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Transcript

True Crime Documentary - She Gave Birth After Prom and Buried Her Newborn Baby in Her Backyard · The Evolution of Evil - True Crime Stories

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, we are here today because the defendant,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Brooke Richardson, murdered a baby that she didn't want and
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: never intended to keep.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: She's a great student. She started doing competitive cheer outside.
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: Of the school.
• 0:15
  Speaker 4: Skyler has just learned she's pregnant, and she tells no one.
• 0:18
  Speaker 4: Nobody knows about this.
• 0:20
  Speaker 5: Sometime when her mother, father, and brother were sleep, Skyler
• 0:26
  Speaker 5: delivers a baby girl that she names her daughter Annabelle,
• 0:31
  Speaker 5: and then she buries the remains in the backyard.
• 0:36
  Speaker 6: Did give birth to a newborn infant. He caused the
• 0:40
  Speaker 6: death of that infant. She subsequently burned the infant.
• 0:44
  Speaker 7: They were on a one way track to get her
• 0:46
  Speaker 7: to confess so that could take her.
• 0:48
  Speaker 8: To jail put in because people were ready to convict.
• 0:55
  Speaker 8: There was false information everywhere.
• 0:57
  Speaker 9: It was ugly.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: She was determined to keep her secret.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: They do all to help you on the baby, and
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: they find out that it was learning at the time
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: of the birth, and you will gotch. I never meant him.
• 1:15
  Speaker 10: Your wife of Annamari.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: You're gonna this is what he's.
• 1:19
  Speaker 11: Going to tell you.
• 1:19
  Speaker 12: And I'm going about the situation and I grab the
• 1:23
  Speaker 12: gun trying to find the first place to put a body, No, sir,
• 1:25
  Speaker 12: the only thing they could do was killing.
• 1:27
  Speaker 13: You want to say anything, lead the jury and to
• 1:29
  Speaker 13: find the defendant.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: M H.
• 1:52
  Speaker 9: Small town, USA. It's a pretty tight knit community.
• 1:56
  Speaker 14: Carlisle is in the southwest corner of Ohio.
• 1:59
  Speaker 15: It's a town of subdivision.
• 2:02
  Speaker 14: A lot of people that grow up in Carlisle don't leave.
• 2:05
  Speaker 16: A little bit of rural on the outskirts and not
• 2:07
  Speaker 16: really large.
• 2:11
  Speaker 15: This is where the Richardson family lives in Carlisle. Kim Son,
• 2:16
  Speaker 15: Jackson Scott and their daughter.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Skyler Great Student, National Junior Honor Society.
• 2:24
  Speaker 13: She started doing.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Competitive cheer outside of the school. That's what she really enjoyed.
• 2:29
  Speaker 9: She's just a peacemaker peace. By all appearances, she was happy,
• 2:34
  Speaker 9: go lucky man.
• 2:36
  Speaker 15: But appearances, as always, can be deceiving.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: I noticed she was constantly looking at herself in the mirror.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: She was counting every calorie that she ate. The day
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: that she said she couldn't get a pack of gum
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: because it had five calories per piece. That really hit home.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Her eating disorder defines her.
• 3:02
  Speaker 7: We had taken her to several different places, We've tried
• 3:04
  Speaker 7: several different things.
• 3:05
  Speaker 9: It was extremely frustrating.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: She did not develop at all mentally or physically. She
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: stayed frozen in that twelve year old body.
• 3:18
  Speaker 15: But she is a popular student and sexually active, first
• 3:21
  Speaker 15: with a boy named Trey and then a new friend Branded.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: In the spring. I noticed that they were getting very close,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: and that's when I had encouraged her to get on
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: the pill. That's when I made her appointment for her
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: to go to the doctor. I went with her. I
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: sat in the lobby. She went back by herself. When
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: she came out, I could tell that she had been crying,
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: but I wouldn't say that she was horribly shaking or upset.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: I could just tell that she'd been crying. She kept
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: everything a secret. She always has.
• 3:56
  Speaker 15: Skuyler's secret this time is a big one. She is
• 3:59
  Speaker 15: eight months pregnant, weeks away from giving birth.
• 4:03
  Speaker 8: Skyler did not want to have to deal with her
• 4:07
  Speaker 8: mother's wrath during her pregnancy and thought that she could
• 4:10
  Speaker 8: get through school and then tell her mom that she
• 4:12
  Speaker 8: was pregnant and then have a normal delivery process.
• 4:15
  Speaker 9: I absolutely had no idea.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: I just thought that she'd gain weight.
• 4:19
  Speaker 8: Skyler believed that she had time.
• 4:22
  Speaker 9: Most teenagers are naive.
• 4:24
  Speaker 8: They put out of mind what they think they can
• 4:27
  Speaker 8: do the next day or the next week, and they
• 4:29
  Speaker 8: just live in that moment.
• 4:32
  Speaker 15: And her high school senior prom was just nine days away.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: Sky was very excited about prom to be going with Brandon,
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: first time she had had someone that she really cared
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: about to go to prom with. They always go out
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: to a little shop in Columbus. They have a great
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: selection addresses.
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: She knew she.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: Wanted read she hadn't had a red one before and
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: had a naice corset in the back.
• 4:55
  Speaker 9: He loved it.
• 4:58
  Speaker 15: But Skyler's mom is great. She has put on weight
• 5:01
  Speaker 15: and might not fit in the dress.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: I always get stressed out because if her hair's not right,
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: you know, with girls, they've got hair, nails, make up,
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: the whole thing. She wasn't exactly happy with herself, but
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: she never is.
• 5:23
  Speaker 15: Prom night is a disaster.
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: Supposed to be the perfect night, but she's having major
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: cramping and she's even mentioned it to Brannon that she
• 5:32
  Speaker 5: has the worst cramps she's ever had.
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: Geyler is in a lot of pain at prom because she's.
• 5:40
  Speaker 9: In labor.
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: And still just plows through and goes forward with it.
• 5:48
  Speaker 15: Gyler keeps her secret from everyone and Then the next night,
• 5:54
  Speaker 15: back home, Skyler makes a decision that will change her
• 5:57
  Speaker 15: life forever.
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: Sometime, when her mother, father, and brother were sleep, Skuyler
• 6:07
  Speaker 5: delivers a baby girl, she says. She delivers it in
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: the bathroom, on the toilet.
• 6:13
  Speaker 9: I mean, I still can't believe that none of us
• 6:15
  Speaker 9: woke up.
• 6:16
  Speaker 17: She says.
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: The umbilical cord is not attached, the baby is not breathing,
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: it doesn't have a heartbeat, and I have no.
• 6:22
  Speaker 9: Doubt it was a stillborn.
