13: Parents Cut Out Daughter’s Baby and Leave Her to Die | Rebecca Park

She was nearly full term, days away from giving birth, when Rebecca Park vanished without a trace. Weeks later, her body was discovered deep in Michigan’s Manistee National Forest and investigators revealed a detail so disturbing it changed the case entirely: Rebecca was no longer pregnant. In this episode, we follow the frantic search for a missing mother-to-be, the haunting discovery that followed, and the chilling mystery surrounding what happened to her baby. With arrests made, answers withheld, and an investigation still unfolding, you won’t want to miss this…. If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow the show for weekly deep dives into the darkest true crime cases! To watch the video version of this episode, head over to youtube.com/@annieelise. .🔎Join Our True Crime Club & Get Exclusive Content & Perks..🎧 Need More to Binge? Listen to both of my weekly true crime series 10 to Life & Serialously with Annie Elise wherever you get your podcasts on the Annie Elise Channel!🍎 Apple Podcasts | Where you can also unlock access to 100+ and growing extra exclusive deep dives.💚 Spotify🔴 YouTube🎙️ All Other Platforms.📸 Follow Annie on Socials Instagram: @_annieeliseTikTok: @_annieeliseSubstack: @annieeliseFacebook: @10toLife.👗 Shop Annie’s Must-Haves! ShopMY: bit.ly/AnnieElise_ShopMy Amazon: bit.ly/AnnieElise_Amazon.🫵🏻 Get Involved or Recommend a CaseAbout Annie: www.annieelise.comFor Business Inquiries: [email protected].📚 Episode Sources 9&10 News | ABC News | AP News | ClickOnDetroit | Facebook | Law & Crime | Live 5 News | Michigan Attorney General | MLive | NewsNation | People | The Detroit News | UpNorthLive••••••••••••••••••🚨Disclaimers1️⃣ Some links may be affiliate links, they do not cost you anything, but I make a small percentage from the sale. Thank you so much for watching and supporting me. 2️⃣ Sources used to collect this information include various public news sites, interviews, court documents, FB groups dedicated to the case, and various news channel segments. When quoting statements made by others, they are strictly alleged until confirmed otherwise. Please remember my videos are my independent opinion and to always do your own research. 3️⃣ The views and opinions expressed in this video are personal and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the creator(s). These views are subject to change, revision, and rethinking at any time and are not to be held in perpetuity. We make no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, correctness, suitability, or validity of any information on this video and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis. It is the reader’s responsibility to verify their own facts.

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• 1:53Annie Elise?

  On the night of November 3rd, 2025, 22-year-old Rebecca Park was at her mom's house in Boone Township, Michigan. She was also about 38 weeks pregnant, meaning she was essentially days away from giving birth. And this was the final stage of her pregnancy. So it's the part where most people are counting down the days, you're preparing for everything, you're packing your hospital bag, you're also making every single decision with the baby in mind, knowing that that baby could arrive at any moment. And nothing about that evening initially stood out as alarming. However, then, at around 11:30 PM, after Rebecca had been spending some time at the house, she stepped outside, and she told her mother that somebody was coming

• 2:34Annie Elise?

  to pick her up. She didn't say who this person was, she didn't say where she was going, and she also didn't offer a reason that stood out as urgent or unusual. Shortly after she told her mother she was leaving, she got into the passenger seat of a dark-colored vehicle, and she left. And that moment, that moment, standing outside of the house and getting into that car, that is the last confirmed sighting of Rebecca Park alive. And at the time, it didn't trigger immediate panic. I mean, maybe she was running errands, maybe it was a late-night food run, who really knows? But any expectation that she would walk through that front door, maybe after making a quick errand, it was quickly shattered. Because by the following morning,

• 3:15Annie Elise?

  Rebecca had not returned at all. And something far more alarming was then discovered. Her phone had been completely ditched on a two-lane road, right across from the home where she had last been seen. And according to her fiance and her family, this was completely unlike Rebecca. She didn't go anywhere without her phone, and especially not when she was that far along in her pregnancy. So between the vaguely described meetup outside, the mystery driver, her phone being left behind, what initially was looking like this very short outing or quick errand, it suddenly felt very different. And Rebecca was officially reported missing on November 4th.

• 3:55Annie Elise?

  And from that moment on, the focus started shifting from wondering where she had gone to wondering whether she had even left on her own at all. And as the truth really began to unravel with who may have wanted to possibly cause harm to Rebecca, who could be involved for her disappearance, it soon became clear that this threat, it was much closer to home. I'm Annie Elise. This is 10 to Life. Let's jump right in.

• 4:36Annie Elise?

