MASON COUNTY, Mich.- Friday, human bones were found in Mason County not far from where Baby Kate went missing. Police have determined they were bones of an adult and in fact, not that of Baby Kate.
Upon the discovery of the bones, Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole said, “We have a baby that went missing two years ago and that’s certainly in the back of your mind.”
Kate’s mother, Ariel Courtland, says the discovery had her freaking out. Sheriff Cole says, “There’s a lot of people, Baby Kate’s family, as well, that deserve closure for this matter. But this just, this isn’t Baby Kate.”
Still, new hope as police have received a tremendous response from plant experts volunteering to search for plants from the rare seeds found on Sean Phillips’ shoes when Kate went missing.
Sheriff Cole says, “We’ve had 60-70 people who had contacted us who were experts in those fields – in the plant material field an they’re willing to come here.”
Those volunteers will search next month, near the 2 year anniversary of Kate’s disappearance.
Sheriff Cole says, “We want to do the search as close to the actual time when Baby Kate went missing and- it’s just easier to relate to juries and of course that’s the time that’s conducive with when Baby Kate went missing. It was the end of June, so we want to recreate that environment as close as we possibly can.”
The search for Kate is now a homicide investigation and Sheriff Cole says the botanical search could lead to homicide charges. “We’re gonna do this search in June and see what evidence we can gather from that and we’re basing that on the materials we found on the bottom of his shoes. There’s just a lot of things we need to get to the bottom of- we need answers for.”
The human bones found are being sent to a lab in Lansing to find out who they came from.