• 6:23
  Speaker 7: There's no way that we wouldn't have heard, or the
• 6:27
  Speaker 7: dogs wouldn't react or something.
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: And then takes the baby down the stairs into the garage,
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: gets a garden trowel.
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: She names her daughter annabel and then she buries the
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: remains in the backyard.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: It was very, very hard, knowing that she had her
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: own private funeral for Annabelle in the backyard.
• 6:52
  Speaker 15: Much later that day, Skyler sends a text and a
• 6:54
  Speaker 15: photo to her mother from the gym, my belly is back,
• 6:58
  Speaker 15: and to her boyfriend saying she's so happy, without explaining why.
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: And she tells no one, not her mom, not her
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: brother who's her best friend, not any of her girlfriends,
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: certainly not her father. Nobody knows about this.
• 7:14
  Speaker 15: But this would be a secret that would not keep.
• 7:22
  Speaker 15: Two months after burying baby Annabelle in her backyard, Skyler
• 7:26
  Speaker 15: returned to the doctor's office for more birth control pills, where,
• 7:30
  Speaker 15: of course, she was asked what happened to the baby.
• 7:33
  Speaker 16: Skyler Richardson had gone there for a follow up appointment
• 7:37
  Speaker 16: and told the doctors while she was there that she
• 7:39
  Speaker 16: had delivered a baby that was not breathing, and that
• 7:41
  Speaker 16: she had subsequently buried her in the residence of her backyard.
• 7:45
  Speaker 15: The Warren County Sheriff's office begins to investigate.
• 7:52
  Speaker 11: You can have a seat right there.
• 7:53
  Speaker 18: And on the other side, and you will come in in.
• 7:55
  Speaker 10: Just a couple of minutes.
• 7:55
  Speaker 18: Okay.
• 8:00
  Speaker 15: Skyler is brought by her father to the police station
• 8:03
  Speaker 15: for questioning by detectives John Fame and Katie Gee.
• 8:07
  Speaker 16: As I was driving up there, I thought there might
• 8:10
  Speaker 16: be some other explanation, or probably something happened other than
• 8:14
  Speaker 16: there was truly going to be the remains of a
• 8:16
  Speaker 16: newborn infant in the backyard of residence.
• 8:18
  Speaker 7: I said, can I be in there with her? He said, no,
• 8:21
  Speaker 7: she's eighteen. We have to talk to her alone. I said,
• 8:24
  Speaker 7: does she need an attorney. Oh, absolutely not. She's not
• 8:27
  Speaker 7: in any trouble. Naively thinking that why would a police
• 8:32
  Speaker 7: officer arrive here.
• 8:34
  Speaker 15: But DETECTA thing begins by giving Skyler her Miranda rights.
• 8:38
  Speaker 10: Can you read this part out loud for me?
• 8:40
  Speaker 11: This is not just that last paragraph. I have read
• 8:43
  Speaker 11: this statement of my rights, and I fully understand what
• 8:45
  Speaker 11: my rights are.
• 8:45
  Speaker 19: I do not want to lawyer at this time, and
• 8:47
  Speaker 19: I'm willing to speak with law enforcement officers.
• 8:49
  Speaker 10: If you're okay, then just sign sign right there.
• 8:56
  Speaker 20: And there's no way other than just to come out
• 8:58
  Speaker 20: and say, okay, we got a call from the doctor's office.
• 9:01
  Speaker 15: Now Skylar knows her secret is out.
• 9:05
  Speaker 11: My parents are going to kill me. I didn't want
• 9:07
  Speaker 11: to tell them. I didn't want to tell them at all.
• 9:09
  Speaker 11: I still don't really want to tell them, But now
• 9:10
  Speaker 11: they're going to know.
• 9:11
  Speaker 15: Without prompting, she says she did not harm her baby,
• 9:15
  Speaker 15: something she will repeat more than a dozen times.
• 9:19
  Speaker 19: I didn't kill we do.
• 9:20
  Speaker 20: Oh, we're not. We're not saying anything like that. That's
• 9:23
  Speaker 20: not why you're here today. We're not saying that. Did
• 9:26
  Speaker 20: you say her?
• 9:27
  Speaker 11: Okay, it was a girl?
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: What do you do?
• 9:29
  Speaker 10: Then?
• 9:29
  Speaker 20: I stayed there with her for a little bit.
• 9:31
  Speaker 11: I tried to see you if you should wake up,
• 9:33
  Speaker 11: but I had to bury her.
• 9:34
  Speaker 14: And thats am I going to be trouble for that?
• 9:38
  Speaker 21: I know what was it.
• 9:39
  Speaker 20: We're trying to see if she could breathe by her?
• 9:42
  Speaker 20: Why do you decide you have to bury her. I
• 9:44
  Speaker 20: can't tell anybody because she hadn't told anybody, and you
• 9:47
  Speaker 20: still didn't want to tell anybody.
• 9:50
  Speaker 11: I didn't love.
• 9:52
  Speaker 20: It's just it's not for us to say, are you
• 9:54
  Speaker 20: going to put me into because.
• 9:57
  Speaker 16: No, I'm not.
• 9:58
  Speaker 20: It's not why I'm here today to try to put
• 10:00
  Speaker 20: you and Joe. We're still just trying to find out
• 10:01
  Speaker 20: what happened. Okay, but did you know where you would
• 10:03
  Speaker 20: bury her?
• 10:04
  Speaker 11: I just wanted to pair her. My you are so big,
• 10:06
  Speaker 11: but some look for her.
• 10:09
  Speaker 9: Okay at this point, I had no idea what was
• 10:11
  Speaker 9: going on.
• 10:13
  Speaker 20: Parents in just a minute, but I'm gonna see.
• 10:16
  Speaker 11: I'm just real quick and.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: Stay the.
• 10:20
  Speaker 11: Money. You can just just take a difference, Okay, I'm
• 10:23
  Speaker 11: gonna stay in here with you. Okay.
• 10:24
  Speaker 9: Detective Vein finally comes out and.
• 10:26
  Speaker 7: Tells us sort of a synopsis of what happens.
• 10:30
  Speaker 9: We're in shock.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: I just checked out. I couldn't feel my body. I
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: have very little memory of what transpired.
• 10:37
  Speaker 12: I'll just be honest.
• 10:38
  Speaker 11: What's gonna happen?
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 10:39
  Speaker 11: Okay, I'm in here, observe. No, no, no, no, you're
• 10:42
  Speaker 11: not going to jail that no, no, no, when I'm
• 10:44
  Speaker 11: not going to just.
• 10:45
  Speaker 18: Relax, Okay, listen, let's just relax.
• 10:47
  Speaker 11: Okay, just like I don't want to go to China.