  Rebecca Park was a 22-year-old woman living in the Cadillac, Manten area in Michigan, and friends and family all described her as very caring, very connected, very deeply involved in the lives of the people around her. She wasn't somebody who just drifted in and out of contact or disappeared for long stretches of time. She checked in, she shared updates, she shared life updates, and she stayed tied closely to her circle. Rebecca was also already a mother. She had children prior to this pregnancy. However, these children were in the care of her adoptive mother, Stephanie. She had custody of them. And the way that Stephanie explains it is she says that Rebecca signed custody over to her when the kids were just babies because she knew that she couldn't give them the life that they deserved. So she just

• 5:19Annie Elise?

  wanted them to be loved, to be raised safely like she had been, and she knew that her adoptive parents, they could give the kids that life. They could give them all of that and more, which that's a very important detail in all of this because it tells us something about where Rebecca was at in her life. She wasn't just expecting a baby and was going to figure it out as she goes. She already knew the weight and the responsibility that comes with being somebody's mom. So the day that she had vanished, she had actually gone to the hospital because she was experiencing some concerns about her pregnancy. Her fiance told reporters that they thought that she may be going into labor early, which is why they went in. Sometimes you experience Braxton Hicks. I know I did. Sometimes things just pull and feel tight.

• 6:01Annie Elise?

  And when you're that far along at 38 weeks, it usually is better. To check rather than not, especially if you've already had children in the past, because not that it's, you know, a concrete rule, but if you've already had kids, the likelihood of you delivering earlier than 40 weeks usually is higher. So she went to the hospital to check things out because she wasn't feeling right. So again, we're not talking about somebody who didn't care about her pregnancy or care about her baby. We're talking about a woman who was actively seeking medical care, making plans and thinking about her baby's arrival. Now, I do want to say this, Rebecca's family life, it was not simple, far from it. Rebecca was adopted when she was about one year old and her adoptive parents spent

• 6:44Annie Elise?

  years trying to protect her as she got older, as she started navigating these more complicated relationships. And look, that protective instinct by her adoptive mother, it was rooted in real concern. There was some family turmoil with Rebecca's biological family. However, as she got older and as she became a mother herself and as she was trying to just, you know, figure out who she was, her identity, there started to be some reconnection. And that also caused a lot of concern. Rebecca's biological mother is a 40-year-old woman by the name of Courtney Bartholomew. And while she wasn't the woman who raised Rebecca, she was someone that Rebecca reconnected with later in life.

• 7:25Annie Elise?

  And like I said, that reconnection, it raised some major red flags for Rebecca's adoptive mother, Stephanie. Stephanie said that there were people in Rebecca's biological family that she believed to be dangerous and she tried to keep distance between Rebecca and those people and the bad influences whenever she possibly could. Despite those concerns, though, Rebecca did start spending time with her biological mother. And by the time that she was pregnant this most recent time, Courtney was back in her life in a more involved way. In fact, Rebecca was actually staying at her house in the days leading up to her disappearance. And from the outside, it really appeared like Rebecca was just trying to balance relationships on both sides, the family who raised her and the biological family that she was working

• 8:09Annie Elise?

  to rebuild a relationship with. And that kind of dynamic, we know, it isn't necessarily unusual, especially during major life moments like a pregnancy. I mean, for many adopted children, becoming a parent themselves, it can reopen all sorts of questions, questions about identity, connection, where they came from.

• 8:27Annie Elise?

  You know, wanting your child to meet them, all sorts of these things. But now, when you look back on those now, those concerns that her adoptive mother Stephanie carried for years, they are impossible to ignore. Because at the time that Rebecca went missing, investigators didn't realize just how close to home they would end up looking. And from the outside, this investigation looked very slow at first, and also, I will say strangely quiet. As I said before, after Rebecca's phone was found on the side of the road, she was reported missing on November 4th. Law enforcement put out bulletins, search parties were organized, the community just really came together and completely rallied for Rebecca.

• 9:07Speaker 05

  A coordinated search effort took place today in Cadillac as volunteers continue looking for Rebecca K. Park, who's been missing since November 3rd. The community gathered earlier this morning to cover a large stretch of wooded land just west of town. Of both lives, Tony Lundey joins us from the mire in Cadillac, where that first, the team actually first started searching today. Tony, what did searchers find out? What did they gather today?

• 9:32Speaker 06

  Well, Melissa, they chose this mire because they felt like it was a central place for everybody to meet, and it gave plenty of room to organize for a large turnout like they had. Dozens of volunteers checked in here around 10:00 this morning. They had a quick little meeting, and they made their way out to go out and be a part of the search. After gathering at mire, the search party caravan to West 26th Road and South 21 and 1/2 Road, an area organizers believe needed another thorough sweep.

