Ohio Cheerleader Accused of Burying Her Baby in the Backyard Found Not Guilty of Murder
An Ohio woman was found not guilty of murder this week in relation to the death of her newborn, who was found buried in her backyard just two years ago.
The defense celebrated Thursday as 20-year-old Brooke Skylar Richardson walked on charges of “aggravated murder, involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment,” WKRC reported, convicted only of abusing the corpse.
According to CNN, Richardson was given no jail time in sentencing Friday, instead subject to just three years of mandatory state supervision.
“[Richardson] was living under this dark cloud for the last two years,” her attorney Charlie Rittgers said Thursday. “Living, quite frankly, a nightmare.”
NEW: Brooke Skylar Richardson, 20, who prosecutors said killed and buried her unwanted newborn in her Ohio backyard, broke down after she was found not guilty on the most serious charges, including aggravated murder; she was convicted of abusing a corpse. https://t.co/8ZaJu9BbSb pic.twitter.com/QWobZBD5c1
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) September 12, 2019
He and his son, fellow attorney Charlie Rittgers Jr., attacked the state this week, claiming Richardson — who was still found guilty of burning the corpse and improperly burying it in her backyard — was not only “not guilty” but entirely innocent of the charges against her.
The case, they say, was over-charged, claiming Warren County Prosecutors David Fornshell and Steve Knippen had deemed the narrative of a teen mother murdering her unwanted baby too exciting to pass up.
Fornshell and Knippen, however, saw things differently and they painted a vivid picture of the happenings, both inside and outside the courtroom.
Eighteen-years-old at the time of the alleged murder, multiple parties attest that Richardson been in a new relationship when she found out she was pregnant with the child of a classmate with whom she had previously been involved.
Police documents indicate Richardson told medical professionals she could not have the child, shortly after realizing she was pregnant.
“Upon learning she was pregnant, Brooke burst into tears and told her doctor that she could not have this child and that she could not tell anyone about being pregnant,” Warren County Assistant Prosecutor Julie Kraft said, according to WXIX.
That same doctor would bring local authorities to launch a full investigation months later when Richardson, having arrived to her appointment without the child, burst into tears in the medical office when asked where the baby was.
#SkylarRichardson had nothing to say as she left the courtroom @Local12 pic.twitter.com/Jlc7u2hEun
— Angenette Levy (@Angenette5) September 12, 2019
That investigation would quickly find the body of Richardson’s child; as well as the shocking detail that the baby had been birthed not at a hospital, but in the young cheerleader’s bedroom one night.
The baby had been stillborn, the girl and her attorneys later claimed, arguing the improper, backyard burial had been a result of immaturity and emotional distress.
But text messages from Richardson suggest she had gone to the gym to address her post-pregnancy figure within hours of the birth.
“My belly is back, OMG. I am never, ever, ever, ever letting it get like this again. You’re about to see me looking freaking better than before, OMG,” she reportedly texted her mother that morning.
And such signs of disregard for the life of the infant led prosecuting attorneys to believe something far more sinister had occurred on the night of the baby’s birth, according to The Daily Caller.
“I understand why the jury did what they did. I get it. But, I do believe she killed her child,” Fornshell said Thursday. “As I sit here today, I believe it.
“I understand there are proof issues,” he added, but “The fact that she meets 15 out of the 15 criteria for neonaticide to just walk away, you know what, we’re not going to try. That’s not who we are.”
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