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

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Botanical search goal: Find Baby Kate
Police seek team members to help

Ludington police are seeking the help of those with knowledge in plant identification for a two-day search for missing Baby

snipped

The search is planned around the two-year anniversary of the infant's disappearance on Friday, June 28 and Saturday, June 29, 24 Hour News 8 has learned. It will focus on botanical evidence found on Phillips' shoes that investigators hope will lead them to where he left his daughter.

Detectives will seek the help of qualified participants and are planning an application process to prepare the team. Details on that process will be released at a press conference scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Ludington City Council Chambers.

snipped

Investigators have elicited the help of several experts including some from Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and the Chicago Field Museum.

Dr. Frank Telewski, a botany professor at Michigan State University, testified at Phillips' trial last year and discussed plant matter found on shoes that were taken as evidence from Phillips' home.

Telewski was unable to specify the location the plant matter came from but at trial said the shoes had likely been in a wet area.

Tuesday, Telewski named one of the plants investigators have identified.

"We did attempt to germinate some of the seeds we found on the shoes last year, but the seeds did not germinate. Fortunately, we were able to get a positive identification of the seeds/fruit thanks to the expertise of a botanist over at the University of Michigan," Telewski said in an email. "The Carex (common name is sedge, a grass-like plant of moist areas) fruit were identified..."

Authorities will also focus on Sphagnum plants, a type of moss that grows in wet areas.

Police plan to release specifics on what they are looking for Wednesday.

http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/nw_mich/baby-kate-case-news-conference-on-april-3
 
Video

FOX 17′s Courtney Perna spent the day at the Ludington City Council Chambers to get the latest on baby Kate, as the father suspected in the case, Sean Phillips is being held in connection with her disappearance. Police Forensics are now performing botanical tests from the soil and seeds taken from Phillips’ shoes the day the infant went missing. Authorities are hoping to find out what type of seed(s) are on the shoes in order to better locate a search area.

http://fox17online.com/2013/04/02/the-latest-on-baby-kate-live-from-ludington/#ixzz2PNcxC8de
 
In a news conference Wednesday, police announced that a search of the area will take place on June 28 - 29. The plants identified in the investigation will have "leafed out" by then after the cold winter and may help searchers find exactly where Sean Phillips was.

Anyone with experience in identifying local plants and who are interested in helping with the search, should fill out an application on the City of Ludington website under Botanical Search Team. Investigators hope to have about 100 searchers on June 28 - 29.

Police say that they are excited to have a new step in the search for Baby Kate and that it is only a matter of time before she is found.

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/251121/14/Volunteers-needed-in-the-search-for-Baby-Kate
 
Chief Mark Barnett announced this morning that Dr. Frank Telewski and Peter Carrington of Michigan State University found a seed of sedge identified as Carex Atlantica. The material was identified by Dr. Tony Reznicek, a global expert in Carex and a professor at University of Michigan.

“The sedge is extremely rare and is only found in a few locations in the surrounding area.”

“In addition to this, another seed was identified as Carex Interior. While Carex Interior is more common in the surrounding area, it is extremely rare to be found in the same area as Carex Atlantica due to the difference in soil type. Carex Atlantica grows in an acidic soil and Carex Interior grows in an alkaline soil.”

Barnett said a large group of Diatoms were also found. These specific Diatoms are algae that live on the surface of organic sediments in a range of circumneutral to acidic waters located in wetlands. Another species of plant material was identified as Sphagnum Affine.”

Dr. Telewski said up to 10 different elements were found on evidence retrieved from Phillips related to the day of Kate’s disappearance.

Local law enforcement, which includes the Mason County Sheriff’s Department, Ludington Police Department and Michigan State Police, are organizing searches to take place on June 28 and 29. Though those dates coincide with the date that Kate disappeared two years ago, the reason for those particular dates have more to do with the time of year that the Carex flowers blossom, Dr. Telewski said.

http://www.masoncountypress.com/201...o-trace-phillips-steps-the-day-baby-kate-died
 
The Cheese said:
Chief Mark Barnett announced this morning that Dr. Frank Telewski and Peter Carrington of Michigan State University found a seed of sedge identified as Carex Atlantica. The material was identified by Dr. Tony Reznicek, a global expert in Carex and a professor at University of Michigan.

