OH - Annabelle Richardson, newborn, found in shallow grave, Carlisle, 7 May 2017 #2

[MyBelle]

Oh, she needs to be held accountable. I hope that they can prove murder, but I'm really doubting it. Beyond that, I hope that there is some punishment beyond more home confinement.

Sadly, I think she'll marry this Brandon boy, have a couple kids and likely subject them to exactly what she was subjected to. Sad.



Me, too! My guess is there's lots about mama richardson in there that the family doesn't want out there.

I think home confinement is the worst punishment she can receive. A cell in a prison would at least give her space away from her mother.

JMO

 

[cherrymeg]

I think home confinement is the worst punishment she can receive. A cell in a prison would at least give her space away from her mother.

JMO

Unless her mom can monitor her commissary account she might be able to buy some junk food without being guilt tripped.

 

[Spellbound]

ITA. BSR's mental illness began when she was a minor and apparently her parents failed to get medical intervention for her eating disorder. While a minor, she got pregnant, didn't receive any kind of prenatal care and an unattended birth resulted. Prenatal care is for the health of the mother as well as the child and I'm betting BSR is still on her parents' health insurance so there really is no excuse. The poor baby never had a chance in that household.

JMO

If she is on her parents' medical insurance and she went back to the doctor for routine visits, the policy holder would get the bills or at least have access to them. They would also be responsible for any co-pays she incurred. So in her mind, she blocked out the need for any care for either herself or the baby and was able to continue the charade, I guess.

 

[MyBelle]

If she is on her parents' medical insurance and she went back to the doctor for routine visits, the policy holder would get the bills or at least have access to them. They would also be responsible for any co-pays she incurred. So in her mind, she blocked out the need for any care for either herself or the baby and was able to continue the charade, I guess.

I think she was under the total control of her mother and did as she was told which why she went back to the OB after the baby was born.

 

[BeckyF]

If she would have told someone she would have had a support system.

Both her parents even said they would have supported her, so the I had a stillborn baby and I was so scared about what my parents might think is BS.

Jmo

I respectfully disagree. If her parents behavior in the police interview room is any indication, they are anything but supportive parents. JMO.

 

[BeckyF]

would you please stop being so sympathetic. alot of people have issues but at the end of the day you still know right from wrong and even if she didn't kill her baby she pretty much threw her in the dirt and went on without a care in the world even bragging about her "new body. " the defense is painting a picture of what a sweet innocent girl she is but the paint wasn't dry and we are seeing a different side of her and it's not a good one.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion whether you agree with it or not.

 

[stmarysmead]

I find myself with incredibly conflicted feelings about this case. I have to wonder what kind of mental state a young woman would have to be in to delude herself into believing that she's not pregnant when she's nearly full-term. I'm fully capable of denial but this is of outrageous proportions.

I vacillate between seeing her as a monster and seeing her as a severely damaged young woman.

I keep going back to the doctor appointments. If you know you're pregnant and you plan to rid yourself of the child upon birth, why would you go to a ob/gyn in the first place? You certainly don't need birth control at the moment and you only risk revealing the pregnancy you're trying to hide. And then having revealed it, she goes back to the very same medical practice to seek birth control after burying her baby in the backyard. I can't see these as the actions of someone who fully comprehended her circumstances either before or after the birth.

I believe her Mother felt she was getting serious with the current BF and advised her to go on the pill. Mom wasn’t trying to control her sex life, was she? Just helping her make smart choices. She was t afraid her Mother would be judgemental. Mom was her ally in her RUNNING HER OWN SEX LIFE.

The Dr was chosen because they had a long history with him. He had delivered both Moms children. It seems to me that the Drs visit was an opportunity to get help. But instead, she used her wiles to solicit a way to deceive her Mother. The Doctor did try to offer her alternatives...he could have been an ally in telling her Mom...instead of fooling her Mom.

Later, when the “mistake’ was made and her Mother got the email...another opportunity presented itself for the truth. I just don’t see her as scared of her Mother. I see her deceiving her Mother so that only SHE is in control. That way the baby can be gotten rid of...without the complications of her parents getting involved with their suggestions and options. She was hell bent she was going to college unencumbered.

And she kept on with her pretty life, fancy prom dress, and when the time came...she had a hole to dump the child in...and her pretty blondness, diminutive frame and childlike voice...to fool anyone else she needed. Eighteen year olds serve in combat military...they help support lower income families...she is old enough to face the punishment for whatever she did.

And blaming her Mother is no excuse for HER actions as the mother of that helpless infant IMO..

 

[gitana1]

But she did those things by her own choice. Help was available.all she had to do was reach out for it.

And actually help reached out to her! Several times. She had medical assistance and counseling. And after they contacted her several times and she chose to ignore them. That's really significant to me in terms of how accountable she was.

