Missing Girl's Mom: Dad Says Baby Is Alive
LUDINGTON (WWJ/AP) - The mother of a missing 4 1/2-month-old west Michigan girl says the child's father has indicated the infant is still alive.
The missing girl's mother, 19-year-old Ariel Courtland, told the Ludington Daily News that she spoke with 21-year-old Sean Phillips on Friday evening.
Police scoured the area between the Ludington apartment where Katherine Phillips lives with her mother and the Scottville home of Phillips.
Katherine was last seen Wednesday wearing a one piece outfit, white in color with black polka dots, pink straps, with a black and pink flower pattern.
Courtland said her daughter was in the car when Phillips drove off Wednesday afternoon from her apartment, 80 miles northwest of Grand Rapids.
According to police, Courtland and Phillips had a dispute before he took the child.
The baby was not with Phillips when he was arrested at his parent's house. He faces kidnapping and child enticement charges.
Phillips was arraigned Thursday and remains held on $500,000 bond.
Police suspended their search Friday at dusk. Volunteers gathered Saturday to pass out flyers to shoppers at local businesses, hoping to find any information they can related to Katherine's disappearance.
Investigators are seeking information regarding the activities of Sean Phillips on June 29 between the hours of 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm.
If you have any information on the alleged victim or abductor, immediately call 911 or the Mason-Oceana 911 dispatch at 231-869-5858.
Tips are also being taken at Silent Observer at 888-STOPCRIME.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