“The sedge is extremely rare and is only found in a few locations in the surrounding area.”

“In addition to this, another seed was identified as Carex Interior. While Carex Interior is more common in the surrounding area, it is extremely rare to be found in the same area as Carex Atlantica due to the difference in soil type. Carex Atlantica grows in an acidic soil and Carex Interior grows in an alkaline soil.”

Barnett said a large group of Diatoms were also found. These specific Diatoms are algae that live on the surface of organic sediments in a range of circumneutral to acidic waters located in wetlands. Another species of plant material was identified as Sphagnum Affine.”

Dr. Telewski said up to 10 different elements were found on evidence retrieved from Phillips related to the day of Kate’s disappearance.

Local law enforcement, which includes the Mason County Sheriff’s Department, Ludington Police Department and Michigan State Police, are organizing searches to take place on June 28 and 29. Though those dates coincide with the date that Kate disappeared two years ago, the reason for those particular dates have more to do with the time of year that the Carex flowers blossom, Dr. Telewski said.

http://www.masoncountypress.com/201...o-trace-phillips-steps-the-day-baby-kate-died
Click to expand...

Very interesting! My first thought would be near a golf course as they tend to fertilize a lot and that would cause runoff which would affect the alkalinity of the surrounding soils.
 
http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/...kate_finding_her_peaceful.html#incart_m-rpt-2

In addition, a large group of algae called Diatoms were found, and a plant material called Sphagnum Affine. Also found were two-needle pine believed to be Red Pine, White Cedar, Carex Leptalea, wind-blown sand from a dune or inter-dune, and an additional unknown Sphagnum moss.

“The location that would support all of these elements is so rare and specific to the surrounding area, that it is only a matter of time before the exact location is found,” Barnett said.
Click to expand...
 
SurfieTX said:
Very interesting! My first thought would be near a golf course as they tend to fertilize a lot and that would cause runoff which would affect the alkalinity of the surrounding soils.
Click to expand...

There is a golf course south of town that sort of matches the area being described in the articles. However, I would think she would have been discovered by now if she was in that area.

There are several areas I feel she might be in, based on the timeline and info from the articles. I was born and raised in Ludington, lived there until I went to college, so I am very familiar with the area. I also went to school with some of Baby Kate's aunts and uncles. Mason County is so full of woods and water that it's no wonder it's been so difficult to find her. I am very hopeful and confident that the new information from the MSU professors will lead to her being found. It sounds like they have narrowed down the areas pretty well.
 
I really hope this helps them find her and let her be laid to rest peacefully. Thank you guys for the updates.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I am so glad LE has not given up on searching :)
 
So this guy didn't want his parents to know he'd fathered a baby ?
And maybe easier to go to prison for killing said baby than just telling
his parents ? He's wacky or his folks are extremely religious or some
type of real hard liners. Sad case :(

ETA I understand he's not convicted in her death, but it seems like it's heading that way .
 
SCHMAE said:
So this guy didn't want his parents to know he'd fathered a baby ?
And maybe easier to go to prison for killing said baby than just telling
his parents ? He's wacky or his folks are extremely religious or some
type of real hard liners. Sad case :(

ETA I understand he's not convicted in her death, but it seems like it's heading that way .
Click to expand...

I pray it's heading that way. Right now he's willing to do his time and hope they can't get enough evidence that he killed her and hid her body. I don't think his parents are too religious, he already had one child with this same woman. I personally think he just couldn't handle another. So he got rid of the problem. I don't buy the accident story at all.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
:bump: because I am sick of children harmed by people supposed to care for them!

jmo
 
Field Museum scientists search for Baby Kate

<snip>

The search team, comprised of approximately 80 people with botanical expertise, will walk grids in rural areas in Mason County, Mich., Friday and Saturday. “Botanists will come from all over, Chicago’s Field Museum as well as the university of Michigan,” said Mason County Police Chief Deputy Bob Brown.

<snip>

“We’ve conducted foot searches for evidence and this is another foot search for evidence necessary in the homicide investigation,” Ludington Police Chief Mark Barnett told the local press.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/sneed/20987878-452/field-museum-scientists-search-for-baby-kate.html
 
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