Mom Who Killed & Carved Daughter's Baby from her Womb, Begs for Release| Crime Alert 8PM 12.08.2025

A Michigan mom who slaughtered her own pregnant daughter and carved her unborn baby from her womb -- begs the judge to be released from jail to care for her 14-year-old son. 

A tiny baby's decomposed body is found stuffed in a beer box. Cops have charged the mom & a man for the horrifying cover up. Plus, a Minneapolis man steals money meant for murdered kids!  Jennifer Gould reports. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Alart hourly update, breaking crime news Now, I'm Jennifer Gould.
In a courtroom bid that stunned observers, the Michigan mother
accused of luring her own pregnant daughter to a forced
slaughter and slicing the full term baby from her still
beating womb, demanded her immediate release from jail. Courtney Bartholomew,

(00:26):
forty appeared before a Wexford County judge and insisted she
was no threat, citing unspecified health issues and her alleged
duty to care for her fourteen year old son, reportedly
pleading quote, I'm the only one he has end quote,
attempting to use motherhood as a shield against charges of

(00:48):
calculated murder. The judge, though swiftly denied the request, branding
her an extreme flight risk and a danger to the public.
In a case that has gripped Cadillac, Michigan and the
nation with its sheer brutality. Here's Prosecutor Joanna Carey in court.
This is frankly evil personify and I would ask the

(01:13):
court to confer with Bartholomew and her husband, Bradley Bartholomew,
forty seven, are charged with the premeditated torture and murder
of Rebecca Park twenty two, Courtney's biological daughter, who was
approximately thirty eight weeks pregnant at the time. Prosecutor carried

(01:35):
detailed a nightmare scenario fueled by the couple's alleged infertility,
rage and desire to steal the child. On November third, Park,
who had allegedly previously cut ties with her biological mother
and whose adopted family had long warned her she was
in danger, was lured to their home under false pretenses.

(01:59):
Bradley Bartholame allegedly forced the victim into a separate car
and drove her into the remote Manistee National Force There,
prosecutors assert the couple stabbed Park, hinned her down, and
while she was still breathing, Courtney performed a gruesome awake

(02:19):
sea section to steal the viable infant. Park's mutilated body,
described by prosecutors as having been gutted and sliced open
quote like a Halloween pumpkin end quote, was discovered by
hikers on November twenty fifth. The infant's body remains missing
despite extensive searches. The prosecution is invoking federal baby dou

(02:44):
laws to charge the fetus's death as a homicide. The
Bartholomews face eight felony counts, including first degree murder, felony murder, torture, conspiracy,
unlawful imprisonment, and corpse desecration, crimes that carry potential life sentences.
Without her role, Rebecca Park, who leaves behind two young

(03:08):
toddlers now orphaned, had only just received a two thousand
dollars inheritance payment right before her death. The investigative fallout
also led to arrests among Park's immediate circle. Her own fiancee,
Richard Fowler, forty three, a known sex offender, was charged
with meth trafficking and was originally held on a one

(03:31):
million dollar bond. Furthermore, Park's sister, Kimberly Park twenty five,
was arrested on felony charges related to tampering with evidence
and lying to police after allegedly providing a bogus seizure
cover up story to shield the real killers. Kimberly Park
was initially held on a seventy five thousand dollars bond,

(03:53):
but bonds for both were reduced to five thousand, and
each was able to post and get released from jail.
Both the adoptive family and the state Attorney General have
vowed to seek maximum justice. A preliminary examination is set
for the case in early twenty twenty six. More crime
and justice news after this. The macabre discovery of a

(04:20):
prematurely born infants remains brutally interred in an old style
beer box beneath a crude headstone has led to felony
charges against two Illinois residents. Nicole Polker Ziowa, thirty six,
of Wilmington and William Cosmon, thirty eight, of Manhattan, were

(04:40):
arrested after investigators unearthed the gruesome evidence at a property
about fifty miles southwest of Chicago. Both are charged with
desecration of a corpse after providing highly incriminating statements to
the will County Sheriff's office. The horrific details unveiled by
police depict a desperate and depraved attempt to erase a life.

(05:05):
Poker Zaiwa and Cosman allegedly told detectives the infant was
born unexpectedly in a toilet at a separate home. Following
the birth, Kosman then allegedly made a failed attempt to
dispose of the body by aggressively forcing the five to
seven pound new born down the drain using a toilet plunger.

(05:29):
Realizing the body would not pass, the pair then abandoned
the dead child inside the toilet overnight. The following day,
according to the statements, they removed the tiny remains, swaddled
them in a green shirt and a plastic bag, and
sealed them inside that cardboard beer box. The package was

(05:51):
then taken to the Roberts Road property, where it was
buried in a shallow, marked hole approximately three feet deep,
which the suspects can app with a large rock serving
as a makeshift grave. Detectives acting on a tip, executed
a search warrant on the property, unearthing the weathered container.

(06:12):
A forensic exam conducted by the Will County Coroner's Office
determined the female child was between twenty two and twenty
seven weeks old at the time of delivery given the
severe decomposition, though additional testing is needed to establish the
precise cause of death and viability. Pokerzaua and Cosmon were

(06:33):
booked into the Will County Adult Detention Facility. They are
awaiting an upcoming court appearance to answer to the felony charges.
The possibility of aggravated charges remains upon the results of
the ongoing toxicology and autopsy analysis and finally talk about
a sickening low life. Jonathan Weinhagen, the disgraced former CEO

(06:58):
of the Minneapoli till his Chamber of Commerce, has pleaded
guilty to mail fraud after pilfering over three hundred and
thirty thousand dollars, including reward money to help murdered children.
The forty two year old exec is truly soulless. After
those two kids were killed, Weinhagen called back the thirty

(07:21):
thousand dollars reward from crime stoppers, lying that the money
was needed for quote unquote investors. Then he had the
check sent to his house, a classic first class fraud move.
The FBI also revealed he created a fake company to
cook the books and fund a lavish Hawaiian vacation. This

(07:43):
scumbag tried to write off the reward money, but now
he will be making a permanent withdrawal from society. He
faces up to thirty three months in the clink and
owns two hundred and thirteen thousand dollars in restitution. Looks
like he's going to get a audit. A painful one
from the judge for the latest crime in justice news.
Follow the Crime Alert hourly update on your favorite podcast

(08:06):
app with this crime Alert. I'm Jennifer Gould.