• 10:50
  Speaker 11: You know, I just realized I have to go to deal. Really,
• 10:53
  Speaker 11: I understand that you're that you're sorry, and I understand
• 10:56
  Speaker 11: that drip set, and I understand that you didn't want
• 10:58
  Speaker 11: this to happen. Okay, take some deep reast. Okay, thing's
• 11:02
  Speaker 11: gonna be Okay. I don't like to go to you.
• 11:03
  Speaker 11: You're not going to show. Okay, we're not taking to
• 11:06
  Speaker 11: jail today. You're not going to jail. Okay, So what's
• 11:09
  Speaker 11: the worst that's gonna happen? Honey, I don't know. This
• 11:11
  Speaker 11: isn't my case. Okay, he's talking. He just wants to
• 11:14
  Speaker 11: get something straightened up so that we can figure out
• 11:16
  Speaker 11: exactly what happened. Are you being one hundred percent honestly here?
• 11:20
  Speaker 10: Okay?
• 11:20
  Speaker 11: I just want everybody to believe because I don't want
• 11:22
  Speaker 11: to be a true I understand.
• 11:24
  Speaker 7: He says, you can go back and talk to her.
• 11:26
  Speaker 7: Doesn't tell us that we're on camera being recorded.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: Story.
• 11:41
  Speaker 11: I can't get pregnant every day. Pregnant is not the
• 11:45
  Speaker 11: end of the world. I'm so story, that's what did
• 11:48
  Speaker 11: they tell you? I just, I just I think they
• 11:51
  Speaker 11: want to know if I killed it myself getting you're
• 11:54
  Speaker 11: better tell I couldn't go. You imagine the absolute before
• 11:58
  Speaker 11: that we just went through not knowing.
• 12:00
  Speaker 15: Yes, well, I'm sorry.
• 12:02
  Speaker 11: No, we can't fix the.
• 12:04
  Speaker 18: Jail.
• 12:05
  Speaker 11: It's in the papers, it's everywhere.
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: It's the neighbors have already called me, and I know
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: she was telling me that they're digging ed stuff in
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: her beker.
• 12:13
  Speaker 13: You're going to be on the news.
• 12:14
  Speaker 11: We support me, I scotta. I am supported, but I'm.
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: Just saying, oh, you guys, is I know Blake's guy.
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: They're doing alltop fee on the baby. And they find
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: out that it was learning at the time of the birth.
• 12:27
  Speaker 11: Then you will go to I know I will.
• 12:32
  Speaker 15: The Richardson's backyard is now a crime scene.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: It was a nightmare. They had drones over our house and.
• 12:38
  Speaker 9: The news people camped out all night.
• 12:46
  Speaker 15: Detective Fane got a search wormth to dig up the
• 12:49
  Speaker 15: infant's remains, which had been decomposing for some nine weeks.
• 12:53
  Speaker 16: That was a lengthy process, but we had recovered all
• 12:56
  Speaker 16: the remains, so the Courtner's office had had time also
• 13:01
  Speaker 16: to conduct an examination of the remains of what they
• 13:04
  Speaker 16: had left, and.
• 13:05
  Speaker 15: The county coroner reports to the detectives that a forensic
• 13:08
  Speaker 15: anthropologist observed charing on Annabelle's bones, suggesting a more sinister motive.
• 13:15
  Speaker 16: I said, how certain is she? He said, she is absolutely,
• 13:19
  Speaker 16: in one hundred percent certain that these phones were burned.
• 13:25
  Speaker 15: It is the turning point in the case, and Skyler
• 13:27
  Speaker 15: is brought back for what would be a pivotal round
• 13:30
  Speaker 15: of questioning.
• 13:31
  Speaker 9: I was told it's only going to be a few minutes.
• 13:33
  Speaker 9: Kevi and I are sitting outside.
• 13:35
  Speaker 15: With Detective Brandy Carter joining Fain for the session.
• 13:39
  Speaker 10: So I'm just going to be honest. I don't know
• 13:41
  Speaker 10: how to say it any other way, that we know
• 13:43
  Speaker 10: there were there that happened. Okay, then what you and
• 13:46
  Speaker 10: I talked about.
• 13:46
  Speaker 15: The other day, Skyler's lawyer, Charles Vickers.
• 13:49
  Speaker 8: Skyler holds the hand of the female officers in the room.
• 13:53
  Speaker 8: She did not have a lawyer, her mom and dad
• 13:55
  Speaker 8: weren't present, and she frankly thought that the police were
• 13:57
  Speaker 8: there to help her.
• 13:58
  Speaker 15: And under questioning, Sky Eyler is about to admit something
• 14:01
  Speaker 15: she had repeatedly denied before, that the baby was born alive.
• 14:07
  Speaker 10: If you knew, I didn't get the truth and you
• 14:10
  Speaker 10: still had to carry that, you know, carry that weight
• 14:12
  Speaker 10: with you.
• 14:14
  Speaker 11: Is it possible that she maybe breathed a little bit,
• 14:17
  Speaker 11: like maybe you know before.
• 14:20
  Speaker 18: Baby okay, that's what do you do with her?
• 14:26
  Speaker 11: Hum you feel like she was breathing when her holding
• 14:28
  Speaker 11: her and other or two kind of I know if
• 14:33
  Speaker 11: I'm like, it's okay, you can't, it's okay. You were
• 14:36
  Speaker 11: trying to think that want to.
• 14:38
  Speaker 19: Kill about her?
• 14:38
  Speaker 11: Okay, okay?
• 14:41
  Speaker 16: When she just interjects out of the blue, I think
• 14:43
  Speaker 16: I might have killed her. I squeezed her too tight.
• 14:46
  Speaker 16: Detective Card and I were a little bit taken back
• 14:49
  Speaker 16: by that because we hadn't asked her that was she
• 14:52
  Speaker 16: just offered that up on her own. What's going through
• 14:55
  Speaker 16: my head right at that moment is that she admitted
• 14:57
  Speaker 16: to killing her baby, and the I have to seek.
• 15:00
  Speaker 15: To leave no room for doubt.
• 15:03
  Speaker 18: I start, I did lay not so hard, but just like.
• 15:06
  Speaker 16: They want her to go.
• 15:10
  Speaker 11: Maybe that's when when she died there.
• 15:14
  Speaker 16: It seemed now like I was speaking with someone who
• 15:17
  Speaker 16: had done the crime that we were there for and
• 15:20
  Speaker 16: was guilty and knew they were they were guilty. So
• 15:23
  Speaker 16: now I know, I'm going to ask questions about signs
• 15:27
  Speaker 16: of life.
• 15:27
  Speaker 10: Did you hear anything like little gurgle sounds? And I
• 15:30
  Speaker 10: don't cry any good sound?
