Law&Crime Sidebar - Family Ripped Baby from Pregnant Daughter's Womb: Police

Episode Date: April 18, 2026

A young pregnant woman is found dead in a national forest in northern Michigan, her body mutilated, and her baby cut out and missing. The search for the killer quickly leads investigators to Rebecca Park's closest relatives: her biological mother Cortney Bartholomew, stepfather Brad Bartholomew, sister Kimberly Park, and fiancé Richard Falor. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber breaks down the twisted details of the case, featuring a rare look at newly released police bodycam footage, investigative reports, and shocking affidavits.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is really evil personified. A pregnant young woman missing for weeks past her due date is found dead underneath a pile of leaves. Her body mutilated, her baby nowhere to be found. And as shocking details of the crime start to spread, it's her own family that authority zero in on. It don't make sense to me either. This is so much stuff. Okay, so here's the situation that you're in, okay? Is anything you know on the back of your head like,

fucking adding up with Courtney here. We are getting a rare look, a new look, at how investigators from multiple agencies tackled this very complicated and oftentimes confusing case. Courtney's been saying for the last couple of months that she was taking this baby no matter what, no matter the measures. You're lying.

I mean, we could start there. And given the disturbing accusations against them now, some of the comments caught on police body cam are especially chilling. area up here it's gone because we need to figure it's otherwise somebody's going to die and we are going to break all of it down for you and put it all into context and give you a full 360 degree picture of this entire case right now welcome to sidebar presented by law and crime i'm jesse weber it has been almost six months since a 22-year-old mother nearing the end of her third pregnancy

preparing to welcome a little boy into the world instead was found dead in a a national forest in northern Michigan. Her baby had been cut out of her, nowhere to be found. Would have been a frantic search for Rebecca Park, it morphed into a search for her baby boy, a hunt for her killer. Rebecca's sister, Kimberly, reported her missing on November 4th, saying she'd last seen her the night before at the home of their biological mother, Courtney Barthamilu and her husband, Brad, and Boone Township. But it would be weeks later, November 25th, when Rebecca's body would be found in these leaves, about two and a half miles from Courtney's home off what's called a two-track or dirt road. She had been repeatedly stabbed.

According to the medical examiner, her baby was cut out of her. It was later determined by investigators that baby was dead too, though, to be clear, the body hasn't been found. In the days after Rebecca was found, the investigation really ramped up. And soon, four of her family members would be behind bars. Now, to be clear, they are charged with different crimes here. They are accused of having different roles in this whole story. So I want to be clear about this because really, the emphasis, all of the attention, the focus, is on two people, including her own mother, who would be charged with her torture and murder. That's the kind of story we're talking about here, okay?

Now, we got our hands on an investigative report that is more than 130 pages long, as well as the affidavits that were filed against the defendants, which gives us brand new insight into what the alleged perpetrators had to say for themselves. I'll give you a preview. Everybody appears to be pointing the finger at everybody else. And each one has their own story, their own narrative about a possible motive behind this brutal slaying. From an alleged revenge plot to claims of jealousy, you even have this purported scheme to steal Rebecca's newborn. And on top of all the information they were getting from the suspects, investigators were also dealing with the rumor mill, fueled by TikTok. Who'd you hear it from? I heard that all on TikTok.

Dude, it was all over TikTok live. See, I don't have one of that. I got Facebook, but Jesus Christ. Yeah, people were going bananas out there for sure. I was saying on TikTok about the people that were in the car. Have you seen that? No. I've been trying to stay off TikTok.

Okay. Yeah, this is a big case. A lot of attention to it. A lot of people had thoughts. At one point early on in the search for Rebecca, The Wexford County Sheriff's Department had to put out a statement about all of the wild theories and misinformation. Per WPBN, quote, social media rumors and online vitriol are creating significant challenges for our investigation. So how did we even get here? How did all this happen?

This is where I need to get you caught up, okay? So Courtney had given Rebecca and Kimberly up when they were young, and they were adopted into the Park family. That's based on the reporting. And since then, according to what multiple witnesses told police, they really hadn't spent much time with their biological mother. But in the days before Rebecca was reported missing, there seemed to kind of be this push to rekindle things. Rebecca, Kimberly had reportedly recently gone to Courtney's home for dinner with her and their stepdad Brad. On the day she disappeared, Rebecca had reportedly been hanging out with Courtney, seemingly planning to get milkshakes with her, talk about baby shower plans, and there are reports that Courtney had also planned to give Rebecca an envelope containing $2,000,

ostensibly to help with the baby. By the way, Rebecca was around 38 to 39 weeks pregnant at this sort. point she was due to give birth at any time. In fact, according to the investigative report, there was a claim she had gone to the hospital thinking she was in labor, but she was sent home. But then we go to November 4th. When no one had heard or seen Rebecca in hours, Kimberly reported her missing to the Wexford County Sheriff's Office. And according to the investigative report, Kimberly apparently told deputies that her mom, Courtney, told her that she had been with Rebecca and that they stopped by Courtney's house to pick up some detergent that Rebecca needed.

and Courtney was reportedly getting ready to take Rebecca home when Rebecca, according to her, told her to wait that someone was coming to give her a ride. According to what Courtney allegedly told Kimberly, who then told the police, Rebecca gets into this black car, possibly a Chevy Malibu, and left. Courtney had relayed she didn't see who the driver was, and Rebecca didn't say, and that was allegedly the last time she was seen. So search parties were organized. The rural area was combed.

No sign of Rebecca. It would actually be her birth father and her half-brother who would find her dead body. Reading from a Michigan State Police report on November 25, 2025 at approximately 2.20 p.m. While at the Wexford County Sheriff's Office, officers were advised that a deceased body was located on federal forest property that was covered with leaves and redacted. Officers were also advised that the biological father of Rebecca and Rebecca's half-brother located the deceased body. body. Think about that. Because of the unique tattoos, the body was believed to be that of Rebecca Park. Now, according to KBTX at one point, Kimberly had reportedly said that Rebecca was inside Courtney and Brad's home when she got hit on the head and started having a seizure, eventually

dying. This was one of the alleged narratives. But then you get more information that was eventually provided in an autopsy report that kind of cast doubt on this narrative. Why? Quote, an autopsy was conducted at Western Michigan University by Dr. Christine James and was attended by Deputy Alexis Howard. There were six sharp force wounds on Parks back, two to the right upper arm, one to the left trapezius area, two to the neck and at least two to the face. The right side of the face also had a laceration and an irregular wound to the cheek of unknown etiology. The wounds to the neck are described as superficial and do not penetrate muscle or harm any vasculature. Most of the wounds to the torso are contained in soft tissue.

