OH - Annabelle Richardson, newborn, found in shallow grave, Carlisle, 7 May 2017 #1

[Winterhike]

Didn't her dad mention that they have dogs (the ones that didn't bark so that's why he believes the baby didn't make any noise)? I'm AMAZED that their dogs never disturbed the burial site, and that she wasn't worried that they would even if they didn't.

 

[iluvmua]

Didn't her dad mention that they have dogs (the ones that didn't bark so that's why he believes the baby didn't make any noise)? I'm AMAZED that their dogs never disturbed the burial site, and that she wasn't worried that they would even if they didn't.

Yes he did

 

[Jewels53]

I know Court TV is running behind because of all of their breaks.

I don't like the Defense attorney Rittgers watching him is like watching paint dry. Also watching him trying to impeach Dr Brady probably is boring the jury. jmo moo

 

[gitana1]

I think what Skylar said & how she acted when her parents were there in the interrogation room might be important to the jury. It was for me.

But..I didn't see what you saw at all, except for her mother's self absorption & utter lack of empathy. I found Skylar's pleas to mommy both genuine & heartbreaking, actually. And her mother's withholding of support & then deliberate cruelty went a long way to explaining why Skylar would have found it impossible to tell her parents she was pregnant.

Also, I didn't get the impression that Skylar was a habitual liar, or that her father thought she was. She had clearly lied about being pregnant- both directly and by omission, but that doesn't make her anything other than a frightened young woman who knew her mother would shred her, not support her.

I think you're probably right. I also believe she intentionally killed her child with premeditation to avoid mommy's wrath.

 

[iluvmua]

I think you're probably right. I also believe she intentionally killed her child with premeditation to avoid mommy's wrath.

I agree! She never intended for her baby to live

 

[zea mays]

Health class was a core requirement (as well as life science) for BSR to graduate high school.

This is also the era of MTV series "16 and Pregnant" and "Teen Mom." I believe defendant suffered shock and trauma giving birth alone in her bathroom but not that she was uninformed. She knew she was pregnant and that she would be giving birth soon after her April doctor appointment.

https://education.ohio.gov/getattac...-2014-2017/Graduation-Checklist-2014.pdf.aspx

No health class that I've ever taken has instructed post birth care of the neonate. Nor does any TV show. Also, with what instrument at home in a bathroom or bedroom are you going to properly suction your neonate?

Thanks for the reply. I took my time to think it over, to understand why I don't agree with your conclusion of "neglect."

My primary objection to labelling what Skylar did NOT do after giving birth as neglect is that I see that as a very slippery slope, and one I'm wary of criminalizing.

Go down that path and the fact she didn't make an appointment for a sonogram can be considered neglect. Or that she " should have known" she was pregnant, and therefore should have gone to appointments all along, taken prenatal vitamins, etc., and the fact she didn't and didn't was " negligent."

The reasons Skylar felt she couldn't tell anyone and couldn't ask for help, even when giving birth by herself, are the same reasons why she felt she couldn't ask for help after she gave birth.

IMO, those reasons are sad, but not criminal, and the State has no business prosecuting her.

I don't disagree with the bolded at all. The reasons are NOT criminal but the resulting actions are. We are held to a different legal standard for born vs unborn children with regards to neglect. The moment that child came out of her birth canal, she had different legal responsibilities to that child. By your argument, any parent should be allowed to decide to let a child die at birth and it would not be considered at minimum neglect (again, I feel that this baby was definitely born alive and even if the child were stillborn, that this 18 year old woman was not competent to know that for sure). She needed to get that baby seen by a professional. But doing so would have increased the chances that the baby would live AND guaranteed that she would be exposed to her mother. She made her choice in that moment.

I have a lot of empathy for the position she found herself in and even understand why she chose not to seek any assistance after seeing her interactions with her mother. That doesn't change the legal realities of her actions. MOO, of course.

 

[osu]

Skylar Richardson trial: 'I tried to cremate the baby,' she tells her father in police video

15 min ago

It’s been a question hanging over jurors in a Warren County courtroom ever since the Brooke Skylar Richardson trial began. And it's a question that's troubled her attorneys for years.

Richardson is charged with aggravated murder and involuntary manslaughter. She is accused of deliberately killing her baby and burying her in the backyard.

“I tried to cremate the baby,” Richardson said after a police interview in 2017.

This was the second time police spoke to her, and this interview would ultimately lead to her arrest.

Video of the interview, which is several hours long, hasn’t been played in court yet. But Assistant Prosecutor Julie Kraft read a transcript of part of the recording when Richardson’s father walked into the interview room.

“Honey, tell us what happened,” he said.

Richardson, who was 18 at the time, had denied burning her baby several times before that. She also denied deliberately killing her baby.

Her attorneys say she delivered a stillborn child and buried her in the backyard because she didn’t know what else to do.

Prosecutors say she killed her baby, burned her and buried her to hide the evidence. Richardson attended high school prom a few days before giving birth, and she didn’t want anyone to know she was pregnant.

