On Friday, May 5, 2017, 18-year-old Brooke Skylar Richardson, who went by Skylar, attended her senior prom. Less than 48 hours later she gave birth to a baby girl in the bathroom of her family home in the middle of the night. Other than the OB-GYN she’d seen in April to obtain a prescription for birth control pills, not a soul was aware of the fact that Skylar was even pregnant. The young girl later claimed that her baby girl that she’d named Annabelle was stillborn & she went on to bury her in her backyard. The Ohio teen went on to be charged with murder & was vilified by social media.
In 2017 the Richardson family lived in the small, close knit town of Carlisle, Ohio with a population of 5,000. Skylar & her younger brother Jackson were raised by loving parents, Kim & Scott. Both kids were athletes, Skylar an accomplished cheerleader & Jackson a football player. Skylar was an honor roll student & worked with kids at the local YMCA. Her parents describe her as a non-confrontational peacemaker. Behind what appeared to be an idyllic classic-American family was the fact that Skylar was struggling with a serious eating disorder.
Kim first realized that there were issues brewing when her daughter was in sixth grade & only 12-years-old when Skylar refused a stick of gum because it had 5 calories. Kim went on to say that before that moment, she never even realized that gum had calories let alone the fact that her daughter was so worried about it that she would refuse something so trivial.
Skylar was the cheerleading squad’s flyer at Carlisle High School which meant that she did the stunts in the air during routines. Being the flyer meant that she had to be easy to lift & catch which was the start of Skylar’s issues with food & her weight. According to her parents, during the season, Skylar would purge after eating & in the off-season, she would binge & starve. Skylar’s plummeting weight was a subject that was off-limits, according to Scott, who indicated that if the topic was broached, she would immediately shut down.
The Richardsons sought professional help & in the process, Skylar saw doctors, therapists & dietitians & she was diagnosed with body dysmorphia. This is a mental health disorder that involves an obsessive focus on perceived flaws in appearance that are often unnoticeable to others. People of any age & gender can suffer from this disorder, but it’s most common in teens & young adults. Having BDD does not mean that a person is vain or self-obsessed.
Despite the professional assistance, Kim felt that nothing seemed to be helping Skylar who was described as a very guarded person. Kim indicated that her daughter kept a lot of secrets & hidden emotions to the point that they likely wouldn’t ever know what they were. She also felt that Skylar’s eating disorder halted her mental & physical development.
In July 2016, during the summer before Skylar’s senior year of high school, she began dating a friend’s cousin, Trey Johnson. The relationship was short-lived & lasted only a month. After they broke up, they went their separate ways & never spoke again. Skylar also blocked Trey on social media.
By January 2017 she was seeing someone new, a high school junior named Brandon. The two couldn’t be more physically different since Skylar had a short, tiny stature while Brandon was a very tall boy, but the two immediately clicked.
Kim noticed that her daughter seemed exceptionally happy with Brandon & even seemed to be gaining weight & getting in a healthier mindset. There was hope that her eating disorder could be finally under control. A month later, it was time to select a prom dress & in February 2017, Skylar chose a sparkly, red dress that hugged her figure.
In late-March 2017 the Richardson family went on vacation together & Kim noticed that as her daughter wore a two-piece bathing suit, she finally looked to be healthy. Skylar seemed to be in a good place in life & in a stable relationship with a boy that she cared about.
Because Kim noticed that Brandon & Skylar’s relationship was progressing, she decided to make an appointment at her gynecologist’s office to get a prescription for birth control for Skylar. On April 26, 2017 Kim took her daughter to her appointment & because she was 18, Kim waited outside the exam room. When Skylar came out, it was obvious that she had been crying & she told her mom that it was because she found her first pelvic exam to be stressful.
Kim had no way of knowing that the reason for Skylar’s tears was that the doctor had just informed her daughter that she was 8 months pregnant because Skylar was legally an adult & asked the doctor not to tell anyone.
