Ohio Cheerleader Arrested On Charges Of Burying Newborn Alive In Backyard

An 18-year-old girl in Ohio has been charged with burying her newborn baby alive, according to multiple reports.

Brooke Skylar Richardson was charged with reckless homicide, a felony of the third degree, after the remains of her newborn baby were found in her backyard in Carlisle, about 40 miles north of Cincinnati, on July 14, according to reports. Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell said Friday the charge was based on evidence that showed the baby was alive and not a still-born when it was buried.

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Richardson was arrested on July 20 and kept in Warren County jail. Initially county deputies and the county coroner who found the bones in the teen's backyard believed it belonged to a still-born baby.

However, further investigation showed the baby was alive when it was buried, Fornshell wrote in court documents, reported the Dayton Daily News. Reports suggested the authorities found the remains after receiving a tip-off from a doctor's office.

According to WDTN-TV, after putting together the initial evidence to find probable causes in the case against Richardson, police went back to her home July 20 to retrieve additional soil samples and evidence.

“We have learned more,” Doyle Burke, chief investigator for the Warren County Coroner’s Office, told WDTN-TV. “That’s why we’re back out here, but we still have not learned everything we need to know.”

After she was arrested, Richardson was brought to the Franklin Municipal Court and was placed on $15,000 bond with an August 1 preliminary court hearing date. According to the Dayton Daily News, she pleaded not guilty through her attorney to the charge.

Investigators believe the remains may have been buried for about 10-12 weeks, reported CBS News. The criminal complaint which was filed stated that Richardson "did recklessly cause the death of another or the unlawful termination of another's pregnancy."

Heavy. quoted her attorney Charles M. Rittgers who told reporters after she was placed on the bond: “She’s taking it in a way you would expect. It’s a shock to her, it’s a tragic situation.” He added that Richardson was a model student in high school and had good grades. She attended Carlisle High School where she was on the cheerleading team and had just graduated this May.

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He also told Fox 45 News: “I can tell you that Skylar was a very good student. She didn’t drink. She wasn’t a partier or a smoker. By all measures a very good girl who helped children… She’s by all means a very good person.”

Fornshell in a Facebook post on the 21 July said the Warren County Sheriff's Office, Warren County Coroner's Office, Carlisle Police Department, and Warren County Prosecutor's Office were still investigating the matter.

Forensic anthropologists at the Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory were also given charge of analyzing the remains as investigators wait for a final report from the County Coroner's Office on how the infant died.