Insets from left: Cortney Bartholomew, Brad Bartholomew (Wexford County Sheriff”s Office) and Rebecca Park (Missaukee County Sheriff’s Office via WPBN).
A Michigan woman, accused of a horrific crime involving her pregnant daughter, is seeking release from jail. Cortney Bartholomew, 40, faces serious charges, including first-degree murder and causing a miscarriage or stillbirth through assault, following the tragic death of her 22-year-old daughter, Rebecca Park. Authorities allege that Bartholomew and her husband forced Park into the woods, where they allegedly committed the brutal act of stabbing her and removing her baby, resulting in both their deaths.
Currently detained in Wexford County Jail, Bartholomew appealed for her freedom during a bond hearing on Thursday, citing her need to care for her 14-year-old son. “I just need to be able to take care of him,” she asserted, as reported by MLive. She emphasized that she is her son’s sole custodian and also mentioned her health issues as a reason for her release.
However, prosecutors pressed District Judge Corey J. Wiggins to deny her request, and the judge concurred. “While I understand there are some health conditions and the concern for a minor child, the fact remains that Mrs. Bartholomew is, I find, a flight risk and a danger to the community, so I will continue to hold her without bond,” Wiggins stated, according to reports.
The defendant also said she had health ailments.
Prosecutors urged District Judge Corey J. Wiggins to keep Bartholomew behind bars. He did.
“While I understand there are some health conditions and the concern for a minor child, the fact remains that Mrs. Bartholomew is, I find, a flight risk and a danger to the community, so I will continue to hold her without bond,” Wiggins reportedly said.
Bartholomew’s 47-year-old husband, Bradly Bartholomew, is facing the same charges as his wife, prosecutors say.
Park, who was roughly 38 weeks pregnant, was reported missing on Nov. 3 from her Northern Michigan home. Authorities found her body — but no baby — on Nov. 25 along a hiking trail in the Manistee National Forest in Boon Township, a tiny municipality located roughly 35 miles due south of Traverse City.
Though authorities had previously arrested Park’s fiance and sister on drug and tampering charges, cops had been mum on what exactly happened to Park and her baby.
During a bond hearing on Tuesday, prosecutors unveiled the horrifying facts of Park’s demise.
“This is a case of premeditated torture and murder,” said Wexford County Prosecutor Johanna Carey, according to a courtroom report from MLive. “These two individuals created a plan, conducted research. Mr. Bartholomew brought Rebecca to their home, forced her into another vehicle and took her into the woods where they stabbed her, forced her to lie on the ground while they cut her baby out, ultimately caused her death and the death of the baby.”
Added Carey: “This is frankly evil personified.”
Cops still have not recovered the baby’s body.
Authorities have yet to divulge a motive for the crime. Park was reportedly adopted when she was a baby.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Rebecca Park was last seen alive getting into a vehicle by her mother outside of her home near Cadillac on Nov. 3 after she had just received $2,000 in an inheritance.
After cops found Park’s body, her fiance, Richard Falor, 43, was arrested on multiple drug charges. Then, during the early morning hours of Nov. 26, the missing woman’s sister, Kimberly Park, 21, was arrested on charges related to her sister’s disappearance.
Falor stands accused of two counts of delivering methamphetamine. Kimberly Park is charged with one count each of tampering with evidence in a criminal case, lying to a police officer during a violent crime investigation, and filing a false report of a felony.
Initially, 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.
On Thursday, those bonds were reduced to $5,000 and each was able to post and get released from jail.
During their arraignments last week, 84th District Court Judge Corey Wiggins quickly shut down broadcast 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.”
While the motive remains unclear, family members have been devastated by the pregnant woman’s death and want justice.
“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.”