 

[squareandrabbet]

Just for the record, I try to preach the vagaries of "the teen brain" all around the town whenever I get a chance:

Inside the Teenage Brain | Season 20 Episode 11 | FRONTLINE

Some highlights:

-The prefrontal cortex and specifically the part that makes decisions, isn't fully formed until our mid-twenties;

-Underage teens are near-universally bad at gauging facial expressions (one was shown several photos of people screaming in what was stated/intended to be abject terror, and said something completely serious and inane like, "s/he looks sad");

-Apparently there's even a biochemical reaction/reason explaining why kids are risk-takers (the classic example is the teen, who when specifically asked "What were you thinking?" about, say, riding their skateboard down the house roof and off the gutter; responds to the authority figure in all sincerity, "I don't know!" - they literally don't know; it literally "seemed like a good idea at the time". Who thrive on staying up late and sleeping even later, to the point where some school districts have even started experimenting with class days starting at the likes of 10AM.

Also, general highlights from the article I brought forth earlier, about young mothers who commit neonaticide, say the following:

#1, that the vast majority go through labor and delivery toughing it out in total silence;

#2, when they have been psychiatrically evaluated, none are judged psychotic (other thinking disorders did not seem to be evaluated for specifically); and

#3, several of the babies drowned in the toilet specifically because the mother passed out at the conclusion of her silent birth.

 

[proctorelites]

2 thing.
If you're pregnant & in denial about that pregnancy and almost full term and NOBODY says 1 word to you about your expanding belly I suppose it would be very easy to stay in that denial.
But the doctor did tell her and she made no effort to handle birth and resulting newborn & maintained her denial. OR she did have a very horrible plan.
IMO, Seems like she'd just hop in her car and drive the baby to a safe haven and go back home and start recovering. All done and hidden. But she didn't, she ended the night with a dead baby, how do you hide that? You cant drive it to a safe haven, that's not going to remain a secret. So she would've admitted that was the plan to LE and I dont think it was her plan IMO.
I have conflicting feelings as well. We all bash the parents and call them unsupportive but what does parental support look like when your daughter buried a baby in the backyard and you just found out when the police showed up with a warrant and need to interrogate your daughter?
This isnt a typical situation. It is hard for me to shut this one down.

 

[gitana1]

I agree that she was trying to please everyone. IMO her parents were trying to punish her and chastise her as much as possible in that interview room. Did they know their conversation was on video? Why were the parents trying to brow beat her? No wonder she didn't tell them about the pregnancy. In her mind it was better to make the problem disappear. I'm not making a judgement on her guilt or innocence. IMO.

I think if they were at home it would've been worse.

 

[BeckyF]

I think if they were at home it would've been worse.

Most likely.

 

[gitana1]

I find myself with incredibly conflicted feelings about this case. I have to wonder what kind of mental state a young woman would have to be in to delude herself into believing that she's not pregnant when she's nearly full-term. I'm fully capable of denial but this is of outrageous proportions.

I vacillate between seeing her as a monster and seeing her as a severely damaged young woman.

I keep going back to the doctor appointments. If you know you're pregnant and you plan to rid yourself of the child upon birth, why would you go to a ob/gyn in the first place? You certainly don't need birth control at the moment and you only risk revealing the pregnancy you're trying to hide. And then having revealed it, she goes back to the very same medical practice to seek birth control after burying her baby in the backyard. I can't see these as the actions of someone who fully comprehended her circumstances either before or after the birth.

She found out she was pregnant while there at the appointment. It was there that she was given a pee test.

She could not have been in denial after that point. She was told how far along she was. She was given an ultrasound and shown the bearing heart. She was told she needed to come in for follow up appointments.

She said she could not have a baby and indicated she wanted an abortion. She was told it was too late but was counseled on adoption.

She said she needed the doctor to give her a prescription for birth control because she was not ready to tell her parents she was pregnant and had to fool her mom who was in the waiting room. The doctor reluctantly agreed.

She then researched on the computer how to get rid of a baby.

The doctor's office thereafter called her several times for follow up appointments. She ignored those calls.

She was not in denial. She quickly created a plan of deception that she carried out to the end.

 

[gitana1]

I think home confinement is the worst punishment she can receive. A cell in a prison would at least give her space away from her mother.

JMO

Oh my gosh. Point taken.

 

[MyBelle]

I believe her Mother felt she was getting serious with the current BF and advised her to go on the pill. Mom wasn’t trying to control her sex life, was she? Just helping her make smart choices. She was t afraid her Mother would be judgemental. Mom was her ally in her RUNNING HER OWN SEX LIFE.

The Dr was chosen because they had a long history with him. He had delivered both Moms children. It seems to me that the Drs visit was an opportunity to get help. But instead, she used her wiles to solicit a way to deceive her Mother. The Doctor did try to offer her alternatives...he could have been an ally in telling her Mom...instead of fooling her Mom.

