Katherine "Baby Kate" Phillips, 4 mo, missing 6/29/2011, Ludington, MI

[Sister]

Doesn't make sense.  This baby is not alive but who is responsible?  Father, Mother or both?

IMO -- both!

[ka8lhi]

http://www.9and10news.com/story/21865325/just-in


UPDATE: Ludington P.D. Call for Botanical Search Team in Baby Kate Case

 ::snipping2::
Police in Ludington announced new developments in the case of missing Mason County Baby Katherine Phillips at a press conference Wednesday morning.

Investigators say it will allow them to continue to search for Baby Kate by using soil samples from across the county to narrow in on new areas.

Investigators tested dirt from Sean Phillip's shoes, which contains some unique and rare species of plants they hope to match through the botanical search.

Police are confident they will be able to use the samples to locate the area where Sean was walking the day Baby Kate went missing.
 ::snipping2::

[MuffyBee]

http://www.9and10news.com/story/21865325/just-in


UPDATE: Ludington P.D. Call for Botanical Search Team in Baby Kate Case

 ::snipping2::
Police in Ludington announced new developments in the case of missing Mason County Baby Katherine Phillips at a press conference Wednesday morning.

Investigators say it will allow them to continue to search for Baby Kate by using soil samples from across the county to narrow in on new areas.

Investigators tested dirt from Sean Phillip's shoes, which contains some unique and rare species of plants they hope to match through the botanical search.

Police are confident they will be able to use the samples to locate the area where Sean was walking the day Baby Kate went missing.
 ::snipping2::

Thank you for the update ka8lhi.  Hopefully Baby Kate's remains can still be recovered and she can be laid to rest.  AND there may be enough forensic evidence to bring justice for Baby Kate.

[ka8lhi]

Here's another update -- these were found about 15 mins. from where Kate was taken from...it also could be something altogether different...

http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news/71275-police-investigate-bones-found-in-riverton-twp

 
Police investigate bones found in Riverton Twp.
 
Sheriff Kim Cole announced the investigation Friday afternoon, saying it was a suspicious situation.

Cole also said the bones had not yet been positively identified as human or animal by 3 p.m. Friday.

He did not say when the bones were found, where they were found, or who found them.
 

[ka8lhi]

This location is also about an hour north of where Jessica Heeringa went missing but it would not make sense to drive from a populated area through fairly desolate area and place her back in a fairly populated area -- basically there is nothing, mile and mile of nothing from Norton Shores, MI to Ludington, MI....

[MuffyBee]

This location is also about an hour north of where Jessica Heeringa went missing but it would not make sense to drive from a populated area through fairly desolate area and place her back in a fairly populated area -- basically there is nothing, mile and mile of nothing from Norton Shores, MI to Ludington, MI....

ka8lhi thank you for the articles.  I hope there's more information forthcoming soon. 

[ka8lhi]

Search still goes on...

http://www.9and10news.com/story/22719807/day-1-of

http://www.9and10news.com/story/22722635/day-2-final-day-of-searching-for-botanical-evidence-in-baby-kate-case

[Sister]

Search still goes on...

http://www.9and10news.com/story/22719807/day-1-of

http://www.9and10news.com/story/22722635/day-2-final-day-of-searching-for-botanical-evidence-in-baby-kate-case

Kate was just four and a half months old when she was last seen at her Ludington home two years ago.

Police are now treating Baby Kate's case as a homicide.

Her father, Sean Phillips, is serving time for unlawful imprisonment related to Kate's disappearance.

Investigators believe plant evidence found on Phillips' shoes could lead them to Kate's remains.

Police say today's search went as planned, and they are coming up with the plant and moss specimens they had been looking for.
 

[theboyzmom]

posted by our states AG on Facebook:

Bill Schuette
[PREVIEW] Holding a press conference w/the Mason County Prosecutor tmrw at 11:45AM in Ludington. We're announcing a major update in the Katherine Phillips, also known as "Baby Kate" case. Will keep you updated.

[ka8lhi]

http://www.woodtv.com/news/michigan/major-announcement-in-baby-kate-case#

Sean Phillips to be charged with murder

 


LUDINGTON, Mich. (WOOD) - Murder charges have been levied against a man from Ludington whose baby hasn't been seen in more than two years.

 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2013/10/baby_kate_murder_charge_agains.html
Baby Kate murder charge against Sean Phillips: 'New evidence,' Attorney General Bill Schuette says
October 4, 2013

LUDINGTON, MI – “New evidence” in the case of the long-missing Katherine “Baby Kate” Phillips resulted in a charge of open murder against the baby’s father, Sean Michael Phillips.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said his office will be trying the case in cooperation with Mason County Prosecutor Paul Spaniola. Schuette made the announcement at a new conference Friday, Oct. 4.

“New evidence has been discovered which supports a murder charge in this case,” Schuette said. He declined to state the nature of the evidence.

The arrest warrant alleges Phillips murdered the baby June 29, 2011, the day she went missing at the age of 4 ½ months.

The baby’s body has not been found.