When Skylar went to her appointment, the Medical Assistant at Hilltop OB-GYN immediately noticed how nervous she was as she was being checked in for her appointment, far more nervous than what is typical. She did indicate that it was possible she could be pregnant. As she answered the questions, Skylar indicated that she was having normal periods. Soon, a urine test confirmed that she was pregnant. She was firm on the fact that she didn’t want to tell anyone that she was what the doctor figured was about 32 weeks pregnant. The doctor informed her she would have about ten weeks to inform her family, however she ended up giving birth only eleven days later.
Nine days after her appointment, on Friday, May 5, Skylar & Brandon went to prom together. Despite being late in her pregnancy, she had no issues fitting into the dress she’d selected three months earlier. Her mom later showed a side-by-side photo of Skylar in the dress in February when she went shopping next to the photo in May & no obvious difference could be seen.
During prom, Skylar started to feel cramping to the point that she told Brandon about it. He tried to comfort her & Skylar attributed the cramps to the start of her period. However, this was actually the start of her labor.
A little over two months later, on July 14, 2017, the police suddenly showed up at the Richardson home & informed Scott that they wanted to speak with their daughter about something she may have witnessed. They assured him that she wasn’t in any trouble & they only wanted to talk to her. Scott later reflects that allowing his daughter to go down to the station was the biggest mistake he’s ever made.
Scott drove Skylar to the Carlisle Police Department & Lt. John Fraine wanted to speak with 18-year-old Skylar about a phone call they’d received. Scott had absolutely no idea what they planned to discuss as he was in the dark about his daughter’s pregnancy & subsequent birth. Skylar was taken into an interrogation room & Scott was not allowed to go in with his daughter because she was legally an adult.
The interview started with pleasantries & Skylar told the detectives that she planned to study child psychology when she went to college in the fall. Lt Fraine read the young girl her rights & began to question her. He indicated that they’d received a call from an OB-GYN office that a patient had delivered their baby at home & later buried her in the backyard.
He told her that he was aware of the fact that she was informed of her pregnancy during her doctor’s visit on April 26. Two months later, on July 12, 2017 Skylar went back to the office to request birth control & this time, she met with a different doctor, Dr. Casey Boyce. Dr Boyce obviously confronted Skylar about the fact that she was no longer pregnant & this was when she emotionally told the doctor that in the very early morning hours of Sunday, May 7, she gave birth to a stillborn baby girl.
Skylar admitted that she hadn’t told anyone about her pregnancy, let alone the fact that she delivered her baby at home. Dr. Boyce was stunned that the young girl could go through the painful process of childbirth by herself in the family home without anyone knowing. Dr. Boyce was the first person to hear about what happened. She wanted to perform a physical examination on Skylar, but she declined. Her prescription for birth control was refilled & Dr. Boyce advised her to seek counseling & professional help.
Two days later on July 14, Dr. Boyce consulted with Dr. Andrew & the police department was notified, prompting the investigation. Skylar directed officials to the location of the burial site & indicated that she was “visibly upset”. Soon, investigators located the skeletal remains of the baby that Skylar named Annabelle in the Richardson’s backyard.
Investigators returned to the home on July 24 to inspect the interior & remove electronics. As they entered Skylar’s bedroom, it appeared that the bed had been recently moved. Under where the bed was now located, they found an area of carpet that appeared to have been “scrubbed” & when BlueStar was utilized, it indicated that a large amount of blood had been in that area. BlueStar also illuminated in the hallway as well as the bathroom near her bedroom.
According to Skylar on the morning of May 7, she was sitting on the toilet & felt that something needed to come out. At this point, the baby just kind of came out. She tried to grasp the baby, but was unable to because of how slippery she was & as a result, the baby’s head fell into the toilet. The umbilical cord was detached & she saw no signs of life as she tried to hold her baby to see if she was breathing & noticed that she didn’t have a heartbeat, her eyes were closed & she saw no movement. Skylar said she wrapped the baby in a towel & cried, mourning her death.
Skylar told the officers that she made the decision to continue the secret & bury the baby in their backyard. She cried & asked the officers if she was going to be in trouble for burying her daughter as she promised that she never did anything to harm her baby.
