The Other Lost Afternoon Hour in the Disappearance of Baby Kate

[XLFD]

Introduction

For those who have been following the Baby Kate disappearance, you are undoubtedly aware of the hour plus of missing time between when Kate's mother, Ariel Courtland, phoned in the alleged abduction of the four month old infant by Sean Phillips, and reported sightings of him.  Shortly thereafter on June 29, 2011, he was detained by police at his Millerton Road residence without any trace of the baby, but several objects of baby paraphernalia.

The original 'lost hour' extended from shortly before 1:20 PM, where Sean ordered some food at Wendy's (confirmed by a receipt and an eyewitness who knew both Sean and Ariel), and to roughly 2:30 PM to 3:00 PM where he was seen by a fireworks vendor and a neighbor.  This 'hour and change' is frequently cited as the window of opportunity for Sean Phillips to get rid of the baby in some manner, and the investigation into Kate's disappearance has been focused on where Phillips could have took the baby during that time. 

While this may be a useful activity to pursue to find out what happened with Baby Kate (and the possibilities will be explored in a future thread), for completeness at least, we must consider what may have happened in a similarly 'lost hour' before this.  For after all, besides the dubious testimony of Baby Kate's parents, there was no other person who saw Baby Kate alive on June 29, 2011.  Let's go back in time.

The Other Lost Hour Parameters

Shortly before noon, Sean Phillips punctually shown up at a scheduled paternity test at the Memorial Medical Center (now Spectrum Health Ludington).  Hospital cameras catch his car approaching the hospital, Phillips getting out of his car, and then going to and from the waiting room.  He leaves the hospital at 12:04 PM and then the two say he heads to Ariel's house, only a couple of blocks away at the Birch Lake Apartments. 

The end of this other lost hour takes place at 1:07 PM, where Sean's car is headed north along the road adjacent to the hospital at the time, as seen below.  Between those times, the stories of both parents are similar, but there seems to be only one eyewitness who sees them during that time.

Nicholas Grandstaff's Account:

John S. Hausman reported on 4-18-2012 :  "Another neighbor testified he was awakened by Phillips and Courtland arguing sometime in the early afternoon and saw Phillips bring out a baby seat to his car, put it in and drive away while Courtland was inside the apartment building. The neighbor said he didn’t see anyone in the seat."

The man, Nicholas Grandstaff, an across-the-hall neighbor said that during sometime between noon and 3:30 PM that day he had witnessed the two arguing outside the apartment after waking up from them arguing within their apartment and in the hall.  A court officer taking notes on that day put their testimony as this ( Shoreline Media verifies this):

The answer to the final question was "no".   The witnessed incident could not have happened immediately after 1:07 PM, according to the series of events and the impossibility of having all this occur before Sean gets an order at Wendy's at 1:17 PM. 

Thus we can conclude that Grandstaff witnessed something happening between about 12:10 PM and 1:00 PM, something that greatly contradicts Ariel's, and even Sean's version of events. 

Another neighbor also had some odd testimony.  According to the Ludington Daily News, Ellen Montgomery testified "I was sitting on my couch, watching TV  … I heard some yelling, it was an argument (between mother Ariel Courtland and father Sean Phillips) … he (Sean) got in the car and left."   But notes taken at trial by a court officer has her full statement:

Her testimony was largely discounted because of her claim that it happened after 2:00 PM (the Walker episode confirms that), well after the police and other neighbors had been notified.  She also mentions the car was an SUV or van and that both Sean and Ariel had dark hair and that it was from a distance.  This was likely a false sighting.

However, Grandstaff's testimony is very compelling.  He is woke up by Ariel's screaming, he observes them move to the outside, where Sean puts the car seat into his car without argument from Ariel and drives off without Ariel, he then hears her door slam, never mentions anything about a baby crying.  Did Sean drive off with Baby Kate alone up to an hour before he was alleged to have taken her and did away with her, after dropping Ariel off?

The Missing Footage

One must believe that the police were diligent and exhaustive in reviewing the hospital footage to narrow down the timeline and verify stories.  There is footage of Sean's car coming up for his appointment, footage of him getting out of his car at the Emergency Room parking lot, loby footage of him going to and coming from his paternity test, and footage of him coming back from the DHS.  But what is missing is footage of him going to the DHS on the hospital cameras.   Sean Phillips has a rather distinctive car with an Intrigue frame with a sunroof and a spoiler in back. 

Notice the two pictures taken from footage above.  If this car was travelling south in front of those same cameras, it would be easy to identify by the shape, sunroof and spoiler.  But during this time period the car is never identified heading south.  At the preliminary hearing in July 2011 with her memory still fresh, Ariel indicated they went past this camera:

 

She also confirms this later on under cross examination at the same hearing: 

And this was the logical way for them to take that summer; Staffon Street (red line below) was impassable, so they would have to go well out of the way in a 'G'-pattern if they headed west via Washington and Ludington Avenues.  Likewise if they bypassed the shortest route (noted with the green line below), they would have to travel equally long out of the way (yellow dashed line).

