Brooke Skylar Richardson trial: Former Ohio cheerleader accused of killing newborn baby to save face after out of wedlock pregnancy as texting details revealed in murder case.
The former Ohio high school cheerleader accused of killing her newborn texted her mom to celebrate getting her ‘belly back’ — just hours after she secretly buried the baby, prosecutors said.
Text messages sent by Brooke Skylar Richardson were revealed Wednesday at her murder trial in Warren County court as the prosecution delivered opening statements, the Hamilton Journal-News reported.
Steven Knippen, an assistant Warren County prosecutor, said the then 18-year-old cheered her new figure within hours of giving birth in the middle of the night at her parents’ Carlisle home in May 2017.
‘I am literally speechless with how happy I am my belly is back OMG,’ Richardson allegedly texted her mom.
## Ohio cheerleader found not guilty of murdering newborn but questions remain
Ohio cheerleader kept pregnancy a secret:
Prosecutors say Ms Richardson, a high school cheerleader, was informed by her doctor in April 2017 that she was pregnant and would be giving birth in a ‘matter of weeks,’ FOX19 reported.
The then-18-year-old became extremely upset and told her doctor she could not have the child and asked she not tell anyone.
Richardson, now 20, concealed her pregnancy and delivered a full-term baby girl days later in the middle of the night on May 7. The former cheerleader gave birth in the bathroom at her family home just a few days after her senior prom and weeks before she was set to start college.
She then allegedly killed the infant and told no one for months about the birth prosecutors alleged.
Knippen said it wasn’t until she was confronted at an OB-GYN appointment in July 2017 that she confessed to giving birth.
But Richardson’s lawyers insist that baby was stillborn — and that she buried her in the backyard to give her a proper burial.
‘She didn’t throw her in a trash can. She didn’t put her in a dumpster,’ her attorney, Charlie M. Rittgers Jr. told the court.
Trying to save face?
County prosecutor David Fornshell previously said Richardson and her family had been worried about the community’s reaction to her out-of-wedlock pregnancy.
‘Skylar and her family, particularly her mother, were pretty obsessed with external appearances and how things appeared to the outside world,’ he said.
‘You have a situation where, you know, she’s a cute high school, recent high school graduate; she was a cheerleader described (as) a good girl by her lawyer as you heard after the arraignment.’
To what degree the ‘shame’ of an out of wedlock pregnancy influenced the teen keeping the pregnancy a secret remained unknown. Not necessary clear was the identity of the child’s father, why Richardson didn’t tell anyone about the stillborn or sought to give the baby away under Ohio’s State Haven law– which allows mothers to leave a newborn at designated centers, no questions asked, as long as the child isn’t hurt within 72 hours of birth.
The trial is expected to last two to three weeks. If convicted, Richardson faces life in prison.
