The former Ohio high school cheerleader accused of killing her newborn texted her mom to celebrate getting her “belly back” — just hours after she secretly buried the baby, prosecutors said.
Disturbing text messages sent by Brooke Skylar Richardson were revealed Wednesday at her murder trial in Warren County court as the prosecution delivered opening statements, the Hamilton Journal-News reported.
Steven Knippen, an assistant Warren County prosecutor, said the then 18-year-old cheered her new figure within hours of giving birth in the middle of the night at her parents’ Carlisle home in May 2017.
“I am literally speechless with how happy I am my belly is back OMG,” Richardson allegedly texted her mom.
Prosecutors claim that Richardson, now 20, concealed her pregnancy and delivered a full-term baby girl. She then allegedly killed the infant and told no one for months about the birth.
Knippen said it wasn’t until she was confronted at an OB-GYN appointment in July 2017 that she fessed to giving birth.
But Richardson’s lawyers insist that baby was stillborn — and that she buried her in the backyard to give her a proper burial.
“She didn’t throw her in a trash can. She didn’t put her in a dumpster,” her attorney, Charlie M. Rittgers Jr. told the court.
The trial is expected to last two to three weeks. If convicted, Richardson faces life in prison.




