Now that the body of missing pregnant woman Rebecca Park has been found, more details are emerging about what led to her death. Park went missing on November 3, 2025, after a dark vehicle pulled up to her mother’s house. She got into the vehicle, and no one saw her alive again. At the time of her disappearance, the 22-year-old was 38 weeks pregnant and was already one centimeter dilated. On November 25, about three weeks after her disappearance, Park’s body was found in Manistee National Forest in Michigan. Her baby’s body was nowhere to be seen at the time.
Although her fiancé and sister were arrested on unrelated charges shortly before she was found, Park’s biological mother, along with her mother’s husband, has now been arrested for her murder.
On December 2, 2025, 40-year-old Cortney Bartholomew and her husband, Bradly Bartholomew, 43, were arraigned on multiple charges related to the death of Park, the Michigan Department of Attorney General shared in a news release. They were charged with 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 charge faces a possible life sentence. “Rebecca had everything to live for, and our hearts are with her loved ones as they endure this unthinkable loss,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel explained in the release. “We are committed to working alongside the Wexford County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to ensure justice is pursued in this tragic case without delay.”
Per the release, the couple “allegedly tortured Park in an attempt to remove the unborn infant.” Wexford County Prosecutor Johanna Carey added, “The brutality and disregard for human life displayed here are deeply troubling. While these remain allegations until proven in court, the evidence reflects an extraordinary level of callousness and violence. We look forward to presenting the full facts in court.”
In court, prosecutors shared the truly horrifying details of what the Bartholomews did to Park. “This is, frankly, evil personified,” Carey said while asking the couple be held without bail, People reported.
“Mr. Bartholomew brought Rebecca to their home,” Carey said in court. He and Cortney then “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,” per the magazine.
Carey claimed it to be a “case of premeditated torture and murder” while telling the judge the couple “created a plan” and “conducted research.”
The Bartholomews were also charged with one count of unlawful imprisonment, a 15-year-offense felony, and one count of removal of a dead body, a one-year misdemeanor, per the attorney general’s release.
On the day Park was supposed to give birth, Cortney Bartholomew posted a video on Facebook, People reported. The caption read “My alibi of where I was the night my daughter came up missing.”
In the video, which is audio only, her 14-year-old son says, “She gave me my meds at about 8:40, I don’t remember a lot as I just said, but she was there when I went to bed and she was also there when I woke up the next day. I know that she never goes out and about when I’m sleeping just because she doesn’t like to drive at night.”
It’s unclear why the Bartholomews might have committed the acts they are accused of.