One to the back enters the left plural space but misses the lung. One to the right side of the back enters the right plural space and does penetrate the right upper, I think it's lung lobe or linglobe, and caused a large pneumothorax. All major vessels are intact. It's a brutal crime. It is a brutal attack. So police interviewed Rebecca's biological dad and half-brother

because they provided details about what exactly they found in the woods. that day. Quote, he said they later saw a debit card next to the trail. Redacted got out to check it out and flipped it over with a leaf. He said it was fresh on top of all the other leaves. There were no leaves on top of it. Redacted flipped the card and it was found to belong to Redacted. He said he believed Redacted was dating Kimberly Park and was supposed to be in prison. He described this card was right at the, quote, crisp of the start of the trail. He said he had been in those woods cutting firewood with Brad and Brad knows those woods as good as he does. Reddack. started documenting it and he turned around and saw her head sticking out.

Redacted said, stay back, stay back as he wasn't sure if it was a plastic mask or not. He said redacted documented the scene, quote, real quick without bleeping anything up. They then left to get a rescue person and found two ladies in yellow jackets. They picked them up and took them to the scene. The two rescue people then went up to the scene where the body was. Now, after that, the search switched from a search for Rebecca to a search for her newborn. baby. First responders reported that Rebecca's uterus had been sliced open while she was still alive and the baby was removed. But where he had been, where he was taken, nobody knew. It was

anybody's guess. So detectives started to really hone in on those closest to Rebecca, her birth mother, Courtney, her stepfather Brad, her sister Kimberly, and her fiancé Richard Fowler, all important characters. Okay. So Richard, also known as Rich, was reportedly the father of Rebecca's baby, although it would later be alleged that Brad actually impregnated his stepdaughter. Yeah, we're going to get more into that claim in just a minute. But back to Richard, Rich, because this is where things get really messy. So Rebecca and Rich reportedly had been in a relationship for a while, then apparently broke up. And that is when Rich allegedly started having an affair with Rebecca's mom, Courtney.

It was reported by investigators that Courtney had allegedly told them she'd been planning to divorce Brad to be with Rich. but that apparently fell apart. So Rich seemingly got back together with Rebecca, and it's unclear if Rebecca knew that her mother had allegedly been in a sexual relationship with Rich. I know. So now Rebecca and Rich are back together, engaged, they're expecting a baby. But it turns out that Rich had allegedly someone else on the side. Rebecca's younger sister, Kimberly.

Yeah, Kimberly would later tell police that her relationship with Rich was complicated, understatement, considering that she's accused of lying to investigators misleading about Rich's alleged involvement in Rebecca's disappearance. We'll get to that. But by the end of November, Courtney, Brad, Kimberly, and Rich were all under arrest facing a variety of charges. Again, different charges, different alleged roles in everything, but the most serious of which were filed against Brad and Courtney. And to be clear, Kimberly and Rich haven't been charged directly with the killing or disposal of Rebecca's body. Okay? But according to Wexford County prosecutors, at a hearing on possible pretrial release.

The Barthamelius tortured and killed Rebecca Park. In this case, we have two individuals that created a plan. They conducted research. They brought Rebecca Park to their home. They forced her into a vehicle and took her into the woods where they stabbed her, forced her to lie on the ground while they cut her baby on her, ultimately causing her death and the death of the baby. This is as heinous and as awful the case as it could be.

And I don't believe there are any circumstances in which Mr. Barthow and you should be granted to any bond. So I want to dig into this investigative report and the stories that each of the defendants told detectives or allegedly told detectives as they tried to sort out what happened. Now, as we go through this, I do want to say there are parts of the report that are redacted, so it's likely to protect things like people's identities or certain pieces of information or evidence that investigators don't want out in the open just yet. Obviously, this is a sensitive crime. but to give you an example, you have one section that reads, Redacted stated after Rebecca went missing. Redacted told him that Courtney was trying to blame Redacted for why Rebecca was missing. He believed this was due to Courtney redacted.

However, with the help of the affidavits that were apparently filed against the suspects and brand new body cam footage, we are seemingly able to piece together what police learned. So I want to start with the footage of Brad and Courtney Barthamilu in their home on November 25th. So at this point, they have been told that Rebecca is dead, that the baby is missing. Forensic investigators from the crime lab are on scene so deputies are posted to keep an eye on the couple. They're apparently sitting together on a couch in the living room. Courtney appears to be on social media reading updates aloud about the daughter that she herself will later be accused of brutally killing. And Brad, arguably at times, seems uncomfortable.

If I open my phone right now, it would be blasting with people just going blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm sure there's pictures floating around the internet already. I hope not. I hope that. Oh, I'm sure there is, though, unfortunately. Because people just, they don't have the respect that they should do that kind of thing. I agree. Can't they get in trouble for that?

Because it is an open investigation if they post something like that. I don't know. to be honest. I don't know, but I'm curious. I don't know out there. He's got it posted. The body of Rebecca

Part 22 was discovered along A2 track road in Boone Township first reported missing three weeks ago. Rich is in jail. They just went and talked to it. He's in jail.

It's posted. Okay. Again, you can't believe everything else. The family has shared that the father of Rebecca's baby has been booked into the Wexher County Jail, according to the family. He allegedly stated during a call from the jail that he is being booked in connection with a homicide. This information has not yet been officially confirmed by law enforcement. Additional Life 360 shows that. 60 shows that Rebecca's sister, Kimberly Park, is currently at the...

We will continue to share verified updates as they come in. Please keep Rebecca and her family in your thoughts during this time. What the... There again, at social media, you can't believe everything you hear up. Rebecca Park has been found to see us according to her father. No new credible information has served to... the surface according to police. Tips mount with no investigation breakthroughs in Rebecca Park disappearance case.