• 15:33
  Speaker 16: I asked about gurgling, which was a word I introduced.
• 15:37
  Speaker 9: Skyler had not used that word herself.
• 15:39
  Speaker 15: But it soon became Skylar's work.
• 15:41
  Speaker 11: Did she ren an annoyed?
• 15:43
  Speaker 8: They what?
• 15:44
  Speaker 10: What kind of noise?
• 15:45
  Speaker 18: Maybe a little nooyse, a gurgl?
• 15:46
  Speaker 11: I can revelt it was something else like? And now
• 15:50
  Speaker 11: did you hear another one?
• 15:51
  Speaker 10: So how you know the baby was alive? Just a
• 15:53
  Speaker 10: little vid that Annabel was alive?
• 15:55
  Speaker 11: A little bad it's all her, maybe a little bit anything.
• 15:59
  Speaker 15: When you were they had what they needed.
• 16:03
  Speaker 16: Skuyler had admitted to maybe accidentally killing her baby. Know
• 16:07
  Speaker 16: at this point there's going to be an arrest.
• 16:09
  Speaker 18: That day.
• 16:12
  Speaker 6: She did give earth to a newborn infant. He caused
• 16:16
  Speaker 6: the death of that infant. She subsequently burned the infant
• 16:21
  Speaker 6: and buried the infant in the backyard of her own residence.
• 16:26
  Speaker 15: But the prosecutors and detectives were about to learn there
• 16:28
  Speaker 15: would be a serious problem with what happened inside this interrogation.
• 16:33
  Speaker 17: This case was a false confession.
• 16:39
  Speaker 22: Good morning, everybody, and welcome to lawn crime. Twenty year
• 16:42
  Speaker 22: old Brooke Skuyler Richardson is facing aggravated murder, manslaughter, child endangerment,
• 16:47
  Speaker 22: tampering with evidence, and abuse of a corpse charges in
• 16:51
  Speaker 22: connection with the death of her baby, Annabelle.
• 16:53
  Speaker 15: It became a news media feeding frenzy known as the
• 16:57
  Speaker 15: case of the high school cheerleader baby killer.
• 17:02
  Speaker 23: So you're describing a spoiled, self entitled teenager who was
• 17:07
  Speaker 23: more worried about vanity than keeping the life of a
• 17:11
  Speaker 23: baby a lot.
• 17:13
  Speaker 17: That sounds really horrible.
• 17:15
  Speaker 9: Those are your words.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: It took the life out of Skyler to hear those
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: people say all those horrible things about it. She knew
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: wasn't that she knew wasn't.
• 17:25
  Speaker 15: True, And much of the public outrage grew out of
• 17:28
  Speaker 15: the allegation that Skyler Richardson had burned the remains of
• 17:32
  Speaker 15: her baby daughter.
• 17:35
  Speaker 7: That's when we find out how bad this has gotten.
• 17:38
  Speaker 13: The details were so horrific.
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: Did she not just kill her infant but she burned
• 17:44
  Speaker 5: the remains?
• 17:45
  Speaker 8: The burning issue what caused the prosecutor to indict Skyler
• 17:49
  Speaker 8: for an aggravated.
• 17:50
  Speaker 15: Murder, And again, it was something that Skyler seems to
• 17:54
  Speaker 15: admit in her second interrogation with detectives Feint and Carter,
• 17:58
  Speaker 15: after first repeatedly denying anything to do with burning.
• 18:03
  Speaker 18: About the fire.
• 18:06
  Speaker 16: Fire, it seemed to be a genuinely surprised reaction when
• 18:09
  Speaker 16: he asked about the fire.
• 18:10
  Speaker 18: There's some evidence to show that there was some some
• 18:13
  Speaker 18: burning on her I'm powerful anything I didn't burner. My
• 18:18
  Speaker 18: dad had lot some bonfires, but I didn't burn there
• 18:21
  Speaker 18: some Centurion stuff, something on her own.
• 18:24
  Speaker 11: So I'm sure clearly camissure and true that I'm true.
• 18:31
  Speaker 7: I'm sure of clearly when they said something to her
• 18:34
  Speaker 7: about burning, she had no idea what they were talking about.
• 18:40
  Speaker 15: Skyler was sobbing, almost uncontrollably, and the detectives continued to
• 18:44
  Speaker 15: press her on the burning because just before they began
• 18:47
  Speaker 15: the interrogation, the county coroner had total Lieutenant saying that
• 18:51
  Speaker 15: was the finding of the forensic anthropologist doctor Elizabeth Murray.
• 18:56
  Speaker 16: He menaced there and were in the hallway just outside
• 18:59
  Speaker 16: the door, and he just wanted to make sure we
• 19:01
  Speaker 16: were certain and clear on the information that the baby's
• 19:04
  Speaker 16: remains had been set on fire.
• 19:07
  Speaker 10: So the doctors know that there was there was fire
• 19:11
  Speaker 10: of some sort or some kind of burning.
• 19:15
  Speaker 11: They know for certain.
• 19:16
  Speaker 16: So now that I know that I have that, I'm
• 19:19
  Speaker 16: going to be more direct with questions about the fire.
• 19:21
  Speaker 16: And yes, I am looking to get at admission on
• 19:24
  Speaker 16: that part.
• 19:25
  Speaker 10: There's still a lot more that we don't know that
• 19:27
  Speaker 10: we just want you're so close, just give us all
• 19:29
  Speaker 10: the truth and told about school.
• 19:33
  Speaker 16: I think Detective card And says something about cremating or
• 19:36
  Speaker 16: did you possibly try to cremate her?
• 19:38
  Speaker 11: So I wonder if maybe it's just one of those
• 19:41
  Speaker 11: things where you just thought, well, maybe I can do this,
• 19:43
  Speaker 11: and and I think a cremation like I'm gonna I'm
• 19:45
  Speaker 11: gonna have some ask it that I can keep of
• 19:47
  Speaker 11: my daughter and keep this.
• 19:49
  Speaker 16: At one point, Skuyler finally said, I think I might
• 19:52
  Speaker 16: have tried to cremate her a little bit.
• 19:56
  Speaker 11: I think cream like that.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: I really love it.
• 20:00
  Speaker 18: Okay, where'd you put her family?
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: No?
• 20:05
  Speaker 11: No, I mean, like w before the lighter?
• 20:06
  Speaker 18: Where was she? Okay?
• 20:08
  Speaker 11: And then they were to part the shovel okay, okay,
• 20:11
  Speaker 11: well so was she? So you're holding her and then
• 20:14
  Speaker 11: you grab a shovel in the lighter. Was it like
• 20:15
  Speaker 11: one of those champing lighters or was it just.
• 20:17
  Speaker 18: Like a cigarette ladder, like a clicker with a.
