The cheerleader who buried her baby in her backyard after giving birth in secret was found not guilty of murder, manslaughter and child endangerment on Thursday.
What We Know:
- Skylar Richardson, 20, had been facing life in prison if convicted of all the charges. The charges included aggravated murder, manslaughter, gross abuse of a corpse and child endangerment. She has also been charged with tampering with evidence but the judge removed that count during the trial.
- Skylar was 18 when she gave birth to a baby girl in May 2017 in her family’s upstairs bathroom in Carlisle, Ohio. She told no one about the pregnancy and buried the baby in her yard.
- Skylar confessed to a gynecologist two months later and they phoned the police. Prosecutors said Richardson killed the baby and that it was alive when born. They also claimed she set fire to it and that she was obsessed with maintaining the image of a perfect life.
Courtesy COURT TV / Prosecutors showed the jury this photograph of the infant’s skeletal remains after they were dug up from the family’s yard - While being interviewed she confessed to ‘trying to cremate her a little’ after being told by them repeatedly that they ‘knew she did something with fire’.
- Skylar’s mother Kim, who did not testify, broke down into sobs as the verdict was read aloud. Skylar and her mother often discussed her weight and she confirmed in a text to her mother after delivering the baby that she was ‘happy to have her belly back.’
The story is disgusting and despicable. Just another day of being white in America.
Detailed reporting available at Daily Mail.
Lamar Parks and Alex Haynes contributed to this story.