In a police report detailed in court, a detective wrote Richardson lit her baby’s foot on fire with a lighter. The flames flared up to the baby’s chest before Richardson put them out.

~snip

More at link:
Skylar Richardson trial: 'I tried to cremate the baby,' she tells her father in police video

 

[gitana1]

If she was having trouble she should have called 911.

I think she intended for her child to die and now she is playing stupid and saying over and over "I did not mean to kill her/it" etc. hoping that they will believe her story.

Jmo

Yes and the language is important. She didn't say, "I didn't hurt her! I didn't kill her!" She said, "I did not mean to hurt her! I never meant to kill my baby."

24 hours after the birth and death of her child she is excitedly showing her flatter belly. No sign of having gone through a traumatic birth during which she "panicked" and didn't know what to do so the child inadvertently died. “I’m literally so excited for dinner to wear something cute yayy my belly is back now I am takin this opportunity to make it amazing” “I’m literally speechless with how happy I am” “My belly is back omg I am never ever ever evertrrr letting it grt like this again your about to see me look freaking better than before omg.”

That's not sadness, confusion, or the after effects of panic. That's relief. Joy. Happiness that she got out of something. IMO.

She searched "how do I get rid of a baby” on the internet when she found out he was pregnant. So she knew about abortion. She knew about adoption. She wasn't in denial.

I think her parents have blood on their hands. This was a tightly controlled teenager for whom murder was more acceptable than premarital sex, pregnancy and anything that marred her mom's "perfect" life or her perfect body. But I do believe she intentionally planned to kill and killed her kid.

What penalty should there be for that? Do we as a society do nothing or would doing something maybe send a message to other parents intent on destroying their kids to attain the appearance of perfection, that they need to back off?

 

[gitana1]

Might I respectfully ask if you are young, or if you have given birth? You are very adamant in your belief (nothing wrong with that).

I thought it was said they could not provide a cause of death, so we cannot be certain it was "homicidal violence."

Maybe she felt she handled it well enough, and since the baby was already born she did not need 911. We can't really read her mind or know what she was experiencing, be it fear, confusion, ignorance, or maliciousness ... we can only base conclusions on what we are learning from the experts and other witnesses here.


JMO

Actual cause of death is not always necessary to determine a death was from homicidal violence. The circumstances can be as well, as with Caylee Anthony - method of disposal, evidence of premeditation, consciousness of guilt behavior, etc.

 

[gitana1]

For those who think BSR harmed, injured causing death to a living baby... Why do you think she chose to bury the body rather than throwing her in the trash with the bloody towel?

Afraid that trash collectors would find it? Didn't want to be seen walking with a package and putting it in the trash? Who knows? Many murderers don't dispose of their children in the trash. Most probably don't.

 

[Winterhike]

Legal experts, is there a difference, criminally speaking, between burying a body in a totally inappropriate place and "trying to cremate" one? Either way she was trying to conceal what happened, but is one considered a different level of corpse desecration?

I think this shows that she didn't tell the entire story in the first interview, despite claiming that she did. She consistently talked about carrying the baby outside, where she buried it, the towels, etc. But the detail about the lighter apparently came later. If this really happened and wasn't something she said under duress from the police who were interviewing her, it makes me trust her word even less. It also shows that she has different levels of shame and guilt about different parts of the event.

I sure wish we had cause of death.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

This photo was shown on the screen in the courtroom by the prosecution during their opening statements. It described the baby was alive for about 5 minutes. BSR heard the baby gurgle and cry.

*The screenshot I’ve attached below is of that photo and was taken from the FOX 19 livestream during opening statements.

JMO

Thanks for answering that as I thought I was the only one who had that question. So, we have had no evidence yet in the trial of such. Only the opening statement which is not evidence. I guess we are going to have to wait on those comments being proven within the trial.

 

[Jewels53]

Thanks for answering that as I thought I was the only one who had that question. So, we have had no evidence yet in the trial of such. Only the opening statement which is not evidence. I guess we are going to have to wait on those comments being proven within the trial.

I heard that is to come in with the next police interview video. It will probably be played next week.

 

[Jewels53]

Cathy Russon@cathyrusson
#SkylarRichardson - The trial will resume Monday morning. Here's a list of the charges and possible punishments Richardson faces if convicted.

 

[Spellbound]

Skylar Richardson trial: 'I tried to cremate the baby,' she tells her father in police video

15 min ago

It’s been a question hanging over jurors in a Warren County courtroom ever since the Brooke Skylar Richardson trial began. And it's a question that's troubled her attorneys for years.

Richardson is charged with aggravated murder and involuntary manslaughter. She is accused of deliberately killing her baby and burying her in the backyard.

“I tried to cremate the baby,” Richardson said after a police interview in 2017.

This was the second time police spoke to her, and this interview would ultimately lead to her arrest.

Video of the interview, which is several hours long, hasn’t been played in court yet. But Assistant Prosecutor Julie Kraft read a transcript of part of the recording when Richardson’s father walked into the interview room.

“Honey, tell us what happened,” he said.