Skylar explained that while her family was still asleep, she continued to suffer from intense stomach pains & bleeding, she quietly made her way downstairs, grabbed a small gardening tool from the garage & dug a shallow grave in the yard. She unwrapped the baby from the towel & buried her remains. She said she decided to call her Annabelle: I didn’t know anyone with that name, so I knew whenever I heard it, it would remind me of my baby girl. She placed a 25# flower pot over the grave & placed some of the pink flowers from prom around the gravesite as her family slept, unaware inside. Skylar crept back up the stairs, cleaned up the evidence of what happened & went back to sleep.
After forty-five minutes of questioning, Scott was finally told why Skylar had been brought into the station & he recalls being shocked by the news. Kim remembers that she was so stunned that she couldn’t get up or feel her body. She was baffled by the realization that she hadn’t noticed that her daughter had been pregnant. She said, I’ve seen her every day. I look at her. I talk to her. I hug her.
Reports indicate that Skylar’s weight often fluctuated anywhere from 90-140# & she often missed her period, even for an entire year at times. Because of her routinely changing appearance, no one suspected that she was pregnant.
Within an interview room at the station, the family was given privacy to speak to one another, but they were never made aware of the fact that a camera was recording their every movement & word. Skylar continuously apologized for what happened & Scott said he wished she had just told them. Skylar told her parents that she named her baby Annabelle & the baby’s father was the friend’s cousin who she dated shortly before Brandon, Trey Johnson. According to Trey, he & Skylar had sex twice, once without protection. The relationship ended a month later & she never mentioned the possibility or concern that she was pregnant.
Trey Johnson & his family didn’t learn of the alleged stillbirth until 2018. Trey’s mother Tracy later indicated that the whole ordeal of losing her first grandchild has shattered the family.
While in the interview room, Kim could be heard telling her daughter that now she was going to lose Brandon over this & that they once had a perfect life. Kim later indicated that she was devastated that her young daughter had harbored such a secret & hadn’t felt comfortable enough to confide in them. Soon, everyone in town was made aware of Skylar’s dark secret & reporters lined the street in front of the Richardson home, shining a spotlight on the home as night fell.
After more than five hours at the station during her initial interview, Skylar, Kim & Scott were told they could go home, but only six days later, Lt. Fraine informed Skylar that she needed to come back to the station. Again, Scott was told that she wasn’t in trouble & that it was not a life-changing situation.
This time, as Skylar sat with Lt Fraine, he informed her that they were now aware that more happened than what she initially shared. According to Dr Elizabeth Murrary, a forensic anthropologist who analyzed the baby’s remains, there were findings that indicated that part of the baby’s bones had been charred. Just before their second interview began, Lt. Fraine had been assured that with 100% scientific certainty, Annabelle’s remains had been burned.
When Lt Fraine learned this information, he began to believe that Skylar had been lying about her baby being stillborn & suspected that she killed the baby in order to continue her secret. It was his goal to get Skylar to admit that she had killed her baby & buried her body in order to hide the evidence. When Lt Fraine told Skylar that there was evidence to suggest that her baby had been burned, Skylar seemed shocked & said, Burned her? I promise on anything I didn’t burn her. I swear on anything. She continuously denied these allegations a total of seventeen times during her interview, firm on the fact that she did nothing with fire. Lt Fraine pressed on & maintained the belief that she had to be lying based on the evidence.
Professor Alan Hirsch, an expert on criminal interrogations & false confessions, later testified that during Skylar’s interview, the investigators used an interrogation method that minimizes the crime as they explained to her that they only wanted to provide a proper burial for the newborn & they knew that she had no intention of harming her baby. He referenced two statements that Lt. Fraine made, It’s not as if we’re suddenly going to jump up & judge you & say you’re going to jail & You just tell us everything & then we can move on. Hirsch indicated that this can break an innocent person down to falsely confess. These tactics can make a suspect feel at ease & remove the focus from the consequences.
Skylar seemed confused & as Detective Brandi Carter spoke with her, she suddenly changed her story & said that she had a lighter. Lt Fraine asked if she heard any sounds from the baby, such as gurgling. Skylar said that maybe the baby had made a sound like a gurgle which would have indicated that she had not been stillborn as she initially claimed. She specifically used the same word, gurgle, just as the detectives had.