• 10:02Speaker 07

  This is awesome. We have a great community, and it's great to see a community come together when somebody is in trouble and needs help. So, I am a mother, I'm a grandmother, and you know, when somebody needs help, I just have a big heart.

• 10:18Speaker 06

  Volunteers lined up an arm's length apart, working in a tight formation to make sure no patch of ground went unchecked. Off-road vehicles and a search dog helped widen the grid, giving crews more reach through the wooded terrain. Also joining the search was the Klandenstein Investigative Authority, a professional search group out of Clare County.

• 10:39Speaker 08

  I noticed that Rebecca was a foster child. I myself was a foster child of 16 years, and I know what it's like to finally find a family that actually cares for you, even a group of friends, and to have that person ripped from you, it really tears at my heart. I want to bring closure to her and her family.

• 10:55Speaker 06

  The Wexford County Sheriff's Office did not join the search today, but told us they have already conducted a thorough search in the areas where Rebecca was last seen. Organizers say determination, teamwork, and hope continue to drive these searches, no matter how long they take.

• 11:11Annie Elise?

  Now, obviously, there was immediate concern, not just for Rebecca, but also for her baby. And the first angle that the investigators wanted to look at was that maybe Rebecca may have intentionally left. She had recently received an inheritance of about $2,000. Investigators said that she easily could have used that cash to get away, you know, go off the grid without leaving a digital trail. She could have easily used cash. She didn't have to leave behind any evidence through bank statements. She also could have intentionally left her phone behind so that there wouldn't be phone pings. It could have been possible, but the longer that she was gone, the less likely that that theory seemed. And everybody just wanted her to come home.

• 11:52Annie Elise?

  But then, weeks went by, all with very limited public information being released. But then, about three weeks after Rebecca disappeared, on November 25th, searchers made a devastating discovery. A woman's body had been found, and it was just lying there abandoned in a local national forest.

• 12:16Speaker 00

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• 13:14Annie Elise?

  So exactly three weeks after Rebecca Park was reported missing, these searchers found a body in a nearby national forest. And it was two days before Thanksgiving, and this body, it very closely resembled Rebecca.

• 13:27Speaker 11

  Earlier today, at approximately 2:16 PM, a body was discovered in the Massey National Forest not far from here. Currently, the Westford County Sheriff's Office, the Michigan State Police, and the Michigan State Police Crime Lab are investigating that scene. The young lady that was found resembles Rebecca Parks, a young lady that went missing on November 4th. And we are currently actively investigating that. So if you have anything you want to say, or if there's any questions...

• 14:00Speaker 12

  You said "appears to look like her"?

• 14:03Speaker 11

  Yes, appears to resemble, resembles Rebecca Parks.

• 14:08Speaker 12

  But you're not saying for sure that it is Rebecca Parks?

• 14:10Speaker 13

  We cannot confirm until the autopsy is performed.

• 14:15Speaker 14

  What about the clothing she was wearing? Was that similar to the clothing she was described leaving? I know there's two descriptions, but...

• 14:22Speaker 13

  We can't answer that.

• 14:23Speaker 11

  Yeah, no comment on that.

• 14:26Speaker 13

  But there, I'm sorry, go ahead.

• 14:28Speaker 12

  I was just gonna say, the area that you were, that she was found in, this body was found in, was it one of the areas that had already been searched by police or from that group?

• 14:36Speaker 11

  It was not searched by that group. Wasn't no formal search party in that area. The citizens were searching it today, and they found the body.

• 14:47Speaker 14

  Well, that area had been searched just by people in general, don't you think?

• 14:50Speaker 11

  Yes, I think so.

• 14:52Speaker 14

  And there's been a lot of hunters out in the areas?

• 14:55Speaker 11

  That's correct.

• 14:56Speaker 14

  Do you believe that this body may have been placed there recently?

• 15:01Speaker 11

  I don't have any comment on that at this time.

• 15:05Speaker 13

  This is a very active investigation. There's a lot of moving parts and we will, Sheriff will give updates as soon as it becomes available, but right now we are, it's very active. So we have a lot of detectives and department members working on this.

• 15:19Annie Elise?

