Michigan Mother Accused of Killing Pregnant Daughter as Court Hears Shocking New Testimony

Cortney Bartholomew, 41, and her husband Bradley Bartholomew, 48, were present in court last week for a preliminary hearing for their alleged involvement in the murder of their daughter, 22-year-old Rebecca Park, and their grandchild.

A Michigan mother accused of killing her heavily pregnant daughter and taking her unborn baby is facing renewed scrutiny after the daughter’s fiancé revealed an unexpected relationship from the family’s past.

Cortney Bartholomew, 41, and her husband, Bradley Bartholomew, 48, appeared in court last week for a preliminary hearing connected to the deaths of 22-year-old Rebecca Park and her unborn son.

The hearing is intended to determine whether there is sufficient evidence for the case to proceed to trial on charges including first-degree murder and assault of a pregnant individual resulting in death.

Both defendants are accused in the case, but the allegations remain to be proven at trial.

Rebecca Park’s fiancé reveals past relationship with her mother

Richard Falor, the fiancé of Parks and father of her deceased baby boy, testified about a prior ‘sexual relationship’ with her mother, Cortney.

Among the most striking testimony came from Richard Falor, Park’s fiancé and the father of her unborn child.

Falor testified that before becoming involved with Park, he had previously had a sexual relationship with her mother, Cortney.

According to his testimony, the relationship lasted from April until September 2023. Falor said it ended approximately one month before he began dating Park in October of that year.

He also told the court that during his relationship with Cortney, she had expressed a desire to have another child despite saying that she was physically unable to do so.

The revelation introduced another complicated element into a case already involving extraordinary allegations about what happened to Park during the final days of her pregnancy.

Park disappeared while 39 weeks pregnant

Cortney Bartholomew, 40 and Bradley Bartholomew, 47 are accused in the death of Rebecca Park and her unborn baby.

Park was 39 weeks pregnant when she vanished.

Her body was discovered on November 25 in Huron-Manistee National Forest, near her mother’s home in Boon Township, approximately three weeks after she had been reported missing.

Her unborn baby was not present at the location where Park was found, according to the report.

During the preliminary hearing, Falor also described the events immediately preceding Park’s disappearance.

He testified that Park’s water broke on the evening before she vanished. A friend began driving the couple toward a hospital, but Falor said Cortney attempted to stop their vehicle so that she could take her daughter herself.

The group continued to the hospital instead.

Park was eventually discharged without giving birth.

Prosecutors allege an inheritance check was used to lure her

22-year-old Rebecca Park, and their grandchild were both murdered.

Prosecutors allege that the following night, Cortney persuaded Park to come to her home by telling her she had an inheritance check waiting for her.

According to a probable cause affidavit cited in the report, investigators believe this was part of a plan that ultimately led to Park being taken from the home and driven to a wooded area several miles behind the residence.

Prosecutors allege Cortney and Bradley orchestrated a plan in which Park was brought into the home, forced into a vehicle and transported to the wooded location.

The couple is accused in connection with the deaths of both Park and her unborn child.

More than 90 messages presented in court

During the hearing, prosecutors also introduced more than 93 text messages exchanged between Falor and Cortney shortly after Park disappeared.

In those messages, Cortney allegedly told Falor that she had given Park $2,000 from an inheritance.

Falor testified, however, that Park never returned home following the meeting and that he never saw any of the inheritance money Cortney claimed to have provided.

The messages have become another part of the prosecution’s effort to reconstruct what happened during the period surrounding Park’s disappearance.

The preliminary hearing is continuing as the court considers whether prosecutors have presented enough evidence for the charges against Cortney and Bradley Bartholomew to move forward to trial.

The allegations against the couple have not yet been decided by a jury.