Ohio cheerleader on trial for allegedly killing, burying baby

By: WCPO Staff

LEBANON, Ohio — A tearful Brooke Skylar Richardson told authorities in a 2017 interview that she "didn't really want to have" her baby but she "never meant to hurt her."

Prosecutors showed the jury the video of the first time Richardson talked to police after authorities received a complaint that Richardson had given birth and buried her newborn in the backyard of her family's home.

Richardson, now 20, stands charged with aggravated murder, manslaughter, endangering children, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse in the 2017 death of her newborn daughter.

WATCH LIVE: Testimony resumes Thursday in the trial of Brooke Skylar Richardson. Watch live in the player below (graphic images are possible during this stream).

&amp;lt;/iframe&amp;gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Now retired Lt. John Faine and Officer Katie Gee interviewed Richardson on July 14, 2017, more than two months after Richardson gave birth alone in her home in the middle of the night.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;The Carlisle woman told authorities she gave birth on May 7, 2017 on the toilet. The baby wasn&amp;#39;t alive, she said. The newborn didn&amp;#39;t have a heartbeat, Richardson said, and she didn&amp;#39;t make any noises.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&amp;quot;I didn&amp;#39;t kill her though,&amp;quot; Richardson said through tears.&lt;br/&gt;Richardson said she took the newborn to the backyard, dug a shallow grave and buried her.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&amp;quot;Are you going to put me in jail because of that?&amp;quot; Richardson asked.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Richardson&amp;#39;s murder trial continued Thursday morning with the interrogation video and more witness testimony from the prosecution.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Prosecutors spent the first day of Richardson&amp;#39;s trial creating a timeline of her secretive pregnancy through testimony from people who interacted with her throughout. In cross-examination, the defense focused on Richardson&amp;#39;s health history and argued her panicked, furtive reactions to learning of her pregnancy were not necessarily signs of malice — just terror.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Trey Johnson, the 21-year-old believed to be the child&amp;#39;s father, told the court he had a brief sexual relationship with Richardson but never knew she had become pregnant. They dated for around a month in August 2016, he said; when it was over, she blocked him on social media and never contacted him again.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Defense attorney Charles M. Rittgers said Richardson&amp;#39;s longtime struggle with an eating disorder had acclimatized her to missed periods and fluctuations in her weight. She didn&amp;#39;t realize she was pregnant, he said, until the following April.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Dr. William Andrew, an OBGYN, was the one who told her at an April 26 appointment. He told the court Wednesday she seemed genuinely shocked by the news and began to panic in his office, insisting she couldn&amp;#39;t have a baby because she would be going to college in the fall. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Andrew did not suspect at the time anything was wrong; her response, he said, was &amp;quot;not outside the realm&amp;quot; of what he expected.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;She attended her senior prom May 5. She gave birth alone at home May 7. Rittgers claims the baby girl was stillborn; prosecutors claim the child was born alive but Richardson killed her. Rittgers argued and Andrew agreed that Richardson&amp;#39;s eating disorder could realistically have made her more prone to stillbirth.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;She buried her daughter on the outskirts of her family&amp;#39;s property.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Dr. Casey Boyce, a colleague of Andrew&amp;#39;s who saw Richardson at an appointment three months later, told the court Wednesday that Richardson broke down in her office and told her about the baby&amp;#39;s burial.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&amp;quot;I said, &amp;#39;No one knows?&amp;#39;&amp;quot; Boyce testified. &amp;quot;And she said, &amp;#39;No.&amp;#39; And I said, &amp;#39;I&amp;#39;m the first person on the planet you ever told?&amp;#39;&amp;quot;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Boyce consulted with Andrew after the appointment and called police, who unearthed the child&amp;#39;s skeletal remains two days later. Richardson would be arrested shortly afterward.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;The prosecution did not provide a list of the witnesses it expected to call Thursday.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;This story was originally published by &lt;a href="https://www.wcpo.com/news/crime/brooke-skylar-richardsons-murder-trial-enters-second-day-with-more-witness-testimony" target="_blank" link-data="{&amp;quot;cms.site.owner&amp;quot;:{&amp;quot;_ref&amp;quot;:&amp;quot;00000167-7a79-dbd7-a567-fef957510000&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;_type&amp;quot;:&amp;quot;ae3387cc-b875-31b7-b82d-63fd8d758c20&amp;quot;},&amp;quot;linkText&amp;quot;:&amp;quot;WCPO&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;link&amp;quot;:{&amp;quot;target&amp;quot;:&amp;quot;NEW&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;attributes&amp;quot;:[],&amp;quot;url&amp;quot;:&amp;quot;https://www.wcpo.com/news/crime/brooke-skylar-richardsons-murder-trial-enters-second-day-with-more-witness-testimony&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;_id&amp;quot;:&amp;quot;0000016d-0247-d9ee-a3ed-ea57e6630000&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;_type&amp;quot;:&amp;quot;ff658216-e70f-39d0-b660-bdfe57a5599a&amp;quot;},&amp;quot;cms.content.publishDate&amp;quot;:1567701336437,&amp;quot;cms.content.publishUser&amp;quot;:{&amp;quot;_ref&amp;quot;:&amp;quot;00000167-99c5-d8da-a77f-ffd73b640000&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;_type&amp;quot;:&amp;quot;6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc&amp;quot;},&amp;quot;cms.content.updateDate&amp;quot;:1567701336437,&amp;quot;cms.content.updateUser&amp;quot;:{&amp;quot;_ref&amp;quot;:&amp;quot;00000167-99c5-d8da-a77f-ffd73b640000&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;_type&amp;quot;:&amp;quot;6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc&amp;quot;},&amp;quot;_id&amp;quot;:&amp;quot;0000016d-0247-d9ee-a3ed-ea57e64f0000&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;_type&amp;quot;:&amp;quot;809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288&amp;quot;}"&gt;WCPO&lt;/a&gt; in Cincinnati. &lt;/i&gt;

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Ohio cheerleader on trial for murder told authorities she 'didn't really want to have' her baby

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Ohio cheerleader on trial for murder told authorities she 'didn't really want to have' her baby

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