  After a few days, the authorities confirmed it was Rebecca. But the autopsy, that added an even more devastating layer to all of this because she was no longer pregnant when her body was found. And even though she now at this point had been due to have given birth just a few days earlier, remember she was 38 weeks at the beginning of November. This was now the end of November. This baby should have been delivered and this baby was missing. Specifically, the baby had been cut out of Rebecca's body. Now, obviously, that detail, it changed everything. Meanwhile, officials confirmed that they were still actively searching for the baby. And multiple agencies got involved in this search. I'm talking the county sheriff's office, the state police, even the FBI, all trying to figure out where

• 16:04Annie Elise?

  this baby could be and what exactly happened between the night that Rebecca left in that car and the day three weeks later that she was found in the forest. And at first, law enforcement wouldn't publicly say how Rebecca died or even what the scene looked like. They also wouldn't confirm whether the baby had been delivered by Rebecca naturally while Rebecca was alive or maybe after she had died. Everything was just labeled as a suspicious death. But then later, it was labeled as a homicide.

• 16:33Speaker 15

  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 Lives 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 that 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.

• 17:12Speaker 13

  We can't answer that.

• 17:14Speaker 11

  Yeah, no comment on that. I don't have any comment on that this time.

• 17:18Speaker 13

  And those are details, again, that we can't comment on at this time, but.

• 17:24Speaker 13

  Hoping in the future that we can comment on that.

• 17:27Speaker 15

  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."

• 18:08Annie Elise?

  Now, for people watching from the outside, it kind of felt like these updates were coming in at a snail's pace, honestly. Just little bits here and there. I mean, a body had been found, but no baby? Okay, well, give us more. What's going on here? An autopsy had confirmed that she was no longer pregnant, but no cause of death was released. And I have to say, usually when you see that level of tight-lipped behavior in an investigation, it means that the investigators think that they are dealing with something very serious and they don't want to jeopardize the case, potentially even involving people close to the victim. Because by playing their cards too early or showing all of their cards too early, it could spook somebody. It could tip somebody off and essentially it could blow their case.

• 18:52Annie Elise?

  But then, the police released the biggest update since Rebecca's body had been found earlier that day. And I say earlier that day and that it's the biggest update since then, because even though it was a close period of time, she had been missing for weeks at that point. And the public was following along, true crime community was following along. So it did feel like for weeks, information was dragging. And then, all of a sudden, everything just started happening at like rapid speed. And this update was that the police were making arrests. And these arrests, they changed everything. On November 25th, as people were still reeling from the discovery of Rebecca's body, the very first arrests were made. Because on the same day as Rebecca's body

• 19:33Annie Elise?

  Was found, police arrested Rebecca's fiance, Richard Lee Faylor. However, the charges against him, they weren't for homicide, but rather for two counts of delivering methamphetamine. Now, both counts were very serious felonies and prosecutors also charged Richard as a habitual offender, which carries a heavier sentence. So, all of that to say, on a day when the community was desperate for answers about how Rebecca had died and what had happened to her unborn baby, the very first arrest made was for a drug crime. And this threw everything into chaos. Then, in the early morning hours of November 26th, so not long after the first arrest, just a day later, the police took another step forward.

• 20:17Annie Elise?

  This time, they arrested Rebecca's 21-year-old sister, Kimberly Park. Kimberly was charged with tampering with evidence, lying to a police officer during a violent crime investigation, and filing a false report of a felony. Court documents allege that she gave investigators misleading or false statements, and at one point, she reportedly filed a false report accusing a detective of assault. Which, that charge alone did raise a lot of eyebrows, but it was never said if these charges were related to Rebecca's death. So this had people even more confused, like, okay, what's going on? You find her body, you're arresting the fiance, the sister, you've been investigating her disappearance for weeks, but now these arrests and these charges have nothing to do with Rebecca?

• 21:02Annie Elise?

  What's going on? And the thing was, the bail amounts that were set for them, they reflected just how seriously the courts were viewing these allegations. Kimberly's bail was set at $750,000, which, that is an unusually high amount for charges like lying or tampering with evidence. Meanwhile, Richard's bail, the fiance, that was initially set at $1 million. So really, this just once again shows how truly severe the court was treating these drug-related charges.

• 21:30Speaker 16

  New developments tonight after the body of Rebecca Park was discovered in the Manistee National Forest.

• 21:34Speaker 05

  Rebecca's fiance and sister are now behind bars as the death investigation widens. Twenty-one-year-old Kimberly Park now being held on a $750,000 bond with the judge today calling her a flight risk.

• 21:48Speaker 16

  Richard Fowler, Rebecca's fiance, is being held on a million-dollar bond and being called a threat to the community. The charges come just a day after a body resembling Park was discovered by searchers in the Manistee National Forest with police, as we showed you last night at 5 o'clock, descending on that Boone Township property, making a series then of arrests.

• 22:08Annie Elise?