This pregnant woman has allegedly been from. I hear there reporting out of things like that. I only want to think about it. And in, I don't know what you want to call this an interesting bit of foreshadowing maybe. Some of the social media information suggests Brad had been arrested. Oh, it wasn't arrested. No, I don't want to. Rebecca has been, she was found a seat in the backyard at Courtney's house.

Okay. In the backyard of this? Brad has been arrested. Hi guys. I didn't know I was in jail, did you? You prayed me for being in jail. Right. When did the jail start letting you smoke cigarettes?

I can drink mom do. Now, Courtney seems to suggest that her main concern is that someone might post photos of Rebecca's body online, and that she's shocked to learn that while they were speaking with officers, Rich had been arrested. It's just ridiculous. It's never going to stop. Then stop 14 a lot of them. I want to make sure somebody didn't post some stupid pictures that need to come down, you know? Well, I understand that.

to I don't know, it's like, take off of this. Get it through out of the pain of the family. That's how I feel. It's pointless. Do you even bother with it? You shouldn't be in jail right now? No, he shouldn't. But he shouldn't be threatening to do self-harm either.

You know? That's got to be hard. I can just imagine. I know what I'm going through. I can just imagine what he's going through. All right. But who's this different than mine? All right in front.

It was his baby. I gave bird to her. Yeah. That is my baby. Right. So Courtney seems to want to know how long the crime scene tax are going to take and announces that she really doesn't want this to take all night. And Brad kind of has an interesting aside here. Take a listen.

Does it normally take this long to process the scene? Everything's different. But, you know, it's a different. Every case is different. I don't know what they're dealing with. And even what they're looking for just because obviously this is a pretty unique situation. Obviously, super serious and important to everybody. They just want to make sure they make sure they're thorough about everything. I wonder how many people have freaking contaminated it.

We actually get cancers. So this is just doing all my things. I don't know how long they take. I'll be honest. I've never had to deal with something like this, so I have no idea. Because for God, I just come in, I don't know who he was, but he's like, you want to stay overnight? And I'm like, overnight. That's getting in all my thing all morning.

Right. So I do know the lab is here now. It sounds like they're starting to. Yeah. It sounds like they're starting to. to get some stuff around. So soon, and they'll probably be the ones to ask that question, too, because obviously they should have an idea how long it'll take.

I couldn't even begin to guess. Yeah, because I don't want to be able to fucking meet. I don't want to be able to night. And we're almost got to back over to. Oh, hell not. Oh, yeah. They better hurry up to get this time. They're not going to get it done, because we need to be able to be able to do.

cigarettes otherwise somebody's gonna die. Probably me, but somebody's gonna die. Isn't there tobacco in that hole? Very little. Oh hell of. We have cigarettes out in the car. There's so on the car. There's very few rolled out in the car.

There's like two, don't take home night, please. Right. Of course I'll let them do what they need to do. Right. I know that, that's what I'm saying. Just please don't take all night. I was glad to open it up. You got to remember them searching my house like that and using that limel, making sure there isn't blood. Yeah.

Also clears us. I know. I know it does. And that's what I... And they ain't going to find it. Quitely be happy to have them do this. I don't have to worry about anything. You don't have to worry about anything because there's nothing they're going to find anyway, but still.

Yeah, Courtney's still appearing to scroll social media and eventually gets a call from someone. with an update on Rich. That person is apparently hearing secondhand that Rich allegedly, quote, didn't show any remorse and didn't ask about the baby when he was told Rebecca died. And the caller seems to relay this to Courtney

who seemed shocked. Now eventually, the forensic technicians are ready to take photos of the inside of the house. The lab's ready to come in, but they can't have anybody in here when they do it. All they're going to do is take some pictures real quick

and then be out of here. not going to do searching or anything like that. There's nothing necessarily that we're looking for. But they just want to document the inside of this with photographs. I don't know. Can you get along with your cart a little bit and sit in that for 10 minutes or something like that? You know what I mean? Just long enough to them to the process.

What about the dogs? Is that up? That's outside? Yes, that's outside. There for right now. Okay. There's no dogs in here right now? No, they're all.

It's just perfect. Two dogs that were out there that were in here? Just two? Okay. Perfect. Two dogs. So if we can, yep, so we have you come out for 10 minutes, something like that. Okay, we don't have one in the car.

Yeah, that's what I'm good. Oh, in the car, which is good. Do you have a warrant? Yes, yep. Can I see it? Yep, we'll get that for you. Not a problem. No, trucks running, sort of warm up.

Okay, cool. All right, you guys can work on that, and then we'll get that in and out of here as fast as we can, then we'll be out of here. That's not all. This carpeting that's right here underneath here, it can be moved. Okay. There's not a problem there. Okay.

Because people put it out there that everything, the carpet's been ripped up or whatever. Okay. So you guys can pull it up where you can see. It's easier on that side. It's easier over there. You might have to move the chair and the crate a little bit, pull that corner back. Okay. I'll let them know that.

Because I would rather just know that you can look underneath it. Everything, not have any problem. And we'll actually move back. a copy of the search warrant. You don't have to put the drug back or anything out for the back. Sounds good. All right. Yeah, as soon as you guys are out there, we'll get started.

I want to zero in on Bradley. Bradley Barthamma, you right now, okay? So the now 48-year-old apparently told detectives that he and Courtney had been together for eight years. They lived together most of the time in Her Boone Township home with their teenage son from a different relationship, though Brad tells police that he also lives part-time and a tent a few miles away. So Brad reportedly has a long criminal history, according to probably.

which includes everything from forgery and driving without a license to attempted larceny, receiving stolen property. Oh, and Brad is also apparently a registered sex offender. According to Michigan's registry, he was convicted of criminal sexual conduct with a person between the ages of 13 and 15 in 2011 and in 2017. He was convicted of possessing child sexual abuse material. Now Courtney and Brad have previously been questioned by police about Rebecca's disappearance before her body was found.