After an hour-long interrogation, 18-year-old Skylar was arrested & charged with reckless homicide. They theorized that she suffocated her baby. When investigators brought Scott & Kim into the room, Sylar told them, I tried to cremate the baby just a little.
Skylar posted bail & returned home with her family. Two weeks later, the case was presented to a grand jury who indicted her on new charges & she was arrested again. This time, she faced charges of aggravated murder which in Ohio which carries a mandatory life sentence. She was also faced with involuntary manslaughter, endangering children & abuse of a corpse.
In the meantime, the case became international news as reporters were informed by District Attorney David Fornshell that Skylar gave birth to a living infant & she caused the death of the baby, burned & buried her remains. It was suggested by those present that the motive was because the infant wouldn’t fit into Skylar’s life. The prosecutor said that Skylar & her family were obsessed with outward appearances & Skylar was painted as a spoiled, entitled teenager that worried more about vanity than the life of her baby.
Scott & Kim maintained that their daughter would never hurt anyone, let alone a helpless newborn baby & intended to do all they could to prove her innocence with the help of their attorneys.
After her arrest, Skylar spent the weekend behind bars until her family was able to gather $50,000 to post bond. Following the prosecutor’s press conference, the court imposed a gag-order, but the damage was done & Skylar was painted as a cold-blooded killer.
Kim & Scott indicated that their every movement was scrutinized & they were all vilified on social media. Their street was lined with reporters who made it nearly impossible for the family to leave the house. Kim would see photos of herself as she sat on her back porch.
Prominent local defense attorneys indicated that this was a case of a false confession & during the time in between the arrest & the trial, a bombshell was dropped when Dr Elizabeth Murray, who reported that the baby’s remains had been burned, retracted her original statement & indicated that after taking a second look at the bones, they showed no sign whatsoever of incineration or burning. Every doctor involved in the case, including the state’s own doctor, agreed that this had been a false opinion. When the fire pit was searched, charred pieces of burned wood, chicken bones & fish bones were found, but nothing that appeared to be human. However, because of the gag order, Dr. Murray’s recanting could not be released to the public who continued to believe that Skylar had burned her baby’s remains.
Skylar was fitted with an ankle monitoring bracelet & placed under house arrest, spending much of her time reading or with the family dog. Her parents placed an angel statue in the backyard to mark where Annabelle had once been buried.
A year went by & Sylar’s plans to attend the University of Cincinnati had been put on hold. Her life was on hold, she was unable to work or go to school as she awaited trial.
The defense filed a motion to move the trial to another county, but this was denied. In July 2019, the state came to Skylar’s lawyers with an offer. They would take the aggravated murder charge off if she pleaded guilty to the rest of the charges which could put her in jail for fifteen years. Kim & Scott knew Skylar had a decision to make, knowing that there was otherwise the possibility of life in prison without parole.
Skylar told her parents that she made the decision not to make a plea to something that she didn’t do. As she awaited trial, her eating disorder raged on & the Richardsons watched as their daughter virtually wasted away. Her weight plummeted to under 90#, she could only fit into children’s clothing & her fair began to fall out.
Despite reported concerns about a tainted jury pool, the trial began on September 3, 2019 with a 12 person jury.
The prosecutor delivered his opening statement by reading the jury a text Skylar had sent her mom only hours after she gave birth:
I am literally speechless with how happy I am. My belly is back OMG & I’m never, ever, ever, ever letting it get like this again. You’re about to see me looking freaking better than before. OMG. I’m just in freak out mode. I want to look amazing again more than anything. I hate being like this so much.
The prosecutor was characterizing Skylar’s words as vanity rather than what doctors consider an illness. He also showed a selfie Skylar had taken at the gym that same afternoon. They painted a picture of a shared obsession between Kim & Skylar with Skylar’s appearance, specifically her weight.
The defense attorney indicated that texts between Skylar & her mom regarding her weight were not uncommon & for six years, her mom had been very concerned about her losing weight.