• 20:20
  Speaker 11: Long thing like like the one you go? Okay, so
• 20:23
  Speaker 11: where do you take her to?
• 20:24
  Speaker 18: Let's try to prename her?
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: Oh what?
• 20:28
  Speaker 18: Oh do you think trying to remember where she was
• 20:32
  Speaker 18: in there in the hole?
• 20:34
  Speaker 11: So you do the hole first, okay, and then you
• 20:37
  Speaker 11: put her in the hole. I can't thank you. Part
• 20:46
  Speaker 11: of the remains like did you start like at.
• 20:48
  Speaker 18: The the bottom? It saw it's it is what it is,
• 20:53
  Speaker 18: And you can't champions trawlers or not.
• 20:55
  Speaker 11: You're just some Speretum's cause, President, you were telling us
• 20:59
  Speaker 11: what happen then and now thing's gonna change what happened? Okay,
• 21:03
  Speaker 11: But your intention was to try a premiere.
• 21:05
  Speaker 16: So what part did you try to like we were
• 21:07
  Speaker 16: relentless for lack of a better word, during that second interview,
• 21:12
  Speaker 16: we asked over and over until she admitted to the fire,
• 21:17
  Speaker 16: how big would.
• 21:17
  Speaker 18: You describe this fire? Would you say big? Would you
• 21:19
  Speaker 18: say small?
• 21:20
  Speaker 12: Was it tall as?
• 21:21
  Speaker 10: How was like?
• 21:27
  Speaker 22: Yeah?
• 21:28
  Speaker 18: I can remember? How far did it go?
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: Like?
• 21:30
  Speaker 18: Was it like a ship? Like you know if you
• 21:32
  Speaker 18: want to use you like your form?
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: Was it like this far?
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: Was it this far out?
• 21:35
  Speaker 11: Do you know how far out to.
• 21:37
  Speaker 18: The fire? When kay? Kay? What about to her? Like
• 21:46
  Speaker 18: chess area? Stomach? Than it than?
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Did it traded.
• 21:53
  Speaker 22: In?
• 21:53
  Speaker 18: Awe? What made you decide you wanted to get it out?
• 21:56
  Speaker 13: How long?
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 21:58
  Speaker 10: Can't you start?
• 22:00
  Speaker 15: There was only one problem with this tearful confession of
• 22:03
  Speaker 15: a burning baby, As detectives would later learn.
• 22:07
  Speaker 16: During the time in between the arrest and this trial,
• 22:11
  Speaker 16: doctor Murray recandid her initial observation.
• 22:15
  Speaker 9: She no longer saw burning.
• 22:21
  Speaker 8: Many months later, when she takes her time, she admits
• 22:24
  Speaker 8: her mistake, but it was too late. The prosecutor already
• 22:27
  Speaker 8: indicted Skylar for aggravated murder.
• 22:29
  Speaker 16: I remember being completely dumbfounded because one thing about the
• 22:35
  Speaker 16: forensic pathologists and scientists they work in certainties. I was
• 22:39
  Speaker 16: shocked at how that kind of mistake could.
• 22:42
  Speaker 15: Be made under aggressive questioning. Skylar Richardson had confessed to
• 22:46
  Speaker 15: something that the doctor no longer said had happened.
• 22:50
  Speaker 16: And without doctor Murray allegedly being so certain, we never
• 22:55
  Speaker 16: would have done that. I thought this could blow this
• 22:58
  Speaker 16: case for us and at a minimum, make get an
• 23:00
  Speaker 16: uphill battle for the prosecutors.
• 23:02
  Speaker 15: Yet, even with serious questions about whether Skylar Richardson had
• 23:06
  Speaker 15: been coerced into making a false confession, prosecutors were confident
• 23:11
  Speaker 15: they had the evidence to convict her at trial.
• 23:24
  Speaker 10: A right.
• 23:33
  Speaker 14: In case number twenty seventeen c R. Three three two
• 23:36
  Speaker 14: nine two. We are now going to hear the opening statements.
• 23:39
  Speaker 14: Mister Kinnippin, you may proceed.
• 23:41
  Speaker 15: Steve Nippan is the first assistant prosecutor in Warren County.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, We are here today because the defendant,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Brooke Richardson, murdered a baby that she didn't want and
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: never intended to keep. She continued to lie and conceal
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: this pregnancy because no one was ever going to find
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: out about the truth of her pregnancy. She didn't start
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: prenatal care, she didn't look at baby clothes, cribs, diapers, bottles,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: and she didn't research how to give her child up
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: for adoption.
• 24:17
  Speaker 15: She did nothing, And Nippin told the jurors they should
• 24:22
  Speaker 15: accept Scyl's words on the interrogation as the truth of
• 24:25
  Speaker 15: what happened.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: During this interview, Brooke admitted the following that her daughter
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: was alive for approximately five minutes. She saw her daughter's
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: arms moving a little, heard her gurgle, and heard her cry.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: In just hours after putting her daughter in the ground.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: She documented her feelings about exactly what was going through
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: her head at that time. I'm literally speechless with how
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: happy I am.
• 25:04
  Speaker 9: We were there for every minute of it.
• 25:06
  Speaker 7: It was very difficult to listen to him portray her
• 25:10
  Speaker 7: in the worst possible manner.
• 25:14
  Speaker 24: It was just horrible, all right, mister Rickers, you may
• 25:17
  Speaker 24: perceive this case comes down ultimately to the interrogations, whether
• 25:23
  Speaker 24: or not the police put words in Skylar's mouth, whether
• 25:27
  Speaker 24: or not the statement Skylar made were true or possible.
• 25:29
  Speaker 9: Now, what is not possible?
• 25:32
  Speaker 17: He's a child catching on fire by touching it with
• 25:36
  Speaker 17: a lightning.
• 25:37
  Speaker 9: It is not possible.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: Babies are eighty.
• 25:39
  Speaker 9: Percent of water.
• 25:41
  Speaker 15: And Rickers tells the jury about someone who will not
• 25:44
  Speaker 15: be testifying at the trial, the forensic anthropologists who mistakenly
• 25:47
  Speaker 15: told police the baby's remains had been burned.
• 25:51
  Speaker 25: Your name is doctor Murray. And you're not gonna hear
• 25:54
  Speaker 25: from her. They're not going to call her to the stand.
• 25:57
  Speaker 25: Doctor Murray rushes. She admits that she rushes. She says,
• 26:02
  Speaker 25: the bones are burned, the bones are charred. This doctor,
• 26:07
  Speaker 25: many weeks later, said I was wrong. She told the
• 26:10
  Speaker 25: prosecutor's office I was wrong. She said, I ain't gonna
• 26:12
  Speaker 25: lie to them, and I ain't gonna lie for him.
