Inset left to right: Richard Falor, Kimberly Park and Rebecca Park (Wexford County Sheriff”s Office). Background: A currently closed trailhead at Manistee National Forest in Baldwin, Mich. (Google Maps).
The fiancé and sister of a missing Michigan woman have been taken into custody following the discovery of a body believed to be hers.
Rebecca Park, 22, was last seen by her mother outside her home near Cadillac, Michigan, on November 3, as reported by local authorities. On that day, she had just received a $2,000 inheritance, was getting into a car, and was nearly full-term in her pregnancy at 38 or 39 weeks.
On November 25, searchers located a body along a hiking trail in the Manistee National Forest within Boon Township, a small community about 35 miles south of Traverse City.
“The young woman found resembles Rebecca Park, who went missing on November 4,” stated Wexford County Sheriff Trent Taylor, as reported by Detroit’s WJBK. “This is a tragic moment for our county, and we hope it brings some closure to this dreadful incident.”
Later that evening, at approximately 9 p.m., Rebecca’s fiancé, 43-year-old Richard Falor, was arrested on several charges. In the early hours of November 26, her sister, 21-year-old Kimberly Park, was also detained on multiple charges.
Falor is charged with two counts of delivering methamphetamine, while Kimberly Park faces charges of tampering with evidence, lying to a police officer during an investigation of a violent crime, and filing a false report of a felony.
As of this writing, there is no formal indication the charges are related to the disappearance of the older Park sister.
And, while an autopsy will be performed on the human remains to confirm the identity, family confirmed the body found in the forest belonged to the missing woman, according to WJBK.
During an arraignment on Wednesday, the sister’s bond was set at $750,000, while the fiance’s bond was set at $1 million. Both defendants were deemed threats to the community and flight risks, according to a courtroom report by Kalamazoo-based CBS affiliate WWMT.
But then, citing national media attention, 84th District Court Judge Corey Wiggins shut down broadcasts of the proceedings, according to Traverse City-based NBC affiliate WPBN and Cheboygan-based ABC affiliate WTOM, which collectively broadcast as “UpNorthLive.”
“Kimberly Park, ladies and gentlemen, people in the court, media, and those on livestream,” the judge said, according to a courtroom report by WJBK. “The court has an ethical duty to ensure that the defendants in these cases can have a fair trial. The court is well aware of the publicity this case has received across the country. In order to protect the defendants’ interests in this case, the court is going to take the court off of livestream.”
Law enforcement are keeping mum about the state of the deceased woman’s child – or even if a child was recovered along with the body. Rebecca Park’s due date was Nov. 18, according to People Magazine.
“I’m heartbroken, crushed,” Rebecca Park’s adoptive mother told WWMT after the cascade of recent events. “I have to remain strong. I have three children, little bitties that do not understand any of it. We have been, as a family, preparing for this outcome. Not quite as gruesome as this outcome. But preparing for this outcome.”
