media statements? Because. again, we don't really know exactly.

what this sister was arrested for in. connection with anything. Um. but to make a public plea like this, um. to make public statements like this, thoughts? Uh. again, this is what you take into to. account, what her uh emojis are, the. time. And they're going to look in the. social media, what times they're posted. and all the like. Uh could this be a. setup? Possible. We you know, you want. to look at everything, every angle with. this. Um. you know, she's been arrested nothing to. deal with the death of her of her.

sister, just filing a false police. report, uh tampering with evidence, um lying to the police, which, you know, those things come into play. So and we. don't know as to what the lies were, what the false report was, and we don't. know what the physical evidence is. So. is it a fact Now, these are things Could. she have remorse? Could she actually be. feeling these things? We don't know, and. that's why. they've been she's been arrested for. those felony charges, and that's one. thing. They're felonies in Michigan. In. New York City, um in New New York State for the most.

part, they're misdemeanors, and they'd. be right out anyway. So they also believe she's a a threat to. leave, so they've raised a put a high. bail on her. I mean, that's something. that tells you that there's more to this. story than what the the media and the. public know. And that's why you're. getting that. And that's why the. prosecutor and the police are working. together in conjunction to make sure. that the people that are involved, speculating now because we only they're. not even charged with anything. toward the disappearance. They're. charged on separate types of of things.

But we really don't know what the final. false report is. So that will come out. as this you know, motions will be up. with the defense attorneys and the like, but they keep them in with those felony. charges so they can work this case so. they don't. are. major players in the boyfriend Oh, we. always look at the the boyfriends and. the family relationship. And the mom. Mom is the last one who saw him. That's. patient She's last one who saw her. daughter. That's a key. What did she. tell her daughters? What did she tell. her other daughter? What did she say? Those are things coming to play. So.

that's why when they've been picked up, both been arrested, they haven't put the. charges out yet, but it may be close to. the reason why the disappearance took. place. Now I want to talk about. something else. You mentioned it before. Um this next part. it's a bit of speculation that's been. spreading like wildfire on social media. So I do want to preface that most of. this information has not been confirmed. by law enforcement. The sheriff has. limited the information that can be. released to the media as we've been. talking about. So these are details that. have been gathered from various sources. and you're going to see why police say.

all this is making their job a lot. harder. So according to WPBN, this is a northern. Michigan outlet. Rebecca was adopted. And her 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 have been. preparing ourselves for this outcome.". Stephanie also told the outlet.

apparently, "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." Now 9 and 10 News reports that. Rebecca's two other sons, ages 3 and 1/2. and 2, they're in her care as is. Kimberly's 1-year-old daughter. And. according to reporting from True Crime. Sleuths that have been looking into this. case, Rebecca had recently reunited with. her with her biological mom, a woman. named Courtney Bartholomew. Over the.

weekend, there were rumors that Courtney. and her husband Bradley Bartholomew had. also been arrested. And as of this. reporting, as of this taping, Michigan. Live has confirmed that the two were in. fact in the Wexford County jail. Their charges not clear. There are. reports that the Bartholomew home was. searched, that there was DNA that was. collected, at least one truck was also. reportedly towed from the home. But. again, the sheriff isn't providing a lot. of details here. The sheriff's office. said in a release, "We understand the.

public's desire for details and the. demand for justice for Rebecca and her. baby. We ask for your patience and. understanding as we continue to seek. answers for this tragic situation.". Dave, revisiting this with you, so much. of the content creation space is taken. up by True Crime Sleuths trying to make. connections that may be there, may be. not there. I have to imagine this may complicate. law enforcement's mission here and their. investigation. It was complicated, but you know what? You look at things and I will say this, sometimes there are tips that come in.

and that's what the police do. Is there a tip that comes out of there? Does anything jive with what's being. said on the internet? We We don't worry. about that. We stick to the facts as we. as we see them. And that's the one thing. about these investigations, you can. speculate all you want and that's what a. lot of it we do here, speculate, but you. still have the facts available to you. You have a missing a a missing baby a. dead a dead child, a dead 22-year-old, you know, dead 22-year-old. We don't. know where the baby is. Let's see where. the baby has gone to. And so how you do.

it is you're going to do another grid. search of that location. Is there a. possibility that baby the body is there? Um and if not, and that's why the car. speaking to the medical examiner, was. this baby birth Was this was she birthed. out? And this is where all of those. weird things come into play. Last person. sees us is, "Oh, I saw her getting into. a a dark sedan." And she gets in the car. and I could have I didn't know what to. say to her. It does It didn't jive. I guarantee the. investigators and they further. investigated hardly from the spoke to.

her to find that out. And that's why. you're seeing this come into play with. the arrest there. So there's something. there that they're not tell the police. aren't telling, but that's okay. And I. always want to err on the side of. caution. And the caution is don't tell. everybody everything you do. What do you think's happening behind the. scenes? What do you think we're not. seeing? Um. you uh. running You can be running their media. You can be running all the social media. You can do cell sites. You're going to. start doing all that. Any uh you Any DNA. collection that you have, obviously from.

the body they've done that obviously. From the scene itself, they've done that. scene. Is there any items there that. might be trace evidence of forensically. uh viable for this case? So those are. things that are being done that you're. not going to see. That's kind of the the. not the unsexy version of what. investigators are. Everyone wants them. in the interrogation room and yelling. back and forth. That may be happening. too and we don't know that. But right. now they've been arrested, they're going. to retain counsel. I don't think. anyone's going to be speaking unless.

they are the weak link. And I think. investigators are going to try to find. who's the weakest link and who would. want to deal out if this is the. situation that comes into play. And. that's the whole thing. Who has the most. to lose? And it's the boyfriend because. he's now has two felonies on him that. are that's going to be life. imprisonment. Is there something that he. may leak out in maybe with call the. queen for a day and a proffer where they. may speak to him later on. But you need. the facts before you can put people in. that in that situation. So everyone has. to talk sort of take their time and it's.

It's a horrendous case. It's It's a. tragedy to see this happening and. especially with the girl who's been. pregnant about to at term with no baby. So is this something that one person. knows or do three or four people know. what happened? And maybe even more. Dave Sharny, thanks for taking the time. Really. appreciate it. Thank you very much, Stacy. 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. You can follow me on X or. Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak. to you next time. [Music].