  So again, just to recap, within roughly 24 hours of the very disturbing and grim discovery of Rebecca in the woods, two people closest to Rebecca, her fiance and her own sister, were behind bars and her unborn baby was still missing. As I said, the cause of death was not public and the investigators had not tied these arrests to the homicide at this point. So the community was, of course, left with more questions than answers, which, for the public, this is where the case really pivoted from confusion to chaos. Because by this point, the issue wasn't just what the investigators had shared, it was what they hadn't shared. And for some people who were following the case, it started to feel less like confusion

• 22:50Annie Elise?

  and more like intentional restraint, almost like the investigators weren't ready to tell the whole story yet because they were still building it. They were still getting all of the pieces of the puzzle together.

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• 24:08Annie Elise?

  And of course, too, a lot of people speculated that these first arrests were made simply to get these people who could have been involved into custody. That way, they wouldn't flee, they wouldn't have the opportunity to taint a witness, to cover their tracks, to flee, as I just said. We've seen this in so many cases, right? Where it's like, as they're building their case and as they're trying to make it ironclad, they have people who they may suspect as being involved. And so even if they can't charge them with a direct connection to the crime, if they can charge them on something else, they will, just as a way to keep them off the street and get them locked up, sometimes even to scare them so that maybe they'll fold because they think that the police know more than what they have shared. And really, this was the only theory that even seemed to make sense at the time.

• 24:52Annie Elise?

  And what made that speculation inevitable was the pattern in all of this. Pregnant woman vanished late at night after getting into an unidentified car at the house of family members who she didn't really know all that well. Her phone was found abandoned, even though those same family members said that she never went anywhere without it. Then, weeks later, her body was discovered in this remote forest, and she was no longer pregnant, and nobody was saying anything. Then, instead of homicide arrests, the first people taken into custody were arrested on charges of drugs, lying, and evidence tampering. How does this make sense? I mean, if Rebecca's disappearance had been a random act of violence, surely the investigators typically would have said that.

• 25:36Annie Elise?

  If there was no threat to the public or the community, that reassurance likely comes pretty quickly. I mean, it usually does. But here... There were no statements like that. Just very careful wording, very limited releases and an emphasis on patience. So that led many people to start asking some underlying questions. Who exactly was Rebecca with the night that she disappeared? Did she even get into that car? Why was her phone separated from her almost immediately? And if the people closest to her were allegedly lying or interfering, what were they trying to hide? It also became hard to ignore how law enforcement was moving through this case. Investigators appeared to be isolating issues one at a time,

• 26:20Annie Elise?

  almost like they were just trying to clear out obstacles before laying out the bigger picture. Which I will say, that is a strategy that we often see in cases where multiple people are involved and where stories don't line up. But still, even with all of that, most people's focus was still laser focused right in on Rebecca's fiance and her sister, on whether their arrests would somehow escalate into murder charges down the line. But what very few people realized at the time was that the investigators had already shifted their attention somewhere else entirely, not on the fiance, not on the sister, but toward two other people who had been close to Rebecca in the days before she disappeared. And that's when this case took a turn that nobody was prepared for.

• 27:05Annie Elise?

  Five days after Rebecca was found, between November 30th and December 1st, police arrested Courtney Bartholomew, Rebecca's biological mother, and her husband Bradley Bartholomew. Now, at this time, there was no question about what investigators were alleging. These were not secondary charges or charges to get them off the street while the authorities continued investigating. These arrests, they went directly to the heart of Rebecca's death. On December 2nd, the Michigan Attorney General's Office formally announced charges against both Courtney and Brad. And according to the charging documents and the statements made in court, the prosecutors believed that Rebecca was the victim of a planned and deliberate attack.

• 27:47Annie Elise?

  Both her mom Courtney and Brad were charged with an extensive list of very serious felonies. Including first degree premeditated murder, felony murder, torture, conspiracy to commit torture, assault on a pregnant individual, causing miscarriage or stillbirth, conspiracy to commit that assault, unlawful imprisonment, and removal of a dead body without a medical examiner's permission. Now, six of these eight charges carry the possibility of life in prison in Michigan. And in court, prosecutors laid out what they believe happened the night of November 3rd. According to the probable cause affidavit, Rebecca was lured to her mother's house in Wexford County, knowing that she was 38 weeks pregnant at the time.

• 28:32Annie Elise?

  And the prosecutors alleged that once she was there, she was restrained, she was tortured, all in an attempt to forcibly remove her unborn baby. Becca had, quote, "six sharp force wounds to her back, two to her arm, one to her left shoulder, two to her neck, and at least two to her face." Her stomach had also been cut open, and the placenta was visible. The umbilical cord still attached, but there was no baby. And according to the arrest affidavit, once the investigators separated Courtney and Brad, their stories didn't just differ, they completely turned on each other. Courtney told the police that Brad was responsible for the entire thing, claiming he carried out the attack all while she was at home, she wasn't involved, she had no part in it.