Asked by MLive if the search for her body was over, Schuette said only, “We always will be ... open to new evidence. We are convinced that our charges of open murder are warranted and that indeed the jury will come back with a guilty verdict.”
More...

[MuffyBee]

http://www.woodtv.com/news/michigan/baby-kates-mom-ariel-courtland-surprised-at-murder-charge
Baby Kate's mom: Murder charge too soon
AG: Sean Phillips to be charged with murder
October 4, 2013


 
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said Friday that his office would work with the Mason County Prosecutor's Office to try and convict Sean Phillips of the murder of his four-month-old daughter Katherine.

"Justice delayed is not justice denied," Schuette said at a Friday press conference during which the murder charge was announced.

Katherine Phillips disappeared June 29, 2011 and is presumed dead. She became known as "Baby Kate" in the nationally covered investigation. Phillips was convicted last year of unlawful imprisonment in her disappearance.

Kate's mother Ariel Courtland said news of the murder charge took her by surprise because she didn't learn of it through investigators, who she said have been supportive throughout the ordeal.

"For me to find out through the news that this was happening was kind of a slap in the face," she said.

For some, murder charges were welcome. But the announcement means something else to Courtland.

"I'm just disappointed that we have to do it so soon already," she said.

She must now explain the situation to her other daughter, who also belongs to Phillips.
 
"She has to come home and ask why," she said. "It's hard for her."
 
With one conviction in hand and a long prison term imposed, Courtland said she hoped this day would come further down the road.
 
Part of her struggle is realizing the other people this case has impacted as her once tumultuous relationship with Phillips' parents has turned into a bond.
 
"It's not just me. His parents grieve like we do. This is still their son," Courtland said. "They love Sean so much and it's hard to see their heart break just like mine."
 
And there's a lingering thought in Courtland's mind that perhaps Baby Kate is still out there somewhere.

"We don't know and we need to keep the hope that she's going to come home," she said.

Courtland would not speak publicly about whether she wanted murder charges to be filed.

That's despite having received a letter apparently from Phillips in which he confessed to accidentally killing Baby Kate and leaving her body in a still-unidentified area he called only a "peaceful place."

Courtland said she's not sure that Phillips was telling the truth in that letter, especially since a different note was presented in the unlawful imprisonment trial in which Phillips claimed to have given the baby "to a guy." That was proven to be false.

The attorney general said Friday that there is new evidence that led authorities to file the murder charges, but would not say what that is.

Video at Link

[melisb]

Weren't Mama, so called dad, and baby all in the vehicle and they got in big arguement and egg donor got out and he took off? I don't buy their stories! Sure they were fighting, both knew baby was in there and he wasn't getting his way so he hurt the baby! What I am getting at is I think Ma left baby in car on purpose and she has known all along what he did! She endangered her child plus accessory after the fact!  She sure makes a point to state how bad alleged baby killers fam feels! Poor little baby! What screaming and fighting both children must've been subjected too! I'm def not insensitive to his family or his other child at all...but I do think this woman should've concentrated on her child more then and now!

[grace-land]

So sad for the poor child. 

http://fox17online.com/2013/10/08/court-documents-why-baby-kates-father-was-charged-with-murder/#axzz2hElQssRP

Court Documents: Why Baby Kate’s Father Was Charged With Murder
1 day ago

LUDINGTON, Mich.–New court documents shed light on why Baby Kate’s father is now charged with her murder.

Probable cause documents obtained by Fox 17 explain why investigators say Sean Phillips had a motive to kill his 4 month-old daughter Katherine.

Investigators say there was an argument between Phillips and her mother Ariel Courtland. According to them, Phillips did not want to take a paternity test and wanted to put Katherine up for adoption. He was ordered to take a test on the same day she went missing and never showed up. He was the last one to be seen with her.

She went missing in June 2011 and hasn’t been seen since; Phillips was originally convicted for unlawful imprisonment.

On Friday, the Attorney General announced he was involved in the case for about a year. After more than two years of looking for answers, Bill Schuette along with the Mason County prosecutor says they’re one step closer to justice after charging him with open murder.

Documents say Baby Kate’s clothes were found in Phillips’ pocket and her car seat and diaper bag were in his car. Investigators say he’s also given conflicting statements, one in a letter he wrote to Ariel, saying he ripped Baby Kate’s car seat out of his vehicle and accidentally killed her. In the note investigators say he wrote he left her in a “peaceful place.” The Mason County prosecutor has said the letter is “important.”

Earlier this year, a search was also conducted after finding a rare soil on the bottom of Phillips’ shoes. Although Baby Kate has never been found, in the court documents it says an extensive analysis of that soil has narrowed the likely location of the alleged crime to a specific wetland in Mason County
 

[Samantha]

Judge dismisses murder case against Baby Kate's father, Sean Phillips, of Mason County
on September 15, 2014 at 12:33 PM, updated September 15, 2014 at 5:19 PM

 
MASON COUNTY, MI -- A Mason County judge has dismissed the murder charge against Sean Phillips, the Victory Township man accused of killing his infant daughter known to many as "Baby Kate" back in 2011.

