Rebecca Park: Michigan Couple Charged in Brutal Murder of Pregnant Daughter; Baby Discarded in Cooler

on


Warning: This post contains distressing details. 

According to new court records, a Michigan woman and her husband allegedly lured their pregnant daughter to their home, where they brutally murdered her. 

After the crime, they cut her unborn baby from her womb before disposing of the infant's body in a trash cooler.

40-year-old Cortney Bartholomew and 47-year-old Bradly Bartholomew are currently charged in the death of their daughter, 22-year-old Rebecca Park, who was 38 weeks pregnant when she vanished.

Rebecca Park 

Rebecca Park 


According to NewsNation, Rebecca Park was last seen on November 3, 2025, and her disappearance led to an extensive community search in Wexford County. 

Tragically, on November 25, her remains were discovered in the Manistee National Forest, near Boon, but her baby was not with her.

Infact, it was Park's biological father who ultimately found her body when he and other volunteers were searching the woods near the Bartholomew home. 

From the start of the case, the victim's biological mother and stepfather provided false and changing accounts of what really happened to Rebecca.

The couple reportedly blamed several other people, including Park’s fiancé and sister, for her disappearance but after her remains were discovered, their lies were finally exposed. 

During the investigation, Park's mother and stepfather refused to take full responsibility of the crime and they pointed accusing fingers at each other.

Cortney Bartholomew told detectives that Bradly Bartholomew was the one who forced Park to the ground and stabbed her multiple times. When asked if her daughter could have survived, she reportedly told police, “No, probably not.”

However, she said that Rebecca was still conscious after the attack, so she claimed that she used a scalpel or hunting knife to cut the baby out "inorder to save the baby". 

She even claimed that she wanted to give the baby to Rebecca’s Fiancé after she had cut him out, but Bradly told investigators the infant “never took a breath” and that attempts at CPR failed.

After the crime, the couple left park for dead in the woods, while Bradley allegedly put the baby's remains in a lunch cooler, and dropped it in a garbage tote near a logging.

"Oh I Stuck him in a cooler and tossed it in the trash," Bradly reportedly told Cortney after he disposed the infant's body, as per official records. 

Bradly Bartholomew 

Cortney Bartholomew 


After an extensive investigation, detectives uncovered that the couple lured Park to their home on November 3, 2025, with a promise of inheritance money. 

They then forced her into a car and drove her into the woods behind their house where she was fatally stabbed and her baby taken out of her womb. 

However, the motive of the crime remains unknown as the couple have given different reasons for the attack. 

Bradly Bartholomew claimed his wife was driven by jealousy. He said that “Cortney was mad because Rebecca was always bad mouthing her and wouldn’t give her a chance to be a mom,” and that she “wanted the baby for herself.”

On the otherhand, Cortney Bartholomew first said that Bradly was the father of Rebecca’s child, and that was the reason he committed the crime, as per Cafe Mom.

Later, she claimed her husband killed Park and her unborn child to get back at Park’s fiancé, because he had reported Bradly for not registering as a sex offender.

During their first court appearance, Wexford County Prosecutor Johanna Carey told the court the couple researched and planned the killing.

“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,” Carey said in court.

Authorities believe Cortney Bartholomew killed her daughter and tried to steal the baby because she wanted a child of her own, as reported by Law&Crime. 

In the days before the murder, Cortney had even sent texts to family claiming she had given birth prematurely to a boy named Ashton. 

But on November 3, the day Park was last seen, she texted that the baby had died—a cruel fiction that prosecutors say was part of the elaborate plan.

Both Cortney and Bradly Bartholomew face multiple severe charges, including:
  • First-Degree Premeditated Murder
  • Felony Murder
  • Torture
  • Assault of a Pregnant Woman Causing Miscarriage/Stillbirth
  • Unlawful Imprisonment
  • Removal of a Dead Body

Both are being held without bond in the Wexford County Jail and each of these charge carries a potential life sentence. 

Rebecca Park’s adoptive mother, Stephanie Park, remembers her daughter differently than the horror of her final moments. “She deserves to be remembered as the sweet girl that she was when she was younger,” Stephanie Park told local news.

The investigation continues, so for updates on this case and other high-profile true crime stories, sign up for our free newsletter here. 



Comments

Post a Comment