Because Skylar’s mom Kim was on the witness list, she was not allowed in the courtroom.
Prosecutor Steven Knippen indicated that Skylar’s actions & words proved that she had no intention of ever keeping her baby. However, they were unable to prove that her baby had been alive vs. stillborn as Skylar had initially indicated. Prosecutor Knippen referred to Skylar’s second interview with officials when she admitted that she saw her daughter’s arms moving a little, she heard a gurgle & a cry. This was when she told investigators that maybe she’d held her baby too tight. Then with ongoing interrogation, she indicated that she’d burned her baby’s body. However, the defense argued that Skylar had only told the police what they wanted to hear since she was vulnerable & gradually broken down.
When the prosecution called Dr Susan Brown, the assistant Warren County Coroner who performed the autopsy on the baby’s remains, to the stand, she indicated that the cause of the infant’s death was homicidal violence of undetermined etiology. When the doctor was cross-examined by the defense, she admitted that there was no evidence that Skylar killed her baby or that the baby had been born alive.
Under cross-examination, witness after witness called by the state, agreed that there had been no physical evidence of a live birth, any trauma or burning to the baby’s bones. The only evidence came from Skylar herself who admitted to burning the baby’s body after ongoing interrogation. Again, this came after Skylar denied harming her baby or burning her remains on seventeen previous occasions.
The defense called an obstetrician, Dr. John White to the stand who voiced his belief that the baby was not alive at birth. He made references to the fact that Skylar had never cut the umbilical cord which indicated the cord may have become detached sometime before or during the birth. He also mentioned that Skylar described the appearance of her baby when she was born as being really white. The doctor indicated that when a healthy newborn is delivered, they tend to be almost purple in color until they let out their first scream. He also said that during his career, he had never heard a newborn baby make a gurgling sound when born.
Dr. White also pointed out that Skylar only gained fifteen pounds during her pregnancy & that her eating disorder could have affected the baby’s development in utero which increases the risk of intrauterine demise or neonatal death. When Skylar learned of her pregnancy during her OB-GYN visit on April 26, 2017, the doctor measured her at 32 weeks pregnant based on her fundal height (the distance from the pubic bone to the top of the uterus). However, it’s believed that the baby was conceived sometime between July 24, 2016 & August 7, 2016 which would put Skylar at 39 weeks pregnant which would mean that she was measuring behind in fundal height by 7 cm which suggests intrauterine growth restriction.
However, another expert in maternal & fetal medicine, Dr Brady, took the stand on the behalf of the prosecution & indicated that fundal height measurements are not a way to determine intrauterine growth restriction because fundal height is only accurate until about 20 weeks. During the 3rd trimester, fundal height measurements are inaccurate about 60% of the time & the diagnosis of intrauterine growth restriction does not presume stillbirth, according to Dr. Brady.
Data from Skylar’s phone indicate that she suspected that she was pregnant before her OB-GYN appointment on April 26, 2017. On April 17, she made searches on her phone for what happens at the gyno when your (sic) pregnant.
Dr. William Andrew from Hilltop OBGYN saw Skylar on April 26, 2017 & indicated that when she found out she was pregnant, she seemed surprised & broke into tears. He recalled Skylar’s worry about how she could take care of a baby when she planned to start college as she said, I can’t have a baby. I’m going to college in September. Dr. Andrew assured her that she had options & people would line up to raise the baby in reference to adoption. He told Skylar that she needed to start prenatal care immediately & wanted to schedule a follow-up ultrasound to get a better idea of how far along she was, but despite attempts to schedule them, Skylar didn’t return to the office until July when she confessed about giving birth at home & burying the baby.
An expert on police interviews took the stand & explained to the jury how certain tactics used by law enforcement can lead to a false confession. Certain people are more susceptible than others & Dr. Stuart Bassman, a clinical psychologist who spent hours interviewing Skylar, indicated that in his opinion, Skylar suffers from a mental disorder that predisposes her to comply with people in authority.
As the detectives spoke with Skylar in the interrogation room without the support of her parents or an attorney, the two authority figures attempted to convince her, to implant a memory that would implicate her in her baby’s murder. However, Lt. Fraine disagrees with this & feels that when Skylar confessed, she spoke the truth.