• 26:15
  Speaker 12: This case is about a rush to judgment, and it's
• 26:21
  Speaker 12: all about that second interrogation.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: It's the whole case.
• 26:24
  Speaker 13: Now.
• 26:25
  Speaker 26: They suggest Skyler hit her pregnancy because she is evil,
• 26:28
  Speaker 26: because she had this sinister, premeditated plan to kill a child.
• 26:33
  Speaker 26: Skyler was a gentle, loving, kind individual who had problems,
• 26:39
  Speaker 26: would not hurt an insect.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: Let alone being mean to a human.
• 26:43
  Speaker 6: Being, or a murder.
• 26:51
  Speaker 15: When the prosecution called Skyler's boyfriend Brandon to testify, he
• 26:55
  Speaker 15: invoked an Ohio law that courtroom cameras could not show
• 26:59
  Speaker 15: his face.
• 27:00
  Speaker 13: I want to direct your attention to May seventh, at
• 27:02
  Speaker 13: ten forty fifty four am.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: And would you agree that?
• 27:07
  Speaker 13: To you saying good morning, beautiful babe, yes, and she
• 27:11
  Speaker 13: responds back, good morning, my amazing boy.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 27:16
  Speaker 13: When she responded back good morning, my amazing boy. At
• 27:19
  Speaker 13: ten forty two am. Did you know that she had
• 27:21
  Speaker 13: just buried a baby several hours prior? No, And her
• 27:25
  Speaker 13: response to you at eleven forty five eleven on May
• 27:28
  Speaker 13: seventh is I'll tell you all about it later. But
• 27:31
  Speaker 13: last night was just like the worst ever and I
• 27:34
  Speaker 13: didn't go to sleep till five thirty. But I feel
• 27:37
  Speaker 13: so much better this morning. I'm happy. Did you have
• 27:41
  Speaker 13: any idea at that time what she was referring to
• 27:43
  Speaker 13: when she said it was the worst night ever?
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: No.
• 27:47
  Speaker 13: At some point you did start questioning her about who
• 27:50
  Speaker 13: the father was, Do you recall that? And she responded
• 27:54
  Speaker 13: back that guy Trey I used to date, who I
• 27:57
  Speaker 13: never talk about. I'm so sorry for lying not telling
• 28:00
  Speaker 13: you in the first place. I am so sorry. Please
• 28:03
  Speaker 13: forgive me eventually.
• 28:05
  Speaker 9: I'm so sorry.
• 28:06
  Speaker 13: At your age, it had to have been pretty hard
• 28:09
  Speaker 13: learning everything that was going on and knowing that all
• 28:11
  Speaker 13: of that had been kept from you.
• 28:13
  Speaker 10: Yeah.
• 28:15
  Speaker 15: In the end, the outcome of the case would come
• 28:17
  Speaker 15: down to the interrogation of Skylar Richardson and the testimony
• 28:21
  Speaker 15: of the detective who led the question, sir, would.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: You please stay your name?
• 28:26
  Speaker 16: John Faine spelling of the last name is Faine. I'm
• 28:31
  Speaker 16: retired now, but it's a case I will definitely never
• 28:35
  Speaker 16: never forget.
• 28:36
  Speaker 15: Detective Fane would testify for two days about the interrogation,
• 28:40
  Speaker 15: trying to defend and explain the techniques he used.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: Sir, there were several times in that interview where you
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: told her that you didn't believe that she purposely killed
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: her baby.
• 28:51
  Speaker 9: Do you remember hearing that?
• 28:53
  Speaker 16: Yes, I do.
• 28:53
  Speaker 10: I think I can speak her bost but I don't
• 28:55
  Speaker 10: think you killed her.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Why were you saying that?
• 28:59
  Speaker 16: We're at the park of the interview where I felt
• 29:02
  Speaker 16: like him was pretty certain she was getting closer to
• 29:04
  Speaker 16: confessing and telling us more of the truth, but just
• 29:07
  Speaker 16: getting her to be comfortable enough to tell the truth, okay.
• 29:11
  Speaker 16: I felt like in the end we treated Skyler the
• 29:14
  Speaker 16: exact same way I would hope if it was one
• 29:18
  Speaker 16: of my children they were treated if they were being
• 29:21
  Speaker 16: questioned like that.
• 29:22
  Speaker 15: But that's not how Skyler's lawyer, Charles Rickers, saw it,
• 29:25
  Speaker 15: not at all. Good morning, and the focus is very
• 29:30
  Speaker 15: tight on that second interrogation session in which Skyler confesses
• 29:34
  Speaker 15: to giving birth to a live baby and then burning
• 29:37
  Speaker 15: the remains.
• 29:40
  Speaker 16: I agree that she initially and several times denied that.
• 29:44
  Speaker 12: Yes, and ultimately she was broken down and she said
• 29:50
  Speaker 12: she tried to cremate annibalist a little bit, right.
• 29:54
  Speaker 16: Can you define broken down?
• 29:56
  Speaker 10: Well?
• 29:57
  Speaker 12: Do you agree that you and detect If Carter were
• 30:00
  Speaker 12: pretending that the main purpose of your interrogation of her
• 30:05
  Speaker 12: was to help get Annabelle's remains back to her family
• 30:09
  Speaker 12: for a proper burial.
• 30:10
  Speaker 10: And I think if your dad already contacted me asking
• 30:13
  Speaker 10: could he have her remains the best into the burial?
• 30:16
  Speaker 10: And I feel lawful, but none of that can happen
• 30:19
  Speaker 10: because the investigation just keeps going and going because we
• 30:22
  Speaker 10: don't have the truth yet.
• 30:23
  Speaker 16: Would I agree that that was my main purpose, that
• 30:26
  Speaker 16: that's what you led Skyler to believe.
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: I know we.
• 30:30
  Speaker 16: Alluded to that. I can't say I necessarily agree that
• 30:32
  Speaker 16: that was We made it clear to her that that
• 30:35
  Speaker 16: was our main purpose, but that was certainly one of
• 30:38
  Speaker 16: the things that we hope we would be able to accomplish.
• 30:41
  Speaker 12: The word cremate was used multiple times by you and
• 30:44
  Speaker 12: Detective Carter before Skyler gave you the word back.
• 30:46
  Speaker 13: Is that correct?
• 30:49
  Speaker 16: She yes, the word was used by all three of us.
• 30:51
  Speaker 11: Yes, So where do you take her, let's try to
• 30:53
  Speaker 11: cremate her, but you're incited someone to try to cremates
• 30:55
  Speaker 11: I wondered, well, maybe she was going to try to
• 30:58
  Speaker 11: cremate her and you and.
• 30:59
  Speaker 12: Detective Carter you use that theme cremation multiple times before
• 31:03
  Speaker 12: she used that word.
