Fiance testifies at hearing for mom, stepfather accused of murdering woman and cutting baby from her body

CADILLAC, Mich. (Court TV) — The fiance of a pregnant woman who prosecutors say was murdered by her own mother and stepfather took the stand on Friday to face the accused killers.

Cortney Bartholomew and Bradly Bartholomew are charged with murder and torture in the death of Rebecca Park, who was nine months pregnant when she disappeared in November 2025.

Park was engaged to Richard Falor when she was last seen alive on Nov. 3, 2025; on Friday, Falor testified on the first day of a preliminary hearing, where prosecutors began to lay out their evidence in the case.

Falor revealed that while he began dating Park in October 2023, he had been dating defendant Cortney Bartholomew for several months before that. His relationship with the victim’s mother began in the spring of 2023, Falor testified, after Cortney Bartholomew had called him about doing some handyman work. Falor said he and Cortney Bartholomew dated until September 2023 and discussed having children. “She said she wanted another kid; told me that she couldn’t have one,” Falor testified.

When Falor’s relationship with Park began, he said, the victim was not in contact with the defendants. Falor described Park’s relationship with her biological mother — who did not raise her — as “off-and-on.” Park and Cortney Bartholomew hadn’t spoken for two years when the defendant reached out and invited the victim over on Nov. 1, 2025, for dinner to discuss an inheritance from Park’s grandmother. When Park returned home that night, Falor recalled, she was “irritated.”

Cortney Bartholomew and Bradly Bartholomew appeared at Park and Falor’s home on Nov. 3 to pick the victim up, Falor testified. Falor said he watched his fiancee get into a red Ford Escape and never heard from her again.

In the days following Park’s disappearance, Cortney Bartholomew and Falor texted frequently. Prosecutors introduced texts into evidence showing that Cortney Bartholomew told Falor that “Ur Ole lady took off with some dude in a black car.” Cortney Bartholomew denied having any further information, but claimed that she had given the victim $2,000 before she drove off. “I would never lie. I want my daughter found,” Cortney Bartholomew said in one message.

Falor said he tried to track Park’s phone and sent a screenshot of the tracking information to Park’s sister. Minutes later, he testified, Cortney Bartholomew called and said she was coming over. Both she and Bradly Bartholomew arrived at Falor’s house and handed him Park’s phone that he’d been tracking.

In affidavits reviewed by Court TV, investigators said that both Cortney Bartholomew and Bradly Bartholomew offered multiple conflicting stories about Park’s disappearance, blaming each other as well as Park’s sister and Falor.

Park’s body was found three weeks after she disappeared, but the infant — who Falor said was going to be named Richard — was never found. An autopsy revealed multiple stab wounds to Park’s back and neck, and noted that her abdomen had “incised wounds” and that her placenta was still attached to her body.

Park’s sister, Kimberly Park, was initially charged in the case; those charges were dropped.

The hearing is scheduled to continue on Nov. 9, 2026.