Richardson, who was 18 at the time, had denied burning her baby several times before that. She also denied deliberately killing her baby.

Her attorneys say she delivered a stillborn child and buried her in the backyard because she didn’t know what else to do.

Prosecutors say she killed her baby, burned her and buried her to hide the evidence. Richardson attended high school prom a few days before giving birth, and she didn’t want anyone to know she was pregnant.

In a police report detailed in court, a detective wrote Richardson lit her baby’s foot on fire with a lighter. The flames flared up to the baby’s chest before Richardson put them out.

~snip

More at link:
Skylar Richardson trial: 'I tried to cremate the baby,' she tells her father in police video

Thank you.
I hope we get to hear this. If true, that might change my opinion.

 

[mike balto]

I think you're probably right. I also believe she intentionally killed her child with premeditation to avoid mommy's wrath.

I'm going to say this. She , or her mom, someone bought her a prom dress to fit over her pregnant body, which shows she plans ahead, she knew she was going to prom, so she had a dress for prom. Did she or her mother buy any baby clothes? Girls have ways to get their hands on money. If she was planning on having a baby, even a baby she gives up, wouldn't she have made one plan for alive baby in her care? If the argument is that she was going to bring the baby on her parents and hope they let her keep it just like a puppy, wouldn't she have created some place for the baby to lie down? Or some plan for how to get the baby to somewhere safe? She never planned for the child to live at all. She showed more plans to go to prom then she did for the life of the child. And her parents were in on it with her either consciously or subconsciously.



If she was a straightforward person, planning to keep a baby that she conceived with someone else, don't you think she would tell the person that she conceived the child with what what happened?

I'm not saying he would have a right to insist she keep the baby, and I do feel sorry for her and think her parents are cruddy

I just remember learning how to when arguments, as a kid when I would fight my parents, if I learned a certain tactic worked, I would use it the next time. That's what I saw, in addition to a coldness from her parents, when I watched the parents interview. I feel like this is responding to the wrong person though, so I'm not trying to hit you too hard and I'm still learning some of the formats here.

 

[gitana1]

Cathy Russon@cathyrusson
#SkylarRichardson - The trial will resume Monday morning. Here's a list of the charges and possible punishments Richardson faces if convicted.

My prediction is not guilty or hung on murder. No more than a 3 year sentence. Early release.

 

[fred&edna]

Afraid that trash collectors would find it? Didn't want to be seen walking with a package and putting it in the trash? Who knows? Many murderers don't dispose of their children in the trash. Most probably don't.

She did throw the towel in the trash (IIRC or heard convo between her and parents correctly) she put the trash bag in the trash elsewhere not in their own household trash). I feel as if we often hear of babies disposed in trash more often than burying them in their backyards.

I'm not picking sides here... I just find it curious that IF she harmed her living child she treated it worse than trash AND it's much easier (especially after enduring birth alone) to dispose of the body and the towel together. Rather than walking to the garage, getting a small spade and burying the body she just harmed/killed. Maybe my question is perceived as ridiculous but... I ask anyway!

 

[gitana1]

I'm going to say this. She , or her mom, someone bought her a prom dress to fit over her pregnant body, which shows she plans ahead, she knew she was going to prom, so she had a dress for prom. Did she or her mother buy any baby clothes? Girls have ways to get their hands on money. If she was planning on having a baby, even a baby she gives up, wouldn't she have made one plan for alive baby in her care? If the argument is that she was going to bring the baby on her parents and hope they let her keep it just like a puppy, wouldn't she have created some place for the baby to lie down? Or some plan for how to get the baby to somewhere safe? She never planned for the child to live at all. She showed more plans to go to prom then she did for the life of the child. And her parents were in on it with her either consciously or subconsciously.



If she was a straightforward person, planning to keep a baby that she conceived with someone else, don't you think she would tell the person that she conceived the child with what what happened?

I'm not saying he would have a right to insist she keep the baby, and I do feel sorry for her and think her parents are cruddy

I just remember learning how to when arguments, as a kid when I would fight my parents, if I learned a certain tactic worked, I would use it the next time. That's what I saw, in addition to a coldness from her parents, when I watched the parents interview. I feel like this is responding to the wrong person though, so I'm not trying to hit you too hard and I'm still learning some of the formats here.

Yeah. It's a crazy dynamic. I will say that there is a phenomena where pregnant teens are in deep denial until the birth. They can't cope with reality. They give birth DURING a prom for example and leave the baby to die in a toilet. Then go on dancing. They smother the baby. They abandon the baby somewhere.

But they're in such denial until the birth that they don't plan and have no thoughts of what they will do when the baby comes.

This was not her. She saw a doctor. She was told she was pregnant and how far along she was. She responded that she could not have the baby. She researched how to get rid of it.

She wasn't in denial.

I think she is a practiced liar and learned it to cope with an overbearing mother.

 

[mike balto]

There are a series of charges, right? Abuse of corpse, etc

My prediction is not guilty or hung on murder. No more than a 3 year sentence. Early release.[