GUILTY MI - Katherine 'Kate' Phillips, 4 mos, Ludington, 29 June 2011 (Deceased/Not Found)

[Miziree]

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2011/07/mother_of_missing_ludington_ba.html

The mother of Ludington's missing "Baby Kate" said Sean Michael Phillips couldn't bear to tell his parents he had fathered another child, so he took the baby and mother to a Department of Human Services office in an attempt to give the infant up for adoption hours before the child disappeared.
The baby's mother, Ariel Courtland, 19, told The Chronicle that on June 29, the day her infant was allegedly abducted by Phillips, he drove all three of them to the Mason County DHS office in Ludington, intending on giving Kate up for adoption. That effort ended when Courtland refused, she said.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Must have been what the fight was about?

He takes them to DHS. They fight. They go home. Mom gets out of the car and Sean takes off?

 

[obody]

That gives me such a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that he did snap and harm her. I'd previously thought that he had arranged to give her away to someone. But if he was planning that, he wouldn't have taken them to DHS.

 

[shefner]

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2011/07/mother_of_missing_ludington_ba.html

The mother of Ludington's missing "Baby Kate" said Sean Michael Phillips couldn't bear to tell his parents he had fathered another child, so he took the baby and mother to a Department of Human Services office in an attempt to give the infant up for adoption hours before the child disappeared.
The baby's mother, Ariel Courtland, 19, told The Chronicle that on June 29, the day her infant was allegedly abducted by Phillips, he drove all three of them to the Mason County DHS office in Ludington, intending on giving Kate up for adoption. That effort ended when Courtland refused, she said.

This story keeps getting more unbelievable. I am trying to understand why this mom would allow this man to have access to the child knowing that his desire was to give her away. There has to be alot of emotional issues going on in this relationship. My heart just breaks for this child.

 

[justanother]

That poor baby girl. They are still searching today but nothing so far that i have heard about. He's in court tomorrow. There's lots of wooded areas on the trip from the apt to his parents. She could be anywhere.

 

[Basia]

I don't understand why the mother keeps going to visit Sean in jail! She now says she isn't bringing up baby Kate when she visits him because he walks away when she does? What ELSE is there to talk about!? I know she is young and probably in love but her baby is missing and she is visiting the man who kidnapped her and NOT bringing up what happened? Something is very wrong with this picture.

 

[sherbetjello]

I don't see anything out of the ordinary about this woman going up there to see the this guy. First, if it was me, you bet I would be up there every day talking as calmly as I could, probably about random junk so the other person would let their guard down, and try to find my child. To me, this seems very logical.

Also, someone above said that why would the mother leave the child in the car if he wanted to give the baby up for adoption? I mean, I don't think she was really planning on him taking off in the car with the baby and doing what is speculated. I don't blame her, I blame him - he is the only one that knows what happened to the child.

 

[shefner]

I don't see anything out of the ordinary about this woman going up there to see the this guy. First, if it was me, you bet I would be up there every day talking as calmly as I could, probably about random junk so the other person would let their guard down, and try to find my child. To me, this seems very logical.

Also, someone above said that why would the mother leave the child in the car if he wanted to give the baby up for adoption? I mean, I don't think she was really planning on him taking off in the car with the baby and doing what is speculated. I don't blame her, I blame him - he is the only one that knows what happened to the child.

I don't blame the mother but I am trying to understand her actions. He made her go to social services in an attempt to give the baby up for adoption....he talked to her often about wanting to give the baby away....he told her he didn't want to tell his parents about the baby....and yet, she says he was a loving husband and father? She says that he wouldn't hurt the children. But this IS hurting the children...and hurting all the adults too. I just think there were big red flags going up everywhere leading up to this incident. I'm sure the mom had no way of knowing her hubby would do this....but I have to question if I would stay with someone who so obviously did not want our child.

 

[justanother]

I don't see anything out of the ordinary about this woman going up there to see the this guy. First, if it was me, you bet I would be up there every day talking as calmly as I could, probably about random junk so the other person would let their guard down, and try to find my child. To me, this seems very logical.

Also, someone above said that why would the mother leave the child in the car if he wanted to give the baby up for adoption? I mean, I don't think she was really planning on him taking off in the car with the baby and doing what is speculated. I don't blame her, I blame him - he is the only one that knows what happened to the child.

From what i understand, he tricked her by taking her to DHS instead of for her DNA test, they argued, she told him to take her home, was going to walk to the DNA place and instead of getting the baby right then, decided to go get the stroller because it was a few blocks away. He took off.

Personally if a guy i have had issues with in the past tried to take me to give up my baby without letting me know, you bet your you know what i wouldn't leave that baby in the car with him!! But thats just me. She seems to be making him out to be a really nice guy but i am sorry, he took her kid and did who knows what with her and is keeping quiet, that is far from Mr nice to me.