The trial lasted one week & Skylar never took the stand in her own defense. The prosecution made their final statements as they painted a picture of a girl that lived a perfect life in a small town, she was a cheerleader who was obsessed with her appearance & she was determined to maintain a perfect life at all cost.
The defense reminded the jury that Skylar is presumed innocent until guilt can be established beyond a reasonable doubt & if there are any doubts that Skylar had a live birth, it was their responsibility to fight for Skylar.
On September 12, 2019, the jury of seven women & five men deliberated for four hours as the Richardsons waited in terror, unsure of the fate of their daughter’s future, knowing there was no scientific proof to confirm her innocence. Would they believe that she falsely confessed to murder or that she actually killed her baby? Would she spend the rest of her life behind bars?
As the family came back to the courtroom, Scott recalls that his daughter was such a nervous wreck that he had to support her as she walked. Kim, Scott & Skylar held their breath as the juror opened the envelope & prepared to read the verdict. Kim remembers looking at the envelope, knowing that the fate of her daughter’s future sat inside.
We the jury find the defendant as to count one, not guilty in the offense of aggravated murder. Not guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Not guilty of child endangerment.
The Richardson family nearly collapsed with relief as Skylar trembled & wept. However, because Skylar made the decision to secretly bury Annabelle in the backyard, she was convicted of gross abuse of a corpse, a felony that carries up to a year in prison. The judge ordered that Skylar be held in jail until sentencing & Kim & Scott could only watch as their daughter was led away in handcuffs.
Following the verdict, District Attorney David Fornshell denied that he pursued a case with insufficient evidence & made a statement to reporters indicating that because Skylar had buried her baby in the backyard, it prevented a thorough autopsy & in a sense, he felt that she was being rewarded.
One day after the verdict, Skylar was back in the courtroom for sentencing & spoke for the very first time. She apologized for her actions & admitted that at times, she could be selfish. With her actions, she realizes how much she has hurt so many people & she will forever be sorry.
Judge Oda responded, I firmly believe Ms. Richardson, in fact I know in my heart that if you would have made different decisions Anabelle would be here today. But I think that your choices before birth, during birth & after show a grotesque disregard for life.
Skylar was sentenced to three years of probation & the family felt immense relief, knowing that she could have been sentenced to life in prison.
Scott Richardson indicated that this ordeal has caused Skylar to grow up & gain inner strength & resiliency. In September 2019, Skylar entered an eating disorder treatment program. Her parents are well aware that this is a lifelong illness that she’ll always have to deal with.
Skylar was released from probation after 14 months of her 36-month probation.
In May 2022, author Sonia Chopra published a book on this case, Saving Skylar: The Brooke Skylar Richardson Case.
In 2022, Skylar’s request to have the official records pertaining to the case be sealed which means that access to the criminal records are blocked & hidden from the general public as well as most background checks. Prosecutors opposed this decision believing it would diminish the seriousness of Skylar’s actions.
If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, please call the National Eating Disorders Helpline at 1-800-931-2237.
References:
- CBS News: The case against Brooke Skylar Richardson
- LawInfo – Criminal Law: What’s the difference between expunged vs. sealed records?
- Dayton Daily News: NAACP president criticizes judge’s decision to seal Brooke Skylar Richardon’s conviction
- Oxygen True Crime: Where is Brooke Skylar Richardson, acquitted in her newborn’s death now?
- ABC 9 WCPO: Cincinnati-area OB-GYN says Brooke Skylar Richardson’s baby was stillborn
- Dayton 24/7 Now: Day one of Brooke Skylar Richardson trial
- Local 12: Doctor testifies about Skylar Richardson’s reaction to pregnancy
- Fox 19: OBGYN says Skylar Richardson told her ‘I had it alone in my house & I buried it in my backyard’
- WCPO ABC 9 Cincinnati: Cincinnati-area OB-GYN says Brooke Skylar Richardson’s baby was stillborn
- Peacock: Buried With Love: Baby Buried After Prom
- NHS: Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD)
