Ex-high school cheerleader sentenced to probation after burying her newborn baby in backyard

Alex Lasker
Updated ·2 min read

A former Ohio high school cheerleader who buried her newborn daughter in the backyard of her family home was sentenced to three years probation following a lengthy, widely publicized court battle.

Brooke Skylar Richardson, now 20, was sentenced on one felony charge of corpse abuse Friday after her Thursday acquittal on the additional charges of aggravated murder, involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment, WISN reports. She was also handed a seven-day jail sentence but was credited for time she already served.

During her sentencing, Richardson told the court she was "really, really sorry" and that she believes she has "become better in the knowledge that I've upset everyone and hurt so many people with what I've done."

Richardson was an 18-year-old senior at the time she became pregnant and secretly gave birth to a baby girl at her home in Carlisle, Ohio, in May 2017, days after her high school prom. The baby girl's remains were discovered near her family's backyard barbecue pit about two months later, according to Fox News.

Throughout the two-year legal fight, prosecutors alleged Richardson intentionally killed her newborn and disposed of the body because she did not want to "ruin her perfect life," which included starting classes at the University of Cincinnati in the fall of 2017.

The defense, however, maintained that Richardson's baby, which she apparently named Annabelle, was stillborn and that the flustered teen buried the baby out of sadness and fear of repercussion.

Although a forensic pathologist testified that the baby died from "homicidal violence," Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell said Thursday following Richardson's acquittal that decomposition made it impossible to discern how the child actually died.

Judge Donald Oda II on Friday slammed Richardson's "grotesque disregard for life" as he handed down her lenient sentence, adding, "I know in my heart that if you would have made different decisions in this case, Annabelle would be here today."