But neither the emergency room entrance camera or the ambulance entrance camera has the car heading south at any time in this other hour.  And this wasn't only Ariel's version of events, when Sean was interviewed by Detective Posma he said (transcript, p.34, lines 7-9): 

"So then I drive her over to DHS, she tries to stop me, told me to stop, like by the hospital, and I'm like, well why are, why the hospital, and so then I keep driving to the DHS we're still arguing, just pause briefly from the argument for that."

Sean drove to DHS planning to get paperwork to enroll their other daughter Hailey in school (transcript, p.56-7), he doesn't mention anything about getting Kate adopted out in his interview, however, he does mention he planned on leaving Ariel and Kate there.

Ariel's Stories About the Other Lost Hour

Ariel Courtland's testimony at the preliminary hearing was legitimately called into question by Sean's Defense Attorney Annette Smedley at the April 2012 trial, because she had made remarks that were somewhat contradictory.  Most of these dealt with having Kate adopted out, such as her fibbing about the extent of a trip to Grand Rapids, and adoption papers she had filled out.

But if we look at references to the other lost hour, we find a few more problems.  She has already said they went to DHS via the hospital parking lots, which cannot be verified by cameras, let's get to where she is at the DHS parking lot.

Recall the unbuckled baby seat motif, later to be used by her back at the apartment and by Sean in his late 2012 prison confession letter.  Under cross examination later, her story is called into question:

Of course, her not getting out of the car was part of her sworn statement to the police earlier, one recorded and used by Attorney Smedley to show her contradicting her previous story.  One would think she would remember clearly the last tender moment she had with her baby before it disappeared.  She may not remember what was said, but she should remember what happened if what she said was the truth.

But that wasn't her only misstatement at the preliminary hearing which contradicted previous testimony to police.  After they allegedly left the DHS, she said at the prelim that she wanted to be dropped at the hospital, however:

And shortly after that drive back, she relates what happened when she got home.  What strikes me as odd here is that once again, she is unsure of whether she unbuckled Kate.  Yet wouldn't she have seen whether she had actually unbuckled her at the DHS earlier, in this partial-unbuckling?

Conclusion

Ariel's memory of the events of the last hour seem to be foggy and contradictory even less than two weeks after the disappearance of Baby Kate.  Yet her version of events has been accepted as factual throughout, even after her conflicting accounts, which is often evidentiary of some duplicity on her part.  Nicholas Grandstaff has apparently nothing to lose or gain by his account of that afternoon, which has Sean leaving with Baby Kate's car seat (and presumably Baby Kate), while an angry Ariel remains behind in this other lost hour. 

No footage supports the contention of either party that they went to the DHS through the hospital during this time.  So can we say that Sean drove off with Baby Kate shortly after an argument that woke a neighbor across the hallway up, took a route that did not include going through the hospital lot, did something with Kate that took about a half hour and then came back through the hospital?

Unfortunately, Mr. Grandstaff did not hear the topic of the argument or have a better estimate of the time, and even more unfortunate is that we have never been able to learn about the context of this text message:

or even this one:

The prosecution has always declined to pursue why Ariel Courtland has not kept a consistent story, and unconscionably have accepted her version of events over an objective eyewitness and an unbiased hospital camera that contradicts or disproves her claims. 

One would think that such a spotty recall of events she took part in would indicate some complicity in what happened on June 29, 2011 on her behalf.  After all, let's not forget that before this other lost hour, she was the only one who observed Baby Kate on that fateful day. 

[Willy]

I still don't understand what really happened in this case. Did Sean ever address the court and claim that he did not take the baby or was he mute the entire trial while his attorney tried to rebuttal the State's evidence? If the baby was given to a 3rd party then why would Sean not say so to avoid prison? If the baby died because of an accident as per the alleged letter Sean wrote then why wouldn't he say that in court?  A lie detector could have cleared him of any wrong doing if it were truly an accident. A lot of unanswered questions.

[XLFD]

Sean has let his attorney do all the talking in court.  His only other statements were a few made to Detective Tom Posma on the day of abduction and his letter to Ariel.  Lie detector tests are basically inadmissible for the purpose you propose, but the other are questions that are good to ask, and is why the prosecution probably believes the way they do-- that Sean murdered Katherine and disposed of the body.

But if Sean admitted that he did put Kate up for a 'black market adoption', that would be an incident of "human trafficking" and violations of various other laws, that would implicate him, the adopters, and likely Ariel under felonies and misdemeanors which could land him and the others in prison for longer than what an unlawful imprisonment charge would for him.   He can't win, but he can fall on the sword for others.  It would explain why Ariel still holds a torch for him, so to speak.

If it was an accidental death, one should think he would have come forth with that information earlier.  His prison note where he confesses to a horrible accident, in my opinion, was contrived to fit all the facts that came out of trial.  He knew his letters were being read by his keepers.