• 31:04
  Speaker 8: Is that correct?
• 31:05
  Speaker 16: Now? I guess I wouldn't say used a theme that
• 31:08
  Speaker 16: the word was used, but I'm not sure of what
• 31:10
  Speaker 16: you mean by creating a theme. I guess I don't
• 31:13
  Speaker 16: feel like I had a theme that I was trying
• 31:15
  Speaker 16: to create, But yes, I will agree I used that
• 31:17
  Speaker 16: word several times as well as a Detective Carter.
• 31:19
  Speaker 12: After you started to talk about the supposed cremation, you
• 31:26
  Speaker 12: talked about needing to put out this fire?
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: Correct you remember that?
• 31:30
  Speaker 9: Yes, sir?
• 31:30
  Speaker 18: What about some I've.
• 31:31
  Speaker 10: Seen it where you worried about someone seeing a fire
• 31:33
  Speaker 10: back there?
• 31:34
  Speaker 12: At that kind of another you wondered if you'd need
• 31:37
  Speaker 12: water to put out the fire?
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 31:39
  Speaker 10: Are you sure you didn't use anything at any water? Any?
• 31:42
  Speaker 16: Yes, sir, a kind of thing.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Babies are eighty percent water, are they not?
• 31:46
  Speaker 16: I do not know the exact person, but it sounds accurate.
• 31:49
  Speaker 16: I know at least seventy five.
• 31:50
  Speaker 9: More than adults.
• 31:51
  Speaker 8: Yes, sir, unlike a number of false confessions, we had
• 31:56
  Speaker 8: something in this case that we could prove was scientific impossible.
• 32:01
  Speaker 12: But like the fire issue, you and Detective Carter refused
• 32:06
  Speaker 12: to accept that Annabel was dead upon delivery.
• 32:08
  Speaker 7: Is that true?
• 32:09
  Speaker 16: Refused to accept that she was dead upon birth?
• 32:12
  Speaker 12: Yeah, you denied Skylar those statements that she'd repeatedly made
• 32:15
  Speaker 12: twenty nine plus times.
• 32:17
  Speaker 16: We don't refuse or accept. We're there merely as an investigators.
• 32:23
  Speaker 16: And as we all saw, even her parents who've known
• 32:26
  Speaker 16: her for eighteen years, he said, they have trouble telling
• 32:28
  Speaker 16: when she's lying or not because she does so much.
• 32:32
  Speaker 15: All eyes in the courtroom are now on Skylar. Was
• 32:36
  Speaker 15: she a practiced liar or a confused teenager? Up against
• 32:40
  Speaker 15: a pair of skilled interrogators. If you're convicted of the highest, the.
• 32:45
  Speaker 8: Most severe count in this particular case, the judge has
• 32:47
  Speaker 8: no ability to.
• 32:48
  Speaker 17: Do anything to send you to life in prison, Dies
• 33:00
  Speaker 17: and gentlemen.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: Shortly after murdering her daughter and placing her lifeless body
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: in the dirt behind their home, Brooke Richardson sent two
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: elated text messages to her mother that both contained the
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: phrase my belly is back. My belly is back, Ladies
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: and gentlemen. That belly was her child, That belly was
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: her daughter, a daughter with fingers and toes, with hair
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: on her head. There's only one reason that you wouldn't
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: ask for help at that point, only one reason you
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: would force yourself to give birth in silence, and that's
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: because that child was never going to see the light
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: of day. Any mother in that situation, if they believe
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: that their baby is in trouble, if they believe that
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: their baby is in danger, would be begging for help.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: What does Brooke do? Nothing? If you want to know
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: how she truly felt about her daughter after just putting
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: her in the ground, what was her reaction before she
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: was ever charged, before she ever spoke with the police,
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: back when she thought she got away with everything. How
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: did she feel? I'm literally speechless with how happy I am.
• 34:32
  Speaker 8: We were very worried that Skuyler would deteriorate throughout the
• 34:35
  Speaker 8: trial process, just the mere stress of the situation.
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: She would just check out.
• 34:41
  Speaker 7: She made it a conscious effort not to show that
• 34:46
  Speaker 7: was the Charlie they tore. You know, if you just
• 34:49
  Speaker 7: need to keep your head up, look straight ahead, and
• 34:52
  Speaker 7: she did her damnedest to do it.
• 34:54
  Speaker 15: Her lawyer, Charles Rickers, now asking the jury to consider
• 34:58
  Speaker 15: why the prosecution stuck by its sorry that the baby
• 35:01
  Speaker 15: had been burned.
• 35:03
  Speaker 21: Why'd they do it? Why would they come in here
• 35:08
  Speaker 21: and tell all of us that this cremation and fire
• 35:13
  Speaker 21: should be trusted.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: Why they do it? If they knew? They know, they
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: know it's not possible.
• 35:18
  Speaker 8: We all know.
• 35:19
  Speaker 12: Our common sense tells us it's not possible. Science tells
• 35:22
  Speaker 12: us it's not possible, because they know.
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: That.
• 35:27
  Speaker 12: If you have reason to doubt what Skylarsh said about
• 35:31
  Speaker 12: cremation and burning, then you have reason to doubt the
• 35:36
  Speaker 12: other things.
• 35:37
  Speaker 21: She said that the detectives told her to say about
• 35:40
  Speaker 21: signs of life. Well, we know in this case the
• 35:43
  Speaker 21: odds are actually zero that you can light a baby
• 35:46
  Speaker 21: or a human being on fire with a lighter.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: It is impossible.
• 35:50
  Speaker 25: If you have reason to doubt the burning, you have reason.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: To doubt the signs of life.
• 35:54
  Speaker 15: That addressed the most serious counts aggravated burner, involuntary manslaughter,
• 35:59
  Speaker 15: a child endangerment. The fourth count for the jury to
• 36:02
  Speaker 15: decide was abuse of a corpse.
• 36:05
  Speaker 12: And it is still a very serious felon a conviction
• 36:08
  Speaker 12: on that would label Styler a felon. Women who kill
• 36:11
  Speaker 12: their children, We've read about it. We've heard about it.
• 36:16
  Speaker 12: Throw them in dumpsters. They try to distance themselves from
• 36:20
  Speaker 12: the bottom, from way in trash cans like tws.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: Skyler named her child.
• 36:27
  Speaker 12: She put her in a grave site that she could
• 36:30
  Speaker 12: see from her bedroom window and kept her close.
• 36:34
  Speaker 9: Put flowers on.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: Her grave and mark the grave.
• 36:37
  Speaker 9: You have to fight for Scout. And this is the
• 36:40
  Speaker 9: hardest part of any case. That's passing the burden of
• 36:44
  Speaker 9: Skyler on you.