Later, when the “mistake’ was made and her Mother got the email...another opportunity presented itself for the truth. I just don’t see her as scared of her Mother. I see her deceiving her Mother so that only SHE is in control. That way the baby can be gotten rid of...without the complications of her parents getting involved with their suggestions and options. She was hell bent she was going to college unencumbered.

And she kept on with her pretty life, fancy prom dress, and when the time came...she had a hole to dump the child in...and her pretty blondness, diminutive frame and childlike voice...to fool anyone else she needed. Eighteen year olds serve in combat military...they help support lower income families...she is old enough to face the punishment for whatever she did.

And blaming her Mother is no excuse for HER actions as the mother of that helpless infant IMO..

I don't believe BSR had any say whatsoever in choosing the doctor. If mom was her ally in running her sex life, why didn't she send her to the doctor when she was seeing her previous boyfriend? If her mother was such an ally, why didn't she seek medical help for her daughter's eating disorder? I think her mother knew she pregnant and failed to provide her with essential prenatal care because she didn't want an unmarried, pregnant daughter to ruin the "perfect" facade. There was some pretty serious parental neglect going on behind those expensive doors for years.

JMO

 

[iluvmua]

Here is what I don't get: Why would you ask the police if you are going to go to prison for murder if you claim that you gave birth to a stillborn infant?

They were not even accusing her of anything.

 

[gitana1]

2 thing.
If you're pregnant & in denial about that pregnancy and almost full term and NOBODY says 1 word to you about your expanding belly I suppose it would be very easy to stay in that denial.
But the doctor did tell her and she made no effort to handle birth and resulting newborn & maintained her denial. OR she did have a very horrible plan.
IMO, Seems like she'd just hop in her car and drive the baby to a safe haven and go back home and start recovering. All done and hidden. But she didn't, she ended the night with a dead baby, how do you hide that? You cant drive it to a safe haven, that's not going to remain a secret. So she would've admitted that was the plan to LE and I dont think it was her plan IMO.
I have conflicting feelings as well. We all bash the parents and call them unsupportive but what does parental support look like when your daughter buried a baby in the backyard and you just found out when the police showed up with a warrant and need to interrogate your daughter?
This isnt a typical situation. It is hard for me to shut this one down.

I hear you but I don't know any supportive and loving parents who I think would react to the horror and despair of their young daughter giving birth in secret, burying the baby in the backyard and being hauled in for questioning by the police for possible charges, like those parents did. It was horrible.

If that was my kid? Hell no. I would grab her onto my lap and cry and hug her and tell her how sorry I am.

Coupled with the fact that often (not always) people turn out a certain way because of their upbringing, that women who commit neonaticides almost universally do so out of shame and fear of punishment and rejection by their own moms, and that witnesses have come forward to say her mom was controlling, I am very comfortable with casting blame their way.

Every child and teen I've known, BTW, who was a manipulative and chronic liar had been subjected to harsh or neglectful parenting. Usually physical abuse and always emotional abuse of some sort. Every last one.

 

[gitana1]

Here is what I don't get: Why would you ask the police if you are going to go to prison for murder if you claim that you gave birth to a stillborn infant?

They were not even accusing her of anything.

And why would you say "I didn't mean to kill her." Instead of "I didn't kill her."

 

[stmarysmead]

I don't believe BSR had any say whatsoever in choosing the doctor. If mom was her ally in running her sex life, why didn't she send her to the doctor when she was seeing her previous boyfriend? If her mother was such an ally, why didn't she seek medical help for her daughter's eating disorder? I think her mother knew she pregnant and failed to provide her with essential prenatal care because she didn't want an unmarried, pregnant daughter to ruin the "perfect" facade. There was some pretty serious parental neglect going on behind those expensive doors for years.

JMO

The father of the child was only her boyfriend for one month then she dropped him. Too short a time for Mom to think she needed contraceptives. But when a longer relationship developed, she did take her daughter to the family doctor for a prescription. She didn’t judge. She protected her. or so she thought.

Do we know that BSR was never taken to a Dr for her eating disorders? I don’t think we do.

From observing family members in my husbands family, let me point out one conundrum. Families are told that the disorder is the patients attempt to control their own life. Yet this manner of control is ruining their health. So attempts can be made in good faith to try to ameliorate the feeling of the controlling parent...BUT...how to you NOT try to monitor when they are subsisting on a starvation diet and you are watching in horror? You cannot say...you are dangerous thin. You DO take solace in anything that looks like weight gain.

I watched as good parents walked this tightrope. And they were not image obsessed social climbers. It’s a hellish existence that often has no easy answers...but is destructive to every member of the family.