And we have learned that Brad allegedly failed. his polygraph. To be clear in Michigan, the results of a polygraph exam. They aren't necessarily or typically admissible in court as far as we understand, but they are a powerful tool in investigations to confront suspects about possible lies. So on November 25th, after delivering the bad news, a Michigan state police detective asks Brad to come out to his car to talk in private and his body camera's rolling. Now, to be clear, some of the names and other details were muted by the law enforcement agencies before they sent us the raw video, but just take a look. I'm going to ask you a bunch of questions, and I know a lot of the stuff you've already been asked,

but I just need to clarify in my own mind. Like I said, I don't know you, but I want to make sure that I feel like what you're telling me is 100% the truth. Right. Okay, so tell me about your polygraph. I failed my polygraph. What were the questions? If I knew where Rebecca was or had knowledge of where she was, if I've hurt Rebecca or had knowledge of who hurt Rebecca, they word them very weird. Now, one of the reasons that law enforcement really honed in on Brad and Courtney is because they were apparently the ones who found Rebecca's cell phone on a dirt road not far from their home.

And that phone apparently went through quite a few hands before it made it to investigators. So according to Brad, Rich was able to access the phone's location and sent a screenshot of it. Explain to me how the phone was located. Walk me to it. The phone was located. I got here. Courtney was in the escape. She showed me a photograph, which labeled this road.

and 26. Okay. And you can see where our driveway is on it also. It shows you the driveway on it. It was like a satellite photo. And I'm like, you realize that to cross the road. She's like, where? I said, just drive over here and we'll go down 26.

She's like, okay. So she drove across. And the only two track that shoots off in the direction that it curved off, two from here is the one off to the right. There's only one down there that curves off to the right. And that would be the best place to start. It seems so I figured that's the only place you could get a car down in and I don't see her walking very far. She's 38 weeks pregnant at that time. She wasn't walking very far. Rebecca wasn't. So I started walking down then. I got out and I walked the trip. I stayed in the dirt from the tires. I stayed in them tracks.

I walked it, and when I got up to the little bit of a clearing curve, a little bit of a curve, her phone was sitting right there just about that far off from the dirt trail that I was walking in. I stopped, I pointed at it, I picked it up, and I handed it to Courtney in the window with a truck. They escaped. Courtney shut it off. I took over driving because she can't drive her. She doesn't like the drive. She can. She has a license and everything, but she doesn't like to. Rebecca's boyfriends.

She has a code on her phone. We all know this, because Kimmy would always state, we both have codes on our phones, we both know each other's codes. He knows Rebecca's code. We took it over to him so that he could get in it so we could see who she talked to last. He said it was too dark. He couldn't get in it and do it at that point in time. He couldn't see it. Courtney and I, we backed out the driveway and left. I guess the later that day, Kimberly went and got it, hooked it to her laptop computer and supposedly corrupted her computer. And that's when I come to you guys, well, to the county. Yeah, you can tell by the look on the detective's face that seemingly he's doing his best to follow Brad's story,

but he might be getting information that conflicts with what he's been told by others. Why do I say that? Because law enforcement, for example, had been told that Courtney told him. Kimberly about the black car. But Brad claims, right, it was the other way around. And in fact, according to Brad, Kimberly herself was in that car. Again, at least seemingly according to Courtney, Courtney was supposed to go over and pick Rebecca up to take her out to get ice cream. And to give her $2,000. Then Rebecca sat there and said that she needed typos for laundry because she was nesting for the baby. Wanted to get laundry and everything clawed up, everything done that needed to be

done. Which I'm going to do it all the time. time, unfortunately. If you have kids, you know this. I'm sure. And they came here, I guess. They sat in the driveway. They talked. Courtney went in because Courtney says they were playing in a baby shower or something. And we did. We went out and got a bunch of baby stuff for her. So I know that she really wanted to keep this baby, Rebecca did. And I was hoping she'd get her stuff together. I told that she got into a black car, and she told her mom that she'd be back. Where was the black car? I don't know for sure.

I wasn't here. Where were you? I was in my tent. Where's your tent? Over in Harriet. So you're all the way over in Harriet? I've been here the last almost three weeks now because of the other thing that's going on. Where did Courtney say the car was?

Across the street. They backed out the driveway. They backed out the driveway, and she went to go pull forward, and Rebecca's like, hold on, Mom. I had somebody come in to get me, supposedly. That's what Courtney was telling me. So she got out of Courtney's car to get in this car? Yes.

And what you're telling me now is that Kimberly now says that she was in that car? Yes. And she told Rebecca that, sorry. And she told Courtney that last night. No, she told her that Saturday. Saturday night. Saturday. When she came and got her stuff out of her truck.

Well, whose car did she say it was? She didn't. Courtney didn't tell me whose car she said it was. If she even said it, I don't know. Okay. It don't make sense to me either. This is so messed up. It does not make sense to me.

So here's the situation that you're in, okay? If you really are in a tent over in here yet, and I'm not saying that you're lying. I'm just saying you got to think about things from my standpoint, too. It's cold. Yeah. I have car hurts and I have everything. Yeah.

But what I'm saying is you know a lot more than what you are reporting to me. Because there are things that are being said that I know have been said by Courtney. and there's also things that Kimberly's reporting, and then there's also things, and this circular thing is going on where people are starting to accuse, accuse, accuse, and some of it actually makes sense. Some of it does, but some of it doesn't.

So what I don't want to happen is I don't want to see you get falsely accused of being a participant, in a homicide when that's actually not the part that you were involved in. Right. Okay, because I don't believe for a minute that you weren't involved at all. Okay, I've been doing this. No, no, no, no, no. You don't understand.

Like, way too long. Okay. I've been doing this job for too long, okay? And I've talked to a lot of people and I've heard a lot of stories. Keyword stories. Yeah, that is a key word. It's a very, a keyword, but there are details. that you're giving me too that are true.

So what I want to know right now is what you're willing to tell me what your involvement was. And then I can decide if I feel like you're culpable for anything, like you're actually guilty of anything. Because if all you did was help out after, then right now would be the time to tell me that.

I'm not making any promises. I'm just telling you that if there was ever a time, like, I'm like the last person that you get to talk to. So are you telling me I need to have a lawyer? I'm not telling you need a lawyer because you are not under arrest. If you were under arrest, you would certainly have the right to have an attorney present and have a lawyer and you'd be Mirandized. You're not under arrest. There's a reason why you're not under arrest because I need your help.