• 36:46
  Speaker 12: I trusted with mine or not you.
• 36:48
  Speaker 15: The jury of seven women and five men begin their
• 36:51
  Speaker 15: deliberations just before noon.
• 36:53
  Speaker 8: When you're waiting for a verdict, there is no way
• 36:56
  Speaker 8: to properly prepare anyone for that feeling.
• 36:59
  Speaker 9: It is the most intense moment of your life.
• 37:03
  Speaker 4: She's either going to prison for the rest of her
• 37:04
  Speaker 4: life or she's going home. The jury deliberates four hours.
• 37:10
  Speaker 4: I think we are all shocked by how quickly it
• 37:13
  Speaker 4: came back.
• 37:14
  Speaker 13: Families start piling in the gallery.
• 37:22
  Speaker 17: Does the jury reached a verdict in the case we have?
• 37:27
  Speaker 15: The first count is the most serious aggravated burner defendant,
• 37:31
  Speaker 15: Please rise.
• 37:34
  Speaker 14: With regard account one. We the jury in the above
• 37:37
  Speaker 14: caption case find the defendant, Brooks Skyler Richardson, not guilty
• 37:43
  Speaker 14: of the offensive aggravated murder. We the jury in the
• 37:47
  Speaker 14: above caption case hereby find the defendant, Brooks Skyler Richardson
• 37:52
  Speaker 14: not guilty of the offensive involuntary manslaughter. The jury find
• 38:00
  Speaker 14: the defendant Brooks Skyler Richardson not guilty of child endangerment.
• 38:05
  Speaker 14: It does say we further find the defendant did not
• 38:07
  Speaker 14: cause serious physical harms of the alleged victim, but that
• 38:11
  Speaker 14: finding is not necessary as a matter of law. Verdict
• 38:15
  Speaker 14: four number four. We the jury in the above caption
• 38:17
  Speaker 14: case find the defendant, Brooks Skyler Richardson guilty of the
• 38:20
  Speaker 14: offense of abuse of a corpse.
• 38:23
  Speaker 15: It is the least serious of the four accounts against her.
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: She knew what she had done was wrong, but she
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: knew she was not guilty of the other charges. She
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: could breathe again.
• 38:31
  Speaker 8: If I can describe my feeling after the verdict in
• 38:34
  Speaker 8: one word, it would be relieved.
• 38:35
  Speaker 9: I was just so happy for Skyler.
• 38:37
  Speaker 8: I just can't imagine what she was going through, facing
• 38:39
  Speaker 8: potential life in prison.
• 38:41
  Speaker 15: But she still faced sentencing for the abuse of a
• 38:44
  Speaker 15: corpse charge with the potential of up to three years
• 38:47
  Speaker 15: in prison.
• 38:48
  Speaker 16: I think justice was served with respect to I think
• 38:52
  Speaker 16: our system works. The jury has a job to do.
• 38:59
  Speaker 16: If it's certainly not an easy job, especially with an
• 39:01
  Speaker 16: eighteen year old girl facing twenty five years to life
• 39:04
  Speaker 16: in prison, the prosecution had a tough task, so I
• 39:07
  Speaker 16: believe she got a fair trial.
• 39:12
  Speaker 15: The next day, facing the prospect of going to prison,
• 39:16
  Speaker 15: Skyler Richardson decides she will speak publicly for the first
• 39:20
  Speaker 15: and only time.
• 39:21
  Speaker 19: Thank you, your honor. I would do anything and above
• 39:24
  Speaker 19: that you ask, and I understand, and I just wanted
• 39:27
  Speaker 19: to say how sorry I was. I can sometimes be selfish,
• 39:31
  Speaker 19: but I would like to think that I've become better
• 39:34
  Speaker 19: in the knowledge that I've upset everyone and hurt so
• 39:37
  Speaker 19: many people with what I've done. And I'm forever sorry,
• 39:42
  Speaker 19: and I'm so sorry. I'm really really sorry, and I understand.
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: And thank you.
• 39:49
  Speaker 14: You know I have a daughter about your age Ms. Richardson,
• 39:52
  Speaker 14: and I have a granddaughter about the age that Annabel
• 39:56
  Speaker 14: would be right now. In all of this mess that
• 39:59
  Speaker 14: we have with case, I think what often gets overlooked,
• 40:04
  Speaker 14: Missus Richardson, is just how precious life is your life.
• 40:11
  Speaker 14: Annabel's life life is precious and it should be protected
• 40:16
  Speaker 14: and it should be guarded in all respects. And I
• 40:21
  Speaker 14: have reviewed all of the expert reports in this case.
• 40:24
  Speaker 14: I listen to the expert's testimony. I firmly believe Miss Richardson.
• 40:29
  Speaker 14: In fact, I know in my heart that if you
• 40:34
  Speaker 14: would have made different decisions in this case, Annabel would
• 40:38
  Speaker 14: be here today. And I know that might be difficult
• 40:42
  Speaker 14: for you to hear, but I think that your choices for.
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: Birth, during birth and after.
• 40:51
  Speaker 14: Show a grotesque disregard for life.
• 40:57
  Speaker 15: But after the harsh lecture, a light sent.
• 41:01
  Speaker 14: I'm going to place you on three years of basic supervision,
• 41:04
  Speaker 14: which means that you were going to be going home today, But.
• 41:07
  Speaker 15: There was one more decision for the judge to make.
• 41:10
  Speaker 8: The Richardson family would like to bring closure for Annabel
• 41:14
  Speaker 8: and give her an eternal resting place. So we would
• 41:17
  Speaker 8: request that you give the Richardson family Annabel.
• 41:20
  Speaker 14: Mister Richardson, why I have those remains are going to
• 41:24
  Speaker 14: be buried properly. Absolutely, I am going to order that
• 41:28
  Speaker 14: the remains of Annabel be released to the Richardson family.
• 41:34
  Speaker 14: I am going to hold mister Richardson to the promise
• 41:36
  Speaker 14: that he made here today, and if he does not
• 41:38
  Speaker 14: keep that promise, he will answer to me in that regard.
• 41:44
  Speaker 14: Good luck to you.
• 41:44
  Speaker 22: We are in receentch.
• 41:58
  Speaker 15: Skuyler Richardson has now enrolled in and is receiving treatment
• 42:01
  Speaker 15: for her eating disorder. She and Brandon are no longer
• 42:05
  Speaker 15: a couple. The remains of Annabelle Grace Richardson are buried
• 42:12
  Speaker 15: in a cemetery a few miles away from the Richardson home.
• 42:20
  Speaker 15: Skuyler is a regular visitor, making sure there are always
• 42:24
  Speaker 15: fresh flowers on the grave.