One of the most heartbreaking murder cases of the early 2010s was the terrible tale of “Baby Kate” — true name Katherine Phillips.
When she was just four and a half months old, the infant, who was from Ludington, Michigan, went missing and was assumed dead in 2011.
Unfortunately, her body was never located. However, five years after Baby Kate vanished, her Father was found guilty and sentenced to prison.
Baby Kate went missing
Before Courtland became pregnant with Katherine, Ariel Courtland and Sean Phillips shared a daughter. Still, the arrival of their second child fundamentally altered their relationship.
MLive claims that Phillips attempted to persuade Courtland to have an abortion and that when Courtland gave birth, Phillips encouraged her to give Katherine up for adoption.
He was upset when Courtland distributed birth announcements, refused to claim the child as his own, and didn’t want his name to appear on her insurance application.
Eventually, Courtland began to consider placing her for adoption, but Phillips kidnapped the infant on June 29, 2011.
When Courtland stopped by the apartment to get a stroller, Sean Phillips and Katherine Phillips were all headed to a DNA test appointment to establish Phillips was the Father.
Phillips had grabbed the car, the infant, and her phone when she went back outside. She tried to reach him on a friend’s phone but was unsuccessful. The cops eventually located Phillips without the child.
After being arrested, Phillips continued to communicate with Courtland over the phone. He eventually sent her a letter explaining what had happened to Katherine.
The letter was given out to the jury during his trial. They gave it two alternative interpretations: Some said Phillips threw the infant out of the car seat.
In contrast, others claimed Phillips removed the child seat without realizing the child was in it. In any case, Kate was no longer there, and her corpse was still missing.
What happened to Baby Kate?
Baby Kate went missing and was murdered. According to the reports, Phillips was found guilty of second-degree murder and will serve a jail term of 19 to 45 years.
Although it hasn’t been proven, computer forensic professionals have argued whether this was premeditated.
Many people are hopeful that Phillips will eventually point authorities toward the child’s body, which has still not been located.
According to CBS Detroit, authorities believed they had discovered Baby Kate’s body in a Massachusetts river in July. However, it has been determined that the body in question is unrelated to Baby Kate.
Blames on Phillips
Ariel Courtland claimed that the baby’s Father and her boyfriend had taken the child and “left her somewhere.” Baby Kate, a 4-month-old child, vanished last year from her Ludington, Michigan, home.
At the time, Ariel Courtland, the baby’s mother, said that her boyfriend and Father had taken the child and left her somewhere.
Although he has not been charged with Baby Kate’s kidnapping or death, the baby’s Father, Sean Philips, was prosecuted and found guilty of illegally imprisoning the child.
