‘My belly is back OMG’: Text highlighted in Carlisle buried baby trial opening statements

A text message Brooke Skylar Richardson sent to her mother after she allegedly delivered and then killed her baby in 2017 was highlighted in opening statements in her trial this morning.

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Assistant Warren County Prosecutor Steven Knippen told the jury that Richardson sent her mother a text that said, "I am literally speechless with how happy I am my belly is back OMG," just hours after she is accused of having her baby in secret in her Carlisle home and burying her in her parents’ backyard.

Knippen said that Richardson did an internet search for "how to get rid of a baby."

For the defense, Charles M. Rittgers said Richardson suffered from an eating disorder that led to her weight fluctuation.

The jury viewed video of Richardson’s interrogation by police, and Rittgers said investigators pressured Richardson by telling her an expert said her baby had been burned. Rittgers has said that expert later recanted that testimony.

The defense team has said the second interrogation was key because of the pressure and misleading statements made by police.

  

TRIAL COVERAGE

• What happened on the first day?

• Stillborn or alive? That's the key issue in the Carlisle buried baby trial

• More than 2 years of twists and turns lead to Carlisle buried baby trial this week

• Who is Brooke Skylar Richardson?

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