 

[mysticrose]

Well that news isn't good, prayers

 

[shefner]

I think we might be dealing with a person with a mental illness...because it seems to me this young father has quite a few issues going on. I have compassion for people who are suffering from mental illness because my son left the military with this type of illness and its very hard to deal with. Sometimes its impossible to reach a person like this with reason. I wonder if he is receiving any mental health evaluation/treatment while being held in jail.

 

[Basia]

He is in the National Guard. Has he ever been deployed? I wish we knew both background information on both him and the mother. I was surprised to read that his parents didn't know that Kate was his baby. I would like to know more background about all of these people.

 

[justanother]

He is in the National Guard. Has he ever been deployed? I wish we knew both background information on both him and the mother. I was surprised to read that his parents didn't know that Kate was his baby. I would like to know more background about all of these people.

He was to be deployed to Afghanistan in Aug/Sept.

 

[BeanE]

I don't understand why the mother keeps going to visit Sean in jail! She now says she isn't bringing up baby Kate when she visits him because he walks away when she does? What ELSE is there to talk about!? I know she is young and probably in love but her baby is missing and she is visiting the man who kidnapped her and NOT bringing up what happened? Something is very wrong with this picture.

It doesn't do any good to bring up the baby if he leaves when she does. Better to talk to him about other things, hope she can gain his trust, and that then he'll open up and tell her where the baby is.

My opinion.

 

[BeanE]

I don't blame the mother but I am trying to understand her actions. He made her go to social services in an attempt to give the baby up for adoption....he talked to her often about wanting to give the baby away....he told her he didn't want to tell his parents about the baby....and yet, she says he was a loving husband and father? She says that he wouldn't hurt the children. But this IS hurting the children...and hurting all the adults too. I just think there were big red flags going up everywhere leading up to this incident. I'm sure the mom had no way of knowing her hubby would do this....but I have to question if I would stay with someone who so obviously did not want our child.

But all those things happened on the day Kate disappeared, right?

I take her saying he was a good father/husband etc as meaning prior to that day.

And he's been in jail since that day, right? So there's no staying after the incident.

 

[shefner]

I remember reading that he did not want another child...and had wanted to give her up for adoption before she was born. I need to go back and try to find where I read that....

 

[Jan]

I didn't know they were married. I thought they were boyfriend and girlfriend. I remember reading that he had custody of the older little girl until he got orders to go to Afghanistan. Apparantly, he had been caring for the older child and others told the news that he had been doing a good job with the child. Does anyone know why custody of the older child was given to him instead of the mother?

 

[justanother]

I didn't know they were married. I thought they were boyfriend and girlfriend. I remember reading that he had custody of the older little girl until he got orders to go to Afghanistan. Apparantly, he had been caring for the older child and others told the news that he had been doing a good job with the child. Does anyone know why custody of the older child was given to him instead of the mother?

They are not married. I think it is joint custody but i don't know the details surrounding it. He's in court in the morning. I was reading somewhere earlier that he was in Wendy's at 1:20 pm, left her apartment less than 10 minutes before, no Kate with him at Wendy's. That doesn't leave much time or space for him to have done something. It's very strange.

 

[pinkfly]

Bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Sean did not want this child and I worry that that also means he had no true bond with her. I am not seeing any signs of an organized and planning mind that set up a safe house or found a couple that wanted her. I fear deeply for Baby Kate and believe we need to prepare for bad news. The timeline is so short and we know he was eating fast food alone in the middle of that short time. She can’t be far.

Prayers for Baby Kate and her family.

 

[momtective]

With this new info regarding the visit to Social Services and Sean wanting to place the baby for adoption, I've changed my position. I no longer believe baby Kate is safe with a relative or friend...I believe he disposed of her...I pray I am wrong. But I can't figure out why he would have discarded her clothing in the woods. Did he change her cloths? If so, why would he have done that? It doesn't make any sense. I'm more inclined to think he undressed her because he put her in water. Is there a body of water near the area? If so, what is the distance of the body of water from Mom's apartment and Wendy's? Would it have been along his route from Mom's to Wendy's?

Just reading through the thread it appears there was only about a 10 minute window between the time he left Mom's apartment and arrived at Wendy's. That's not much time to put together a plan for adoption unless he already had someone lined up. But again, why would he undress her? Undressing a baby is going to take a couple of minutes, right? What about her diaper, did they find it with her cloths?

I'm also wondering if the dumpster at the Wendy's was searched...and where is the local landfill and are they searching it? Again, why would he undress her if he was going to put her in a dumpster? The fact that the cloths were found just really bugs me.