Today is an unpleasant five year anniversary.  Five years ago today, four month old Katherine Phillips (Baby Kate) disappeared from Ludington never to be seen since.  Her mother, Ariel Courtland, reported that Baby Kate had been taken by the baby's father, Sean Phillips when she had left her in the back of his car in front of the Birch Lake Apartments a little after 1:00 PM that day.

Sean Phillips was reportedly seen by a Wendy's employee, a fireworks vendor and a neighbor before he wound up back at his house on Marrison Road, and met his mother who told him that the police were looking for him.  None of those people saw Baby Kate that day.  Police came and took him in for questioning, but he denied having took the baby, before exerting his right to remain silent and have counsel. 

He has not talked since, even through a trial for unlawful imprisonment that found him guilty and sent him to prison for 10-15 years.  However, a letter written in prison has him admitting to accidentally killing the baby at Wendy's, driving aimlessly, and leaving her in a 'quiet place'.  He claims that he was too traumatized to remember the location, however, he was not traumatized enough to remove the battery from his cell phone during the 1.5 hours he was off the radar. 

From the facts of the case brought to trial and learned since, many believe the mother has some culpability for the missing and presumed dead child, due to her changing story, her behavior and her lack of any corroborating witness seeing Baby Kate since the previous night after she took her bicycle with the baby back to her apartment.  Despite this, the prosecuting authorities have decided to give her leniency, likely in order to allow them the ability to successfully convict the father. 

If Sean Phillips does serve the minimum sentence, this day also marks his halfway point for incarceration.  But, he can't count his days off just yet, because he is facing an open murder trial this fall regarding Baby Kate.  This looks to be another marquee trial for the county like the first, with the presiding judge actually being the one that earlier found insufficient probable cause to have an open murder trial for Phillips (only to be overturned by the same judge who conducted the original trial with a marked bias towards the prosecution).

If this isn't complicated enough, there are abundant theories on what actually happened to Baby Kate.  Was there a black market adoption?  Was there a conspiracy between the two parents to cover up an accidental death?  Did it happen like Sean detailed in his letter?  Was Baby Kate intentionally killed by Sean as the authorities are pursuing?  The lack of a body and clear/sane motives before and after the fact from the two parents make this still a very intriguing case five years later. 

Please offer your thoughts, your feelings, your hunches, your prayers for the trail of Baby Kate.  Over time, we may just find out what happened with her; let us hope that wherever she is, whether it be in Heaven or somewhere in Germany, that she has found a better life than what she would have experienced had her timeline not have been interfered with.

Views: 305

© 2024   Created by XLFD.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service