Missing Michigan Baby: Father Sean Phillips Now Faces Murder Charge in Mysterious Baby Kate Case (VIDEO)
The case of a missing Michigan baby Kate has led to her father being charged with murder, according to reports.
Baby Kate went missing two years ago, and now State Attorney General Bill Schuette said that the latest development "moves us one step closer to securing justice for Baby Kate."
Father Sean Phillips, 23, was convicted in 2012 of the unlawful imprisonment of his baby, Katherine Phillips.
The infant was four and a half months old when she was last seen in the Ludington area, approximately 80 miles northwest of Grand Rapids.
In that unlawful imprisonment case, prosecutors claimed that Phillips kidnapped the baby from her mother as he was afraid a court-ordered paternity test would prove that he was the baby's father.
His conviction sentenced him to 10 to 15 years in prison, although his legal team is appealing that conviction and sentence.
"This continuing investigation has included review of biological evidence, site visits, and the enlistment of experts from all over the world who are preeminent in their fields," Mason County Prosecutor Paul Spaniola said.
The new open murder charge in essence means that a jury can weigh up both first- and second-degree murder charges.