Podcast Summary: Drop Dead Serious with Ashleigh Banfield

Episode: HORRIFYING New Evidence in the Rebecca Park Murder | Full Arrest Affidavit
Date: December 15, 2025
Host: Ashleigh Banfield

Episode Overview

In this extremely intense and information-rich episode, Ashleigh Banfield does a full deep-dive into the newly released, lengthy arrest affidavit in the brutal and horrific murder of Rebecca Park—a case involving her own mother, Courtney Bartholomew, and Courtney’s husband, Bradley Bartholomew, both now charged in the crime. Banfield departs from her usual format to painstakingly walk listeners through the law enforcement document, breaking down its dense details with her characteristic irreverent yet deeply empathetic style. The episode is a rollercoaster of gruesome evidence, shifting alibis, tangled relationships, and jaw-dropping confessions, all delivered almost verbatim from the source material, with Ashleigh’s running commentary, insight, and disbelief.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Case Background (03:00–06:00)

• Rebecca Park, two weeks from giving birth, was reported missing and later found murdered and mutilated. Authorities allege her mother and stepfather are responsible.
• The case shockingly involves allegations of a live C-section performed to remove Rebecca’s unborn baby, which was not found alive.

Quote:
"I'm just gonna say it like the police believe that she had the C-section performed on her while she was still alive. So anyway, it's awful, awful stuff." (Ashleigh Banfield, 04:45)

2. Initial Missing Persons Investigation (06:00–10:30)

• Rebecca was last seen at her mother Courtney’s rural home. Courtney claims Rebecca left with an unknown person in a black sedan at night—a story Ashleigh immediately doubts.
• Courtney says she found Rebecca’s phone nearby after being sent a GPS location by Rebecca’s sister; the phone was handed to Rebecca’s fiancé, Richard Fowler, and later to police.

Quote:
"Let's just call a spade a spade. This is probably full bullshit on the part of Courtney. She's just trying to say, yeah, yeah, Rebecca left and nothing to see here, never saw her again. Highly unlikely." (Ashleigh, 07:54)

3. Rebecca’s Mother’s Narrative Unravels (10:30–24:00)

• Authorities begin to doubt Courtney’s cover story; evidence mounts that both Courtney and Bradley were lying.
• Texts reveal Courtney was claiming to have a newborn baby in the NICU just after Rebecca went missing, trying to solicit baby items from family.
• Deeply tangled relationships: Courtney, her daughter Rebecca, and Richard Fowler were all romantically intertwined at various times; paternity of Courtney’s own pregnancy is uncertain, adding drama and possible motive.

Quote:
"Courtney then became pregnant and was unsure who the father might be. Bradley, her husband, or Richard, her daughter's fiancé, who she's broken up with. I mean, God, you cannot write this stuff." (Ashleigh, 17:30)

4. Shifting Stories & Police Interviews (24:00–42:00)

• Both Courtney and Bradley provide contradictory timelines and alibis about the day Rebecca vanished, centering on car swaps, fake alibis, and mysterious phone pings.
• Discussions of cash envelopes, inheritance lures, and alleged motives begin to surface; Courtney appears to orchestrate encounters at her house.
• Cell phone data, witness timelines, and contradictory statements all point to the Bartholomews’ involvement.

5. Discovery and Processing of the Crime Scene (42:00–48:00)

• Rebecca’s body is located by a community member, showing clear evidence of mutilation, with the fetus missing.
• The autopsy reveals multiple stab wounds—specifically to the back, arms, neck, face (noting the personal nature of facial wounds)—and a botched C-section indicating a lack of medical skill.

Quote:
"Stabbed twice in the face. That is personal. I've done these crimes before, and when you're shot or stabbed in the face, it is personal." (Ashleigh, 46:50)

6. Breakdown of Confessions and Accusations (48:00–80:00)

• Police interrogations (full of Miranda warnings that are promptly not used) show both Courtney and Bradley blaming each other in progressively shifting narratives.
• Bradley admits to some involvement, details the burning and disposal of evidence (like seat covers and the murder weapon), and describes Courtney as obsessed with wanting another baby.
• Courtney, under pressure and seeking immunity, offers to tell police where the weapon and infant can be found, leading to information about the baby’s remains being dumped in trash via a blue cooler.
• Both Courtney and Bradley alternately confess and deflect, attempting to minimize their own roles; both admit to hiding evidence, but their stories directly conflict in critical areas.