The decision was released by the office of District Court Judge Peter J. Wadel early Monday morning, Sept. 15, nearly a year after Phillips was charged with open murder of his daughter, Katherine "Baby Kate" Phillips who disappeared in Mason County on June 29, 2011. She was 4½ months old when she disappeared.

In a seven-page written opinion from Wadel, the judge simply states there wasn't enough evidence to charge Phillips with the baby's death.

"There simply are no proofs of any criminal agency causing the death of Katherine Phillips," the judge writes.
 

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2014/09/judge_dismisses_murder_case_ag.html

[Green Eyes]

Judge dismisses murder case against Baby Kate's father, Sean Phillips, of Mason County
on September 15, 2014 at 12:33 PM, updated September 15, 2014 at 5:19 PM

 
MASON COUNTY, MI -- A Mason County judge has dismissed the murder charge against Sean Phillips, the Victory Township man accused of killing his infant daughter known to many as "Baby Kate" back in 2011.

The decision was released by the office of District Court Judge Peter J. Wadel early Monday morning, Sept. 15, nearly a year after Phillips was charged with open murder of his daughter, Katherine "Baby Kate" Phillips who disappeared in Mason County on June 29, 2011. She was 4½ months old when she disappeared.

In a seven-page written opinion from Wadel, the judge simply states there wasn't enough evidence to charge Phillips with the baby's death.

"There simply are no proofs of any criminal agency causing the death of Katherine Phillips," the judge writes.
 

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2014/09/judge_dismisses_murder_case_ag.html

This makes me ill. A baby goes missing and is dead. POS father knows what he did and they don't have enough proof to keep him locked up. What about the letter he wrote? Poor little thing. I hope they sterilize both him and the babies mom. GRRRRR

[Sister]

I agree Green Eyes -- but IMO the mother doesn't have clean hands either!

 

[ka8lhi]

http://www.9and10news.com/story/27555081/father-accused-of-killing-baby-kate-back-to-mason-county-courtroom

BREAKING: Judge Reopens Murder Case Against Sean Phillips

 

Phillips is serving 10 to 15 years for unlawful imprisonment related to her disappearance.

Murder charges were brought on last year -- but dropped by a judge who said there wasn't enough evidence.

Friday, that decision was reversed.

Circuit Court Judge Richard Cooper decided to give the prosecution another chance to move forward with a case against Sean Phillips, who was not in court Friday. But not before hearing arguments from both sides.

The prosecution is relying on several key points they feel are enough to send the case to trial.

First -- Sean Phillips told a fellow inmate he got rid of the baby. Second -- a letter he wrote to Kate's mother, Ariel Courtland, saying he left the baby in a peaceful place, among other incriminating statements.

 

[Green Eyes]

http://www.9and10news.com/story/27555081/father-accused-of-killing-baby-kate-back-to-mason-county-courtroom

BREAKING: Judge Reopens Murder Case Against Sean Phillips

 

Phillips is serving 10 to 15 years for unlawful imprisonment related to her disappearance.

Murder charges were brought on last year -- but dropped by a judge who said there wasn't enough evidence.

Friday, that decision was reversed.

Circuit Court Judge Richard Cooper decided to give the prosecution another chance to move forward with a case against Sean Phillips, who was not in court Friday. But not before hearing arguments from both sides.

The prosecution is relying on several key points they feel are enough to send the case to trial.

First -- Sean Phillips told a fellow inmate he got rid of the baby. Second -- a letter he wrote to Kate's mother, Ariel Courtland, saying he left the baby in a peaceful place, among other incriminating statements.

 

Thanks for the update ka8lhi.  Lets hope they nail his butt and get the mother too.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.9and10news.com/story/27555081/father-accused-of-killing-baby-kate-back-to-mason-county-courtroom

BREAKING: Judge Reopens Murder Case Against Sean Phillips

 

Phillips is serving 10 to 15 years for unlawful imprisonment related to her disappearance.

Murder charges were brought on last year -- but dropped by a judge who said there wasn't enough evidence.

Friday, that decision was reversed.

Circuit Court Judge Richard Cooper decided to give the prosecution another chance to move forward with a case against Sean Phillips, who was not in court Friday. But not before hearing arguments from both sides.

The prosecution is relying on several key points they feel are enough to send the case to trial.

First -- Sean Phillips told a fellow inmate he got rid of the baby. Second -- a letter he wrote to Kate's mother, Ariel Courtland, saying he left the baby in a peaceful place, among other incriminating statements.

 

Thanks for the update ka8lhi.  Lets hope they nail his butt and get the mother too.

Phillips only be tried once, so I hope there's enough for a conviction.  In my opinion, one of the problems is that the person Sean Phillips told he got rid of the baby is a fellow inmate.  Is the inmate trustworthy?  I've seen a couple cases lately where a fellow inmate reported they were told something and then later they recanted it. They sometimes do this in an attempt to lessen their sentence or get better treatment by cooperating.  And if Phillips has a good attorney, they may be able to work around the wording in the letter as in what the words intended and may be taken out of context blah blah blah.... (add defense attorney speak)

I'm with you though, GE.  Nail his butt and the mother too!