• 29:16Annie Elise?

  But then later, as the investigator started questioning her about her inconsistencies and some missing details, her story, like many times it happens, it started to shift. Courtney then started saying, "Okay, I wasn't at home at the time, I was actually in the truck while Brad killed Rebecca, but I didn't hurt her, I didn't hurt her, I had no part in it." She stayed adamant that she didn't hurt Rebecca in any way. Then she said that after Rebecca had been killed, Brad told her that he removed the baby, and that he placed him in a trash bag and put that bag inside a small cooler. She said that she attempted to do CPR, but the baby didn't survive. Just awful and evil. I mean, her own biological mother doing this to her.

• 29:59Annie Elise?

  And it gets worse, if you can believe it. So that was Courtney's version of what happened.

• 30:06Annie Elise?

  Brad, however, told investigators the complete opposite, insisting that Courtney planned all of it, that she initiated it, that she was the mastermind behind everything that happened that night, that she was the ringleader. And he really did try to attempt to distance himself entirely from the situation. He also told investigators that Courtney would be more than capable of hurting her own family. And he agreed that it was, quote, "a good possibility that she killed Rebecca." So now you have both of these scumbags completely just turning on each other. Nobody's taking any responsibility. Nobody is taking any accountability. But as we know, both of their stories can't be true.

• 30:44Speaker 15

  Steffi, thank you so much for coming on. Hopefully you can sort this out. I want to start with Courtney and Bradley playing the blame game. The police, you know, telling police the other killed Rebecca, threw away her baby. Can you tell us more about what you know about their statements to police?

• 31:02Speaker 19

  Yes, they seem to be playing, just as you said, the blame game. When they questioned Courtney Bartholomew, she stated Brad was the one who hid in the truck. And she was then to get Rebecca to get in the truck. They got in the truck. Courtney says they're just riding along, and then he just starts taking out the knife. And according to her, he was stabbing her four to five times in both the chest and the back. But then, when they brought Brad in, he switched it on Courtney and said she was the one that was swinging the knife. As he was stopping the truck to get out of the truck, because the knife was

• 31:46Speaker 19

  still swinging, and he didn't know what was going on. So each of them blame each other. But really, what police have to do is overlap their stories to figure out what is correct. They both were there. They both were involved. They both handled some sort of weapon. And I think that's going to be the underlying case.

• 32:07Annie Elise?

  And then, as all of this was unfolding, another detail came out in the affidavit that started to raise some serious red flags for both investigators. And the public. See, in the weeks leading up to Rebecca's disappearance, her biological mother Courtney had apparently been telling people that she herself had recently given birth. She claimed that she delivered a baby at 28 weeks and that that baby was still in the NICU. However, she also said that that baby was expected to come home very soon.

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• 33:45Annie Elise?

  So hearing all of this, that Courtney had lied and said that she had given birth, that this baby was a preemie, that he was in the NICU, that he would be coming home soon, all of this information, it started to make people's heads spin. And really, that's when the alarms really started going off. Because once that information became public, the biggest question became, was Rebecca's pregnancy the motive in all of this? Was this all an attempt to steal Rebecca's baby and pass it off as her own? Steal her own daughter's baby and pass it off on her as her own? I mean, it's sick. Now prosecutors haven't publicly confirmed a motive, but the timing and the allegations in this affidavit, they have fueled tons of speculation.

• 34:29Annie Elise?

  And this is where a lot of people who have been following this case started asking questions. Because as of now, at least based on the information released to the public, the baby still has never been found. So for people watching from the outside, it's understandably confusing to hear about charges that say that the baby died, while also hearing that the baby hasn't been found. And look, it's possible that the investigators do have information that the public hasn't been told yet. Absolutely. I mean, maybe they have located the baby and they just aren't announcing that detail. Maybe there are medical or forensic findings that allow prosecutors to say with confidence that the baby did not survive. But we just don't know right now because that evidence has not been made public. But assuming that that may be the case,

• 35:13Annie Elise?

  we also know that prosecutors definitely don't file charges like these lightly. Not at all. I mean, if they are alleging that this baby died, it's because they believe that they can prove that legally and medically, even if the public hasn't seen those details yet.

• 35:29Speaker 15

  Think about this unborn baby because the affidavits get into that too, right? What happened to this unborn baby who still hasn't been found? What do the affidavits reveal that we didn't know before?