And I don't think you committed this homicide. But that's the biggest reason. No. No. But unfortunately, you know things. There are things that you know that the police haven't been actually told. And there are details that you can give me that would significantly help our investigation. And it would also significantly help you not be implicated as a primary suspect in them.

The only thing she's told me is that the black car pulled up. She supposedly got in the car at 8.30. That now it's supposedly Kimberly that was in the car and sent it to Kimberly. And then Kimberly sent it to her mom. Did she tell you that Kimberly was on a bus somewhere and she was having her baby in a different stage? I mean, come on, man. Like, you had to have heard this. I heard that she went to Tennessee.

Yeah. Who did you hear it from? I heard that all on TikTok. Okay, but Courtney's saying the shit. But see, I'm not always here. Okay, all right, man. Like, if you don't want to look like you're involved in this, then you need to tell me what you know.

Like, I'm actually trying to help you. It might not seem like that right now, but I'm the one who's coming in and saying, okay, it don't look good for Courtney. And I'll admit that. I told her that right from the get-go. So who helped her get rid of the body then? I don't know if she did anything.

Well, what do you mean? She was the last person with her and her phones across the road. Of course she did something. And then her body was transported and dumped up the road. I mean, this is like textbook like, no, no, no, no, no. Too many mistakes were made. Right. Like, I'm just saying, like, this is not good.

And you live here with her. And don't live with her. Whatever. Okay, so you live in a tent, but I mean, do you ever sleep here? I have been in the last few. Yeah. I mean, like, are you guys married? Yeah, we're married. Okay. So this is your wife. I mean, like, okay, so, so you're like, you're trying to, like, distance yourself from her and it's just like, I know you guys, it sounds like you guys got a relationship. We do. I'll agree with that. We do. But at the same time, you're still here, man, after eight years. So a few minutes later, the detective interrupts Brad to ask him,

why Courtney, his wife, would essentially be trying to make him look guilty, right? So we've cross-referenced official records with this body cam, and the name that has been muted out appears to be Rich. Again, Rebecca's fiancé and, by the way, as I mentioned before, I don't know, alleged lover of Courtney and Kimberly. I walked around with him, and he walked the whole perimeter, Grandma's property and this property. Why would she be trying to make you look guilty?

I don't know. I know, but does she think you did it? Who? Courtney? No, she tells me that there's no way I did anything. Because she knows who did it. Right. This is my opinion.

Tell me who did it. I don't know who did it. Okay, but tell me who you think did it. I think her is who I think did it. And that broke the ignition out of it because the ignition broke out of it. I'm not here all the time. I have been in the last since we're like to call it missing. I've been here.

But before that, no. Why do you think they did it? Jealousy. Explain that to me. The fact that Rebecca was what I mean, so you're out of two birds with one stone, per se, by telling me, telling them that I did it.

So basically, they each get rid of the person that they don't want to be with. Right. So they... It can be together. and they'll do everything in their power to point the finger at you now, because she's already out of the picture.

So based on this interview, it seems Brad is putting the blame on Courtney and Rich. I think that's a fair argument. But he really doesn't stop there because he seems to bring Kimberly into the mix, too. According to an affidavit, Brad had allegedly told an investigator just one day before this that he was, quote, present during a dinner with Courtney Barthamalew, Rebecca Park and Kimberly Park, on Saturday, November 1st, 2025. During this time, Bradley said that Kimberly had a private conversation with him asking about the two tracks behind the house. And then Kimberly stated, she needed to get Rebecca, quote, out of the picture.

November 30th, Courtney and Brad were arrested. They were separated. They were interrogated. Now, at first, Brad kind of seems to stick to his story that his wife and Rich were the killers. You go to the affidavit, quote, he said that Courtney was talking to him. about how she enriched did something horrible, but she wouldn't tell him. He claimed that once the story of Rebecca came about of her being missing, he began to put two and two together. Bradley reported that Courtney threatened that if he said anything, she'd

make his life hell. But eventually, Brad allegedly admitted that he and Courtney were the ones to drive Rebecca out to the woods. But he is seemingly adamant that he didn't do anything violent, that it was all Courtney. The affidavit reads, Bradley described that the actual stabbing began when, quote, Courtney just grabbed the knife and started stabbing at her. The knife had been down on Courtney's right. He said she stabbed her in the chest as far as he knew, but said he jumped out of the truck when Courtney started swinging so he wasn't sure. Now, the charging documents also reveal that Courtney might have planned to keep the baby for herself. That's an allegation. According to Brad, Courtney seemingly wanted a child and they couldn't

adopt because of his sex offender status. So the affidavit says Bradley agreed that he believes that Courtney is capable of slicing open her own flesh and blood and taking a baby out. He agreed that Courtney is obsessed with wanting another baby in her care and custody. He also agreed that it was a good possibility she could attack Rebecca and cut a baby out of her. So this investigative report indicates that the baby didn't survive this brutal attack on his mother. And Brad allegedly told detectives that he never heard the baby cry, never saw the baby move, Claim that the child's body went back with them to the house where he was put into a small cooler bag and eventually put into a dumpster. His body has never been found.

All right. So you were going to show us the dumpster where the... Yes. Okay. And in just a minute, we are going to show you the body cam video of Brad seemingly directing a detective to the places that he allegedly dumped evidence as well as where Rebecca died. Okay, so we'll get that in a second. But that was Brad's story, right? What about Courtney? So we haven't received her recorded interviews from investigators yet, but

charging documents seem to lay out disturbing allegations against her. According to Courtney, her daughter's torture and murder had been at the hands of Brad and that she couldn't stop him. See the finger pointing? So she apparently told investigators about this alleged feud between her husband Brad and, again, her supposed one-time lover, Rich. Courtney seems to claim that Rich have reported Brad to law enforcement for allegedly violating rules related to his sex offender status, and she reportedly told police that Brad cooked up this plan to hurt Rebecca as a way to punish rich. Now, Courtney also allegedly said that Rebecca's baby had actually been fathered by Brad, not rich. To be clear, there was no further information about that claim, but by gosh, per this affidavit,

