Folks living in the Michigan town of Boon couldn’t wrap their heads around a story that kept getting worse after Rebecca Park, a 22-year-old woman who was 38 weeks pregnant, went missing on November 3. Later, her body was found, but the baby wasn’t with her. Now, court documents reveal the grim extent of a true crime murder.
Mom Alleged She Went Off In A Dark Car
After Rebecca was last seen allegedly getting into a car outside her mother’s house in Boon, someone found her dead body at Manistee National Forest on November 25. Surprisingly, she was only a few miles from where her mom, Cortney Bartholomew, and stepfather, Bradley lived. And, the investigation that followed was very complex.
The horrifying aspect of the scene revealed that someone had cut open her abdomen, and the baby had been taken. But recent updates from court documents, reveal that the tragic aspect of it involves her family. Cortney and Bradley Bartholomew were arrested and indicted for murder in the first degree with premeditation, torture, murder, and other related charges.
Lured & Tortured
Citing the affidavits, Cadillac News reported that Wexford County’s 84th District Court papers say that Cortney allegedly cut the baby out of Rebecca’s belly when Rebecca was still alive. For some reason, she claimed that she did that to try and save the baby. Allegedly, they’d lured Rebecca to the home with the promise of picking up some “laundry soap and ice cream.”
Well, that just leads one to ask what she saved anyone from, because both her daughter and the baby died. Meanwhile, Bradley told investigators that he then put the baby in a trash bag and then in a blue lunch cooler before dropping the whole thing into a trash bin. Unfortunately, the exact place where the baby ended up isn’t known.
Differing Accounts
Apparently, the two suspects gave different accounts of the incident. Cortney accused her husband of the killing. In the meantime, Bradley blamed her and said that she wanted the baby for herself. The detectives mentioned that the couple was searching ways to do their horrible act before they did it. Additionally, the pair allegedly came up with a story about Cortney giving birth to a premature baby in a NICU.
Other people linked to the initial inquiries involved Rebecca Park’s sister, Kimbely, and Rebecca’s fiance, Richard Falor. While neither of them were accused of murdering the baby or Rebecca, Falor was arrested on drug charges. Meanwhile, Kimberly was accused of giving false statements to the police and interfering with the investigation.
Cortney & Bradley Will Stand Trial
At the moment, only Cortney Bartholomew and Bradley face charges for the horrific murder. Obviously, investigators still hope to find the remains of the child. While that goes on, the Bartholomew couple remain in jail as they were refused bail. True crime followers will be interested to know that they appear for preliminary hearings on December 16.
Naturally, the shocking true crime has a lot of interested followers because it’s a real-life nightmare of betrayed trust, a twisted family, and gruesome events. There’s another aspect discussed on Court TV: the news emerged that Rebecca had been adopted but later found her biological mom, Cortney. Almost incredibly, Cortney’s ex, Richard Falor, had become involved in a relationship with Rebecca, and it’s thought that he is the father of the dead baby. Allegedly, he also had a relationship with Kimberly.
Viewers React
When the outlet shared the updates online, many people took to the comments section to talk about the case. One horrified viewer summed it up in their comment. They wrote:
Rebecca Park, What a horrific tragedy… Disgusting & beyond disturbing. & Meth being prob the motivating factor that became the biggest devil through ppl … There’s nothing minimizing the horrific act they planned. Jails gonna be horrific for them as it should . What Rebecca n this baby endured. Omg.”
Here are a few more responses from the discussion:
- Look at those absolutely disgusting, vile, drug addict murderers. They had better seek the death penalty.
- Her own daughter n grandchild… the most inhumane story I’ve ever heard in 54 years of life. how can anyone not have tears over this ???? It’s abnormal.
- Additional info reported is Rebecca has two other children that were removed from her care by CPS and are being cared for by the Adoptive mother of Rebecca due to drug use.
What are your thoughts? Sound off in the comments below, and come back here often for all our true crime news and updates.