• 35:40Speaker 19

  So Courtney, both, one thing that Courtney and Brad both have in common is they say that the baby is inside a blue cooler that was placed inside a trash bag. Now, who placed the baby in the cooler? Courtney says Brad, Brad says Courtney. Then in the trash bag, and then the baby was taken to a dumpster down the road at a, a, a house just north of them. And so I'm hoping that authorities are going to try to trace that to a landfill where the baby might be. Who put the baby in the cooler? That's a good question. They both say each other. And the most shocking part of this is Courtney took that baby home,

• 36:24Speaker 19

  even though the baby had already passed away, and took it to her bedroom and tried CPR for an additional 15 minutes before they decided to discard of the baby boy.

• 36:35Speaker 15

  Oh my gosh. And I'll say, look, recovering the baby is not only important from a human point of view and an emotional point of view and a justice point of view, but from a forensic point of view. Can obviously say a lot.

• 36:48Annie Elise?

  And I also just want to make a quick mention. We know that people were out there searching for Rebecca for weeks before she was ultimately found, right? I have seen some speculation out there that there, the area in which Rebecca was found had already been searched and then she wasn't there and then later was found there. So there's been rumor that her biological mother and her husband essentially moved her body after or during the search. That has not been confirmed anywhere. And actually, according to documents and police records, they say that the area in which Rebecca was found had never been searched. So I just want to say, as of now, that detail had not been verified, has not been verified, I should say.

• 37:32Annie Elise?

  And it's just another rumor out there. Now, during the arraignment, the prosecutor did not sugarcoat anything. She even described the alleged actions as, quote, "evil personified." And honestly, that was the only phrase that even came close. And she laid out a version of events that was intentional, prolonged, and absolutely brutal. Because when prosecutors finally described the attack on Rebecca, the court heard the truth, the very dark truth, that Rebecca was actually kept alive during the entire thing, that her unborn child was removed from her body while she was still conscious.

• 38:11Speaker 20

  I hate to repeat it, but to create a record in this case as well, I think no bond or being held without bond is appropriate. Again, this is a case of premeditated torture and murder. These two individuals created a plan, conducted research. Ms. Bartholomew brought Rebecca to their home. They forced her into another vehicle and took her into the woods. So they stabbed her, forced her to lie on the ground, while they cut her baby out, not only caused her death and the death of the baby. They then left Rebecca in the woods.

• 38:49Speaker 20

  This is frankly evil personified and I would ask the court to hold her without a

• 38:58Annie Elise?

  Now if those allegations hold up and if that is really what went down in this case, we are talking about one of the most disturbing crimes that Michigan prosecutors have brought forward in years. And because of that, because of the sheer severity of what they say happened, the judge obviously didn't hesitate. I mean, no bond for either one of them, not for Courtney and not for Brad. They were ordered to remain in custody and that's exactly where they have been as this case moves forward. However, that didn't stop Courtney from trying to get out, trying to weasel her way out. During her court appearance, despite the severity of the charges and the very graphic allegations that were laid out by prosecutors just moments

• 39:40Annie Elise?

  earlier, Courtney had the audacity to ask the judge for what was essentially home confinement. She requested to be placed on home confinement with monitoring, basically house arrest with ankle monitoring, arguing that she needed to care for her 14-year-old child. Which, let that just sink in for a second. This was a hearing where the court had just been told that a pregnant woman was allegedly tortured, kept alive, and had her baby forcibly removed while she was still awake. And the judge had already made it clear that bond was not even appropriate, given the nature of this case. Yet Courtney still stood there and asked to go home, using the excuse that she had to care for her 14-year-old child. I mean, I

• 40:24Annie Elise?

  don't know if I need to outline the parallels in that in black and white for how bad shit turned around that is. Care for your child? Hello, you're being charged with brutal, brutal actions against your other child. What are you even talking about here? So, I mean, the judge, of course, denied that request. And when you check out the footage, which I will play here in a second, it's hard to ignore how jarring that moment is. Not just because of what was asked, but because of how it was asked. It was right after prosecutors described one of the most horrific allegations imaginable. And Courtney's focus just shifted to her own comfort, her own circumstances, her own needs. It was one of those moments that luckily didn't change the legal outcome, but it said a lot.

• 41:09Speaker 21

  Anything else, counsel?

• 41:10Speaker 20

  No.

• 41:11Speaker 21

  Go. All right.

• 41:12Speaker 20

  Your honor.

• 41:13Speaker 21

  Thank you, Jill.

• 41:16Speaker 21

  Mr. Hartel.

• 41:17Speaker 22

  If it's only applicable to bond, I wouldn't be opposed to it, as long as it's not about the underlying case.

• 41:23Speaker 23

  It's only about bond.

• 41:26Speaker 21

  All right.