Courtney claims that she confronted Brad the day after the crime lab photograph their home. and she says he launches into this expletive-laden tirade saying, rich, mess with the wrong person. Quote, she agrees this is all a revenge plot. Courtney said that when she asked him what he did to her daughter, Bradley said, I slit her bleeping throat, the Bserved it. She goes on to say that he said rich deserved it too and it just happened to be your daughter that's going to pay for it. Courtney said when she asked about her grandson, she said, Bradley said,

oh, I stuck him in a cooler, stuck him in a trash bag. threw him in the trash. Now, many of Courtney's answers indicated that this was some sort of premeditated plot. And investigators wanted to know why Courtney, if this is true, if these allegations are true, didn't do anything to stop Brad before it went this far. Here's a sample. Quote, revisiting the conversation she had with Bradley a month prior about C-sections, she reported that he looked it up on his phone. When asked why they were having that discussion, Courtney answered, because that's what he said was going to happen. She said he told her he was going to cut the baby out of Rebecca right in front of Rich. Courtney said she brushed it off.

Now Courtney reportedly told investigators that Brad forced her and Rebecca to ride in the truck out to the woods. And she apparently claims that he's the one who attacked Rebecca and that she had to make the quick decision to get a scalpel out of the truck's glove box and cut out the baby, even saying that Rebecca, who was still alive, told her to do it. From the affidavit, Courtney said she never stabbed Rebecca. She was only responsible for trying to save her grandson when asked if she thought she should have tried to save her daughter, Courtney said she couldn't. So Courtney claims that she planned to turn the baby boy over to the authorities so he could be returned to her father, Rich, but when he didn't survive, he was placed into this soft-sided cooler bag.

Now, I mentioned that Brad seemingly at one point took these two detectives to the scene of the crime. Remember, it's captured on tape. But he's kind of vague about how and why exactly he, Courtney and Rebecca ended up in this wooded area. And he also apparently showed them locations of at least two dumpsters where he allegedly disposed of the knife that was used to stab his stepdaughter. First section here where you pull up and go to the right, go to the right. And that's the dumpsters in right here. So first right and the dumpster right here on the left. The GFL dumpster?

Okay. And how did you pick this particular apartment complex and that dumpster? My wife used to live here. Okay. Did it fall into the first one? And when was it that you dispose of that knife? Wednesday. Okay.

Wednesday the fifth. Okay. So it was a couple days after everything happened? Correct. Okay. And just pulled around like you just hit and then just... It was done. And what time of day was that?

It was probably about 3.30. In the afternoon? Yeah. Okay. And was it in anything? No. Okay. Is it in a towel or in a baggie or anything? Just, no. Okay. And describe the knife to me? It was like a honey knife. Okay. With a foldable blade or you're fixed? Okay.

About how long? Probably about five inches. Okay. Was it your knife? No. Okay. Do you know? Who's it was? Courtney. It was hers. Do you know what brand it was?

No, I do not. Was there any blood or anything out that you could see when you threw it in there? I wasn't paying attention to it. Oh, okay. I just wanted it out of my hand. Yeah, there's a lot of confusion surrounding the timeline in Brad's version of events because he claims at one point that one vehicle, the couple's escape, was out on the trail and at other time says it was this Ford pickup.

And the detective questions Brad about that. So Rebecca wasn't with you and you came out here in the escape? Correct. Where was she? She was already out here, Pat, so I just, I have a feeling. She was already out here. Okay. So you brought the pickup truck out here with Rebecca.

Okay. Did what you did. Yes. Went back to the house. And then you're saying you came back out here again in the escape? Yes. Okay. What did you do when you came back out here in the escape?

escape. All right. So. And Rebecca was still alive then. So Rebecca was out here by herself for a long time? No. Probably 10 minutes. 15 minutes. Could she not run? Could she not get away?

She's pregnant. She was 38 weeks. Right. You guys left in the pickup truck and came back. Why did you switch? Because Courtney wanted the towel and a blanket. They escaped. What was Courtney like on the way back? When you guys were tempted to escape? What was her demeanor like?

Frustrated. Becca. In general or about something specific? In general. Did she have killed her? Not at that point, no. Because they feels like it feels like it's a little. Like the girls don't appreciate her as a mom.

Did you guys talk on the way back to the house? No. Didn't say anything at all. I didn't want to know any of what was going on for sure. I jumped down and you're still going down the trail. That looks very familiar. That one right there? No.

Like no more. It's actually a stumped that's standing up. Right. So you think it happened right here? I think so. Okay. And so after she was killed, she was left right there near that stump and then covered up with leaves? Yes.

Okay. And when the detectives questioned Brad about the clothes that he had been wearing on the night of the stabbing, he seemingly makes such a chilling comment. Claiming that the clothes Courtney was wearing when she was arrested are allegedly the same clothes she was wearing. the night of the murder. So then you go to Kimberly, Rebecca's younger sister and the one who reported her missing, she would end up under arrest as well. However, the charges that she faces are connected to the alleged obstruction of the investigation, that it's reportedly trying to mislead police. On November 25th, after Rebecca was found, that same detective who had interviewed Brad also interviewed Kimberly outside the home where she was staying. And one of the things that he immediately focused

on was all the rumors that were swirling on social media about the case because Kimberly had reportedly participated in several TikTok live streams, according to the affidavit that was filed against her. And the affidavit also says on Saturday, November 22nd, 2025, Kimberly Park made statements on a social media live broadcast that she was aware of information that Courtney Barthamilu and her husband, Brad Barthamilu, had something to do with Rebecca Park's disappearance. Detective Peace Corps interviewed Kimberly Park on the same date, and she reported that Courtney and Brad had struck Rebecca Park in the head to cause her to have a seizure. And when they were unable to revive Park from the seizure, Brad contacted a friend who came

and picked up Rebecca Park's body and took it away. Park said that Brad had said something about a swamp. But when this other detective interviewed her days later, her story had seemingly changed. What do you think happened to your sister? I don't think Clinton is rather responsible. Why do you think that? Because of Quentin's comment that she, She wanted that baby no matter what.

Okay. I'm sorry. She wanted that baby no matter what? She was well convinced. She was taking that baby regardless. Okay, so Courtney wanted to take Rebecca's baby. Right? Okay.

