NEED TO KNOW
- Rebecca Park went missing at 38 weeks pregnant on Nov. 3, and when her body was discovered on Nov. 25, the fetus was gone
- Her biological mother, Cortney Bartholomew, is now charged with murdering her daughter and cutting out her unborn child from her womb, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE
- Those documents also allege that Rebecca’s fiancé Richard Falor had affairs with both her sister Kimberly Park and her mother Cortney
New details about the murder of Rebecca Park and the role her family members are suspected of playing in that crime are being revealed in a series of probable cause affidavits and criminal complaints filed in a Michigan court and obtained by PEOPLE.
Those documents allege that Rebecca, 22, her sister Kimberly Park, 21, and her biological mother Cortney Bartholomew, 40, were all romantically involved with the same man — who was also the father of Rebecca’s unborn child.
Kimberly and Cortney both told investigators with the Wexford County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) that they were in a relationship with Richard Falor, 43, according to their probable cause affidavits.
Those three individuals, along with Cortney’s husband Bradly Bartholomew, have all been arrested and charged with felony offenses over the past two weeks.
Kimberly is charged with tampering with evidence, lying to a police officer and filing a false report. She is currently on house arrest after her bail was reduced from $750,000 to $5,000 last week.
She allegedly told a detective investigating Rebecca’s murder that she was in a relationship with Falor on Nov. 24, the day before her sister’s body was discovered in the Manistee National Forest.
The affidavit filed in her case stated that this admission came two days after Kimberly was contacted by a detective when she claimed to have information about Cortney and Bradly’s alleged involvement in her sister’s murder.
In an interview just hours after she made that claim, per the affidavit filed in her case, Kimberly told a detective that Rebecca had died from a seizure after being struck on the head by Cortney and Bradly, 47, who she alleged then called a friend who took her sister’s body and dumped it in a swamp.
That allegation is what led prosecutors to file charges against Kimberly just a few days after she allegedly told police that she had provided false information to protect Falor, who she alleged was involved in the death of Rebecca.
The affidavit states that after being arrested and Mirandized following the discovery of her sister’s body on Nov. 25, Kimberly told detectives that Falor had told her on Nov. 4 that “he killed Rebecca Park and that he wanted to protect Kimberly by not sharing details with her.”
Furthermore, she alleged that Falor told her in a separate conversation that “something went wrong while trying to cut the baby out of Rebecca,” which is why just a few hours after Kimberly was booked into custody, deputies then arrested Falor on an open murder charge.
Investigators ultimately found no evidence to substantiate Kimberly’s claims, however, and Falor was arraigned on a drug charge and released from jail once Cortney and Bradly were charged with Rebecca’s murder.
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In her interview with investigators, Cortney claimed that she also had an affair with Falor.
Cortney said that after Rebecca and Falor broke up, she began dating her daughter’s ex, according to the affidavit. She told investigators that she was preparing to leave her husband for Falor, but ultimately had a change of heart at which time Falor reignited his relationship with Rebecca.
She also alleged in her interview with investigators that after they split, Falor came to her home “with the intention of shooting Bradly” and “raped her forcefully, causing her to have a miscarriage of the baby she was carrying,” according to the affidavit.
Authorities wrote in the affidavits that they learned over the course of the investigation that Cortney had allegedly sent Rebecca a photo of an $18,000 check on the day she went missing and informed her it was an inheritance from her dead grandmother.
They also discovered text messages Cortney had sent claiming to have given birth to a son who was hospitalized due to an early delivery but would be returning home soon, per the affidavit.
She then allegedly wrote that the child had died just a few hours after Rebecca’s murder.
Those texts and cell phone data which placed Cortney and Bradly in the area where Rebecca’s body was discovered led to their arrests, according to investigators.
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Wexford County Prosecutor Johanna Carey described the murder as “evil personified” at a court hearing arguing against Cortney and Bradly being offered bail.
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“Mr. Bartholomew brought Rebecca to their home, [he and Cortney] 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, and ultimately caused her death and the death of the baby. They then left Rebecca in the woods,” Carey said in court.
She called it a “case of premeditated torture and murder,” alleging that the Bartholomews “created a plan” and “conducted research.”
Both face one count each of first-degree murder, felony murder, torture, conspiracy to commit torture, assault on a pregnant individual causing miscarriage/stillbirth and conspiracy to commit assault on a pregnant individual causing miscarriage/stillbirth.
Each of those six charges carries a possible life sentence in prison.
They are also charged with one count each of unlawful imprisonment and removal of a dead body.
Public defenders for both Kimberly and Falor did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
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