• 41:28Speaker 23

  I am willing to work with the prosecutor. Also.

• 41:32Speaker 21

  So, so I'm not going to get in.

• 41:34Speaker 23

  And also to have my jail sentence from this jail to my home where I would be monitored.

• 41:46Speaker 21

  That is something I have no control over. I, I am not the more, most likely than not, I will not be your sentencing judge.

• 41:56Speaker 23

  I just need to be able to take care of him. I'm the only one that has custody of him.

• 42:00Speaker 21

  Is Bartholomew, I, I understand, but the fact is I've found that you are a threat and a flight risk and I am not going to, at this point, I'm not authorizing a bond. Thank you, Jill.

• 42:13Speaker 22

  Thank you, Your Honor.

• 42:16Annie Elise?

  Now, once these two arrests were made public, it became clear that the police hadn't been circling the wrong people at all during this. They weren't grasping at straws. This wasn't moving slowly. They were building toward this, knowing exactly what kind of allegations they'd eventually have to bring into a courtroom. As of now, Courtney and Bradley Bartholomew are still in custody, facing multiple charges that do carry the possibility of life in prison. Prosecutors have also laid out in their court filings and during hearings, a theory of what they do believe happened to Rebecca. Now, at the same time, the other two cases tied to this investigation, those of Rebecca's sister, Kimberly, and her fiance, those are moving on very different tracks.

• 42:58Annie Elise?

  Kimberly, Rebecca's sister, she has been released from jail. If you remember, she was originally held on a $750,000 bond, which raised a lot of eyebrows early on, but that bond was later reduced to $5,000, allowing her release under strict conditions, including GPS monitoring. So, she still is facing charges for evidence tampering, lying to police during a violent crime investigation, and filing a false felony report. But she is out. Rebecca's fiance, Richard, was also released after his bond was reduced. He is charged with multiple felony drug offenses and the habitual offender enhancements. So we'll see what happens there, but just to be clear, neither person is facing charges

• 43:41Annie Elise?

  in connection with Rebecca's death, not at the time of this recording at least. But I'll be honest with you, because I always keep it 100 with you. I can't help but wonder about her sister Kimberly. The lying in an investigation, the obstruction, connection to a felony. Is it because she was helping cover up for her mom during this? I don't know, maybe, but again, they haven't outright said that these are connected. So it's very possible that she's just off on her own with some completely unrelated case. So while some people connected to Rebecca are out on bond, others, the people that prosecutors believe were directly responsible for her death, they're not going anywhere. And that tells us a lot about what the investigators truly believe the truth is and where the truth actually sits.

• 44:24Annie Elise?

  But what often gets lost in cases like this is who's left behind. Rebecca's adoptive mother Stephanie has said that she is just heartbroken, not just by what happened to Rebecca, but by what it means for Rebecca's children. She is now caring for both of them and she shared that they're just still too little, too young to fully understand what has happened. They don't know the details, but they do know that something is wrong. And while it isn't reflected in the court filings, it is a part of the loss that just doesn't go away when the paperwork ends. It's the ripple effect. It's the children now growing up without being able to know their mother, not know their sibling. It's just, it's so evil. It is so evil. This case is still unfolding and I'm going to continue to follow it

• 45:09Annie Elise?

  and bring you updates as they happen. I also have had a few people in the town and close to Rebecca reach out to me with some more information. But because we haven't been able to verify every detail yet, we want to just be very careful, cross check everything, fact check everything. And then I will be bringing you all of that information and that update. But I didn't want to prematurely share that here, but there is a lot more going on. So one I'm able to verify that I will definitely be back and I will let you know. And maybe they will actually come on and share it firsthand. I don't know. So if you are following this case closely and you want to make sure that you're in the know and that you're updated, make sure you take a quick second. If you're watching on YouTube, press the subscribe button.

• 45:51Annie Elise?

  If you are listening on the podcast, press the follow button so that you do not miss a single update. I don't know that we will do a dedicated Tuesday episode to this case. It most likely will be an update episode, so it will be a bonus. So it will be outside of the normal release schedule. So you will want to make sure that you're subscribed or following the podcast so that you don't miss it. All right. Thank you guys so much for tuning in and hearing Rebecca's story today. I appreciate it. Let's hope that she gets justice. Let's hope that her baby gets justice and let's hope that we get to the bottom of this and the people who are responsible, whether it's two people, three people, four people, whoever in that family, let's hope that they are held to the fullest extent possible and

• 46:33Annie Elise?

  that Rebecca receives the justice that she and her child deserve. And I can't help but wonder if we will get answers as to where her baby is. Thank you again for tuning in and until the next one, stay safe. Bye.

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