Quote:
"When you are told you have the right to remain silent, use it. This moron didn't. He thought he was smarter. He was given the right and he waived it. He just kept talking." (Ashleigh, 49:32)

• Notable: Courtney attempted to frame Rebecca's sister Kimberly by planting evidence.

7. Recounting the Night of the Murder (80:00–95:00)

• The deeply confused sequence of events is pieced together:
  • Courtney lures Rebecca to her house with a fake story about money and laundry supplies; Rebecca is ultimately forced (or coerced) into a vehicle with Courtney and Bradley.
  • Rebecca is stabbed—accounts vary as to where (inside the vehicle, outside on a wooded trail)—and, while still alive, a crude C-section is performed by Courtney, attempting to extract the infant.
  • Both claim the baby was not breathing post-delivery; the body is disposed of in the woods, covered with leaves, while the baby is bagged and dumped in the garbage.
  • Both continue to point fingers, claiming the other was the instigator or main perpetrator, but only in an effort to reduce their own culpability.

Quote:
"Courtney said she started her incision along her belly, and Bradley told her to cut downward. It would be easier...Rebecca Park's abdomen had incised wounds. The placenta was hanging from the open abdominal wound with attached umbilical cord, and the fetus was absent." (Courtney and Ashleigh, 92:05)

• Ashleigh points out the callous, chilling nature of their attempts to appear innocent ("Counting garbage bags? Really? You know that two of them are gone? She's so full of shit it's unbelievable.").

8. Law Enforcement and Legal Analysis (95:00–End)

• Ashleigh notes the difficulty for prosecutors given the inconsistent, confusing narratives and the poorly written affidavit, but remains convinced the evidence is damning.
• Predicts both Courtney and Bradley will face convictions for premeditated first-degree murder and multiple aggravating charges, stating neither’s shifting story will fool authorities or the public.

Quote:
"None of this bodes well for Courtney Bartholomew. None of this bodes well for Bradley Bartholomew. The two of them together. And I'm going to go out on a limb here. Big prediction. They are going down for premeditated first degree murder, right?" (Ashleigh, 96:23)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On the macabre family dynamics:
  "You cannot write this stuff." (Ashleigh, 17:30)
• On the changing alibis and blame games:
  "Neither one of them is told the truth from the get go. And when confronted with very uncomfortable and inconvenient truths, they change their stories, but continually lie again."
• On the investigation’s depth:
  "You are also the kind of super curious type that is the ultimate true crime fan. Because people like us, we want every detail. We want the nitty gritty we want to know exactly what they said and when and when they changed it. And friends, you got it. You got it all right here." (Ashleigh, 97:12)
• On the heinousness and sentencing:
  "They're going to be treated, in my estimation, as co conspirators in this first degree murder and this torture of Rebecca Park. But that's where we leave this episode." (Ashleigh, 96:54)

Key Timestamps

• 03:00–06:00 – Episode/Case Introduction
• 07:50 – Courtney's Suspect Cover Story
• 17:30 – Romantic Entanglements and Motive
• 46:50 – Description of Facial Stab Wounds
• 49:32 – Advice on using Miranda Rights
• 80:00–95:00 – Detailed Confessions and Disposal of Evidence
• 92:05 – Courtney's Detailed Surgical Description
• 96:23–97:00 – Ashleigh's Legal Predictions
• 97:12 – Closing words on the true crime fandom

Tone and Style

Ashleigh Banfield delivers the harrowing details in her trademark direct and irreverent way, alternating between empathetic commentary, sarcastic asides, and exasperated reactions to the wild inconsistencies and depravity revealed in the affidavit. She pulls no punches critiquing the protagonists, the legal process, and the procedural messiness, making the darkest aspects of the case accessible to true crime devotees who crave details.

Conclusion

This episode is not for the faint of heart, but is required listening (or, in this case, reading) for anyone interested in the extremes of true crime storytelling and the dark realities faced by investigators and families. Ashleigh goes beyond typical recaps, giving her audience minute-by-minute insight into the complex, disturbing, and at times almost unbelievable twists of the Rebecca Park case, ensuring listeners are up to date with every shred of (often grotesque) detail from the official record.