Its easy to judge this family in order to make this young woman a victim, but we really don’t know. Eating disorders seem to have a confluence of possible “causes.” I’m betting Mom will go on the stand like Cindy Anthony and protect her at all costs.

 

[Mandos]

Okay, after mulling over the evidence presented during the first trial week, here are my thoughts for now. Warning, long (and slightly rambling) post incoming!

First, as someone who has handled a lot criminal cases, I would advice people to be careful about making negative inferences based on ambiguous evidence or statements, like her dad saying “It's happened before” or BSR's text messages. Once you start going down that road, it's easy to get tunnel vision and interpret even innocuous things as evidence against the defendant.

To illustrate I'll point out an infamous case in the Netherlands, in which a nurse was accused and convicted of murdering several people in a hospital. The court used some ambiguous entries in the defendants' diary to support her conviction. On the day of death of one of her patients she wrote that she had 'given in to her compulsion'. She wrote on other occasions that she had a 'very great secret' and that she was concerned about 'her tendency to give in to her compulsion'. The nurse told the court that these were references to her passion for reading tarot cards, which she explains she did secretly because she did not believe it appropriate to the clinical setting of a hospital. However, the court decided they were evidence that she had murdered the patients. A few years later it turned out she was completely innocent and she was released from prison.


Murder or stillbirth?

First of all I have to point out that the original scenario presented by the prosecution seems to have been completely disproved. The scenario was that BSR smashed her baby's skull, burned the body and then buried the remains. The forensics clearly do not support this. The pathologist (whose statement was a complete and utter train wreck from a prosecution PoV IMHO) was outright forced to admit there was no sign of trauma on the remains and she couldn't rule out a stillbirth either. The forensic anthropologist stated there was no sign of burning and any fractures, punctures, abrasions that were noted on the remains happened after the death of the individual. That's a pretty strong declarative statement.

I think the defense on the other hand has done a good job pointing out several risk factors that could've led to a stillbirth. We have young woman who has never given birth before (risk factor) with a severe eating disorder (risk factor) who had had no prenatal care (risk factor), with indications that the fetus was small (risk factor) and finally delivered the baby alone without any medical assistance (risk factor). Any prenatal issue could've also been compounded by the fact that her labor seems to have been on the long side, since she apparently started showing signs of labor during her prom and delivered the baby roughly two days later.

Based on the above I simply definitely can not rule out the possibility of a stillbirth, regardless of BSR's intentions.

With regards to the text messages (at least the ones that we've seen during the prosecutions opening statement): they look bad, but are not in itself evidence for proving murderous intent. Though her flippant attitude might be considered offensive, at worst it shows BSR was happy about the fact she wasn't pregnant anymore and that no one (especially mom) had to find out about her pregnancy and she could go on with her life. Considering the fact the pregnancy was unwanted, there was no time for parental bonding, and the strong indications that there were unhealthy family dynamics at play, BSR's texts can fit both a murder or a stillbirth scenario, and are thus not of much probative value.


Burning the baby?

I'm fully convinced the baby wasn't burned. There is no forensic evidence and BSR's description of how she burned the baby's foot and then the flames rapidly reached the baby's chest sounded downright nonsensical to me. Burning the body also doesn't make sense if we assume she wanted to hide the body as soon possible and she didn't want to draw any attention. So why does the prosecution cling to this detail? The answer is simple: the second interrogation. If the prosecution concedes that the whole burning thing is a canard, you can basically throw away the entire second interview and the prosecution's case is sunk. Simply put, this is a hill they have to fight (and die) on! I think it's going to be a losing battle though.


Evidence from the electronic devices

So next week we'll hear the evidence collected from her electronic devices (and her mother will be heard as a witness). We will probably get a lot more information about BSR's online search history, her text messages, and her relationship with her mother. I suspect the evidence will show more proof of the fact that the pregancy was unwanted and BSR was pleased she wasn't pregnant anymore and that she could carry on with her life as if nothing had happened after burying the baby. I also suspect we'll get a lot more insight into her relationship with her mother.

What we won't be seeing, I suspect, are any bombshells that can outright prove either murderous intent or proof of murder. If there were messages like that, it's extremely likely we would've seen them presented during the prosecution's opening statement. We also wouldn't see the prosecution clinging so stubbornly to the burning scenario, which to me is a very strong indicator they desperately need that second interrogation in order to score a conviction.


The second interrogation

The main event next week will be the second interrogation which has already been frequently referred to by both the prosecution and the defense. Based on the snippets I've seen and read from the second interrogation video, some of the methods used are text book Reid technique and at points the interrogators appear to feed the language of the confession to BSR, which, to me, is a major red flag. I'll need to see more of the interview before drawing a full conclusion though.

Okay, rambling post over! English is not my first language, so I hope I wasn't too incoherent in getting my points across!