And how did she say that? Is it something that she posted or she said that? Straight to mind in Rebecca's faces. Okay. We were out there Saturday for this dinner. Uh-huh. So how was she going to take it? Did she say how she was going to take this baby? She never said how she was going to.

The whole I told P.S.C. The other day that Courtney and Bed were responsible. I had a feeling she was nearby. You had a feeling she was nearby? Like geographically nearby? Like close to the location you were at? Close to Courtney and Pratt's. House?

Okay. Why did you tell Courtney that Rebecca left, like, went to Tennessee? I never said that to Courtney. You never said that to Courtney? No. Okay. Courtney was starting a rumor about it. Okay.

Did you ever tell Courtney that you were in the car that picked her up? No. That's the car that I drive. Okay. But you never told her that you were in the car that picked her up from the house? No, Courtney was trying to say I was. I never was. I was here. I talked to my baby daddy and I went to bed. I got up for work the next morning. You never left the house?

Courtney called me while I was here saying that Becca got in a car with somebody. So Courtney would allegedly later tell a detective that she made up the story about the black car, according to the incident report. It's unclear whether Kimberly knew, Courtney was allegedly lying or not when she relayed that information. But in body camp footage, Kimberly can be seen telling the detective that this is a frame job. The other question, I have a lot of other questions for you. Like I want to just, I just wanted to figure out like what, like, why Courtney would tell me that. Is that too bright for you?

Why she would tell me that? Because she wants to frame me. She wants to frame you? Mm-hmm. You reported to the police that your mom said that she hit your sister over the head. Did you make that report? I made the report and that's what they told me that they did. Who told you that?

Courtney and Brad straight out. Courtney and Brad told you what? Tell me what they told you straight out. That they were the ones that hit her. They were the ones that, from what they said, murdered her. and they were taking the baby and now they were just playing this game of how to get rid of his date, get rid of her.

When did they tell you that? The day after she disappeared. But they threatened me and my daughter to stay silent. Okay. My doctor, mom promised me that nothing was going to happen to my daughter so I could tell.

Okay, so you're telling me that Courtney and Brad confess to you that they killed Rebecca and Courtney has been saying for the last couple months that she was taking this baby no matter what no matter the measures

you're lying I mean we could start there okay that's that's not true they did not tell you that okay so we're going to have to get to a point where we can actually talk to each other

and just tell the truth. Because you want truth from me, and I want truth from you. And we're at a point right now where you're in some... Okay? You're not under arrest or anything like that, but I need to get to a point where

if Kimmy is going to be honest with me, I'll do whatever I can to help Kimmy out if she's not the one that actually killed her. Okay. I wouldn't do that. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. But I can tell you right now that Courtney and Brad are not going to confess a homicide to you. That doesn't happen. I don't know if it was a profession.

No, it didn't happen. Okay. We're not going to play games right now. I didn't come here to play, figure it out, figure it out, detective. I've been doing this for 30 years now, okay? So let's start from the beginning and you tell me what happened, okay? And then I'll figure out how culpable you are and what, if anything, I can do to help you. But I can tell you right now, honesty is the only thing that's going to help you right now. Telling me a bunch of lies about courts. and Brad admitting that they did this, that ain't going to work.

People that do this, they don't tell people. Okay? I know you were involved. You need to tell me to what degree. We have a lot of evidence right now. Okay? I'm not going to tell you what the evidence is, because that's not how the police work.

The police work like this. You tell me something. I'll tell you something. and then I'll do what I can to help you out. Can't make you any promises, but I need to know if it was an accident and not something that you intended to happen or if you were just physically present when it did happen, now is the time to talk to me because this is your last chance. And the detective confronts Kimberly with the information about her being in this sexual

relationship with Rich. again, her sister's lover, fiancé, boyfriend, and she seemingly admits, yes, it's true, and then allegedly claims that Rich killed Rebecca and the baby so that he and Kimberly could be together. Now as a reminder, Rich's name, or this name appears to be muted in the body camp video. I knew she knew anyways from the way he acted. But I never hurt my sister. Your sister. I don't know if he did or not.

He shut me out ever since she left that night. He refuses to talk to me. The only time he ever talks is sending me threatening messages. I know that you're involved in this. Not involved in this. I would never hurt my sister. I love her way too much. Then who did it?

Oh, who did it. So the detective lets Kimberly go inside the house to use the bathroom. And when she comes back out, she is immediately put into handcuffs. Put your hands behind your back. Yeah. This one's been in a little bit. Careful. Okay, here's what we're going to do.

So you're under arrest because you can't knowingly provide false information to the police when they're investigating a missing person complaint that results in a homicide. Okay? So you can't do that. So that's a no-no. So I'm not talking about you not being a. honest with me in the beginning. Okay, I'm talking about the information that you intentionally provided to the detective on the behalf of, I guess, what, I don't know, do we

call them your boyfriend? I mean, it kind of sounds like you guys were a boyfriend, girlfriend. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to Miranda as you now, okay? Because now you're under arrest. Um, and, and if it makes sense to you, I had to arrest you. I didn't want to arrest you right now, but I had to arrest you based on the information that you gave me. Okay? I couldn't not arrest you now that you told me that you intentionally told the police a false story to cover for him because you guys, you know, were doing this thing to where you were going to eventually be together.

Okay. I wouldn't be doing my job as a police officer. Okay. Do you understand these rights that I? have explained to you, Kemi? Yes. Okay, so I just want to talk to you about what we already talked about, okay? So are you willing to give up these rights and answer my questions at this time?

Yes. Okay. All right. Why did you tell Courtney that you were in the car? I never said I was in the car to her. She's the last person I'd rather talk to. So she lied to me? Yes, she did.

Okay, why did you intentionally give the detective? Do you know which detective I'm talking about? Mr. Peace Corps. Why did you intentionally tell Mr. Peace Corps that Courtney was involved in this? Why did you do that? Why did you tell her that Courtney and Brad did this? If I didn't, I was going to end up like her. And what did you interpret that to mean that you would end up like her?

Just disappear. Just disappear with no explanation. And when you refer to her, who are you talking about? My cissy. Your cissy is who? Rebecca. Rebecca. Okay.

