The Richardson tragedy
The police banged on the Richardson residence’s door.
Scott answered the door.
The police told him they needed to talk to his daughter, Brooke, about something she had witnessed.
Brooke was brought down to the police station.
Then they interviewed her.
Lt. John Faine : We got a call from the doctor’s office, OK? And according to them on April 26th you found out you were pregnant…
You went back to that doctor’s office?
Brooke: Mm-hmm…
And I told her what had happened. That I had to have the baby, and it wasn’t alive.
I didn’t kill her though.
She just kind of came out(in the bathroom) and I tried, I tried. (There) I’m trying to hold her and see if she’s breathing, but she doesn’t have a heartbeat.
Lt. John Faine: So now what do you do when you realize that she’s not going to make it?
Brooke: I have to bury her…I couldn’t tell anybody.
Brooke Grew up in Ohio, USA
Brooke Skylar Richardson was born and raised in Carlisle, Ohio, USA. Her parents, Kim and Scott Richardson, also had her brother, Jackson.
Brooke and Jackson were both athletic.
Jackson played on the football team. Brooke was a cheerleader flyer. And Brooke was a bright student. She always got good grades.
Sadly, Brooke battled a severe eating disorder from a very young age.
She didn’t want to eat due to fear of gaining weight.
She made frequent visits to the doctors, therapists, and nutritionists. But nothing seemed to help her.
And her mother only made the situation worse.
Kim pressured Brooke to maintain a thin body because she was a cheerleader flyer.
So Brooke kept to herself. And she didn’t feel comfortable confiding in her parents.
Brooke Got Into a Relationship With Her Friend’s Cousin
Brooke started dating one of her friend’s cousins, Trey, in July 2016.
The two dated for a short period.
Their relationship wasn’t too serious. They soon broke up.
Brooke then got a new boyfriend, Brandon. Their relationship was the most serious relationship that Brooke had yet.
Her parents liked Brandon.
They thought he was a good influence on her. And they were happy for their daughter.
Brooke seemed very happy. And she seemed to be doing well mentally.
Brooke also started gaining some weight. So Scott and Kim thought that Brooke’s eating disorder was under control. And that she was getting healthier.
Kim told Brooke it was best for her to get some birth control. She and Brandon were getting more intimate.
Brooke agreed.
So Brooke and Kim visited Kim’s gynecologist. Kim sat in the waiting room while her daughter went inside. But when Brooke came out, she was subtly crying.
Kim asked her daughter what was wrong. And Brooke told her it was because that was her first gynecologist appointment.
The gynecologist had given Brooke a contraception prescription.
So Brooke and Kim went back home.
And life went on normally.
Brooke Went to Prom With Her Boyfriend
Brooke went to prom with Brandon a few days later.
She wore a very skin-tight red dress that she had picked out earlier. But she complained to her mother that she didn’t like how she had gained so much weight.
A few months later, the police showed up at Brooke’s parents’ house.
They needed to talk to Brooke. So Brooke was brought down to the station. Little did Brooke’s parents know that their daughter was hiding a secret.
The police told Brooke that they got a call from a gynecologist.
The gynecologist said Brooke hid her pregnancy from everyone. And that she buried her baby in the backyard after birth.
Brooke agreed that she hid her pregnancy from everyone.
Her parents were shocked.
“I couldn’t feel my body. I could not get up.
How could that happen? I’ve seen her every day. I look at her. I talk to her. I hug her.” Kim Richardson
Brooke found out she was pregnant on the day she and Kim went to the gynecologist. So that’s why Brooke came out of the office crying.
The gynecologist told Brooke that she estimated she was due in ten weeks.
Brooke was very upset. And she begged the gynecologist not to tell her mother.
She asked the doctor to give her the birth control prescription so her mother wouldn’t find out. And the gynecologist did.
Brooke Went to Prom Eight Months Pregnant
Brooke was eight months pregnant when she went to prom.
But none of the adults who took her pictures noticed. Her parents didn’t notice. Even Brandon didn’t notice.
Then the gynecologist’s office accidentally emailed the pregnancy results to Brooke’s mom. Kim confronted Brooke about the email. But Brooke convinced her that it wasn’t true.
Brooke told the police that she gave birth to her baby in the bathroom a few days later. But her baby was stillborn. So she dug a grave in their backyard and buried the baby.
Brooke also claimed she returned to the gynecologist’s office two months after her initial appointment. And she told the gynecologist that she had given birth to a stillborn baby.
Brooke then apologized to her parents.
She told them that she had named her baby Annabelle. And the father was her friend’s cousin, Trey.
The Police Uncovered the Baby’s Body
The police found the baby’s body buried in the Richardson’s backyard.
Then they brought the baby to be examined. The results initially showed that the baby had been burned. But Brooke denied burning the baby. Then an officer suggested the results might possibly be from the cremation of the already dead baby.
That’s when she agreed she attempted to cremate the baby. She confessed to only burning the baby’s legs with a lighter.
But the police kept pressing her.
Eventually, she changed her story again.
She said she heard a little gurgling from the baby when she was born. Hence the baby was probably alive.
Brooke was arrested and charged with reckless homicide.
She was later released on bail as she awaited trial. Then she was charged with aggravated murder, involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment, and corpse abuse two weeks later.
Brooke was arrested again and bailed out. Her parents believed that she was innocent.
Another Pathology Report Showed That the Baby Wasn’t Burnt
Meanwhile, another pathology report later stated that the baby wasn’t burnt. And that the initial results were false.
That became a big part of Brooke’s defense.
And the authenticity of the police’s interrogation was questioned. The defense believed that Brooke was forced into giving a false confession.
Also, the way Brooke described her baby as pale when she was born is how stillborns look. And Brooke stated that she didn’t cut the umbilical cord, which made it likely that her baby was stillborn. But the prosecution also presented evidence against Brooke.
Brooke went to the gynecologist eleven days before she gave birth. And the baby’s heartbeat was healthy and strong at that time.
So how did the baby go from being a healthy baby to stillborn in just eleven days?
It was also proven that Brooke took birth control pills eleven days before the baby was born.
Brooke didn’t prepare for her baby’s afterbirth. She didn’t have a nursery, a crib, baby clothes, etc.
So she probably had no intentions of keeping her baby.
Also, Brooke’s google search history revealed things like how to get rid of a baby. She looked up these things shortly after she found out about her pregnancy.
The Aftermath
On September 12th, 2019, Brooke was found not guilty on all charges except one.
She was found guilty of the offense of abuse of a corpse. And she was sentenced to three years of probation. But a judge later terminated her probation fourteen months later.
The Richardsons put up a little angel statue in the backyard where Annabelle was once buried.
Brooke later stated;
“I can sometimes be selfish. But I would like to think that I’ve become better…I’ve upset everyone and hurt so many people with what I’ve done. And I’m forever sorry.”