Now, what types of discussions and plans did you, about getting her out of the picture so the two of you could be together? The only thing is dump her and leave her. Dump her body? No. Like break up with her. That's the only thing you said to him? Yes.

Okay. So now when she went missing, say to you after she went missing. I didn't say anything. No, I mean, what did he tell you when you asked him about it? All I said was, I took care of it. Don't worry about it. He said I took care of it.

What did you interpret that to mean? What did you think that meant? I thought he just broke up with her. She just randomly dipped out. Not he killed her. He wouldn't tell me what happened. His only answer, don't worry about it. Don't worry about it.

You don't need to know anything so you can't go down for it. Well, he told you to lie for him to the police. That was a horrible idea. of his, because now it got you in trouble. That's why you're sitting here in handcuffs. So if he told you other things, I mean, he really screwed you over here. He even left your baby's daddy's card at the scene. Like, I mean, tell me that's not intentional.

Like, that looks not so good. Like he's trying to, you know, make it look like it was somebody else where it turns out the guy whose card it was couldn't even have did it because he's in prison. but his baby's mama isn't in prison and it points the finger back at you. Do you see what I'm saying? Like he made it look like you were involved. What he did. If he would have told me that he did something to hurt, how would have been sent to go into the police.

But he wouldn't give me a straight-up answer. Now Kimberly says that she wants to continue her interview with the detective that she spoke to originally, Detective Peace Corps. So they take her to meet him. That part of the interview wasn't released on video, but here is what she apparently or reportedly said per an affidavit. Quote, Kimberly Park identified that on Tuesday, November 4th, 2025, while she was at Richard Fowler's home,

he told her that he killed Rebecca Park and that he wanted to protect Kimberly by not sharing details with her. Park identified that during a different conversation with Fowler, he had told her that something went wrong while trying to cut the baby out of Rebecca. She reported that Fowler told her that another man had helped him with Rebecca. Park said that Fowler had also been encouraging her to mislead the investigation, and it was the reason she was sharing misleading information on social media live broadcasts.

Park told Detective Peace Corps that Fowler was becoming concerned about the investigation getting close to him, and that on the Thursday or Friday before Saturday, November 22nd, 2025, Fowler assisted her with the creation of her accusation that she made to Detective Peace Corps during the interview on that date. So what happens? Kimberly is charged with tampering with evidence, lying to police, and making a false report. She apparently posted a portion of a $5,000 bond

released on December 3rd. This is per 9 and 10 news. Back to Richard Fowler, right? How's he fit into all this? Remember, he was the first one of the group to be arrested in connection with this homicide investigation. However, as I mentioned,

he has not been implicated directly in the death of Rebecca Park. He faces different kind of charges. According to an interview that Outlet Michigan Live did with Rich's father, Rich was arrested when he reported for a required sex offender registry check-in. Oh, yeah, Rich, like Brad, is also reportedly a registered sex offender. So the registry website shows five convictions for sex crimes dating all the way back to 2003. The convictions include criminal sexual conduct and the third degree with a person between the ages of 13 and 15, accosting a child for immoral purposes.

and criminal sexual conduct against an incapacitated victim. But the charges that he faced at the end of November reportedly had to do with drugs. Yes, so Rich would end up being arraigned on two counts of delivery manufacture of a controlled substance, specifically methamphetamine, this is according to a felony complaint, and for being a habitual offender, meaning he has more than three felony convictions on his record.

So the investigative report includes these notes from a couple of interviews with Rich. So on the day that Rebecca's body was found, the document says, quote, redacted explained that a lot of what he knows is because of what Kimmy and Courtney have told him. He said he didn't know his fiancee was dead until today. Now, Rich reportedly agreed to do a polygraph, which we have since learned from the police report. He allegedly failed. And at the same time, investigators apparently got word of Kimberly's arrest and her accusation that it was Rich and Courtney who killed Rebecca. And that's when

Rich was first initially taken into custody on suspicion of murder, but he was never actually officially charged with that crime. So a few weeks after his arrest, according to court records, Rich posted a portion of a $25,000 bond and was released. So for now, Rich and Kimberly appear to be both out on bond. Their connections to this case have certainly kept them in the spotlight, but it is Brad and Courtney where the real focus is on, right? They're both locked up without bomb. They both face charges of first-degree murder, felony murder, torture, unlawful imprisonment, assault with intent to cause a miscarriage or stillbirth, and removing a dead body. And if convicted, they face mandatory sentences of life in prison. Now, the Barthamilu's defense attorneys have called

out the state in court several times over the last few months, saying, for example, in January, that they still hadn't received any discovery in this case from prosecutors, you know, material evidence. And then in March, they requested that both defendants receive mental competency evaluations to determine if they understand the charges against them and whether or not they can participate in their own defense and whether or not this case can proceed towards trial. The defense, by the way, has also reportedly requested that a temporary hold be put on releasing Rebecca's body to her family in order to give time for an independent autopsy. So that's interesting because that's where you get into this idea of maybe there's an alternative cause of death. Okay. Rebecca's adoptive mother, though, Stephanie told 9 and 10 news that she understood. understood the delay in making final arrangements for Rebecca. Quote, I understand them extending her release because I want to have all the evidence for both

sides so that it can't be thrown out over some technicality that had to do with it. That body is not her. She's up in heaven doing gardening or whatever she wants to do. That body, it's just evidence. That's all that it is now. And Stephanie says she hopes to have a public memorial service for Rebecca sometime this spring. 9 and 10 news reports that the Barthamil user do back in court in mid-May when we could maybe learn new updates on the progress that this case is making. And I'll just say this. I'll end on this

point. No matter who the killer is or what their alleged motive was behind such a horrific attack, the consequence is the same. A young mother lost her life. A young boy was taken from this world and a family was shattered. I just want to say our thoughts, our prayers, our well-wishes, they're with Rebecca's loved ones, as not only they're now having to sort through this, legal process, but just they have to come to terms with what all of this means. That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcast. You can also check us out on NBC's Peacock. If you want to follow me, X Instagram, my News Nation Show, Jesse Rubber Live,

Monday through Friday, 11 p.m. Eastern. See you next time.