Brooke's Life
Brooke Skylar Richardson had what seemed to be the perfect life. She was an eighteen-year-old cheerleader who was popular and had lots of friends, a loving family, and a boyfriend.
But in reality, she hid a dark secret from everyone, and it all began when she started dating her friend's cousin, a boy named Trey Johnson.
Splitting Up
Brooke's relationship with Trey sadly didn't last, and after just a few weeks of dating, they called it quits. However, she had no idea this brief relationship would change her life forever.
During their short relationship, Brooke and Trey were intimate twice without using protection, and she became pregnant with Trey's baby.
Pregnant
According to Brooke, she had no idea that she was pregnant for months, but the truth is that we'll never know whether she was telling the truth. Either way, even though she was pregnant, her life continued as normal.
In fact, nobody noticed any changes in Brooke, who was as skinny and active as always. She suffered from an eating disorder, which is why she was so petite.
Business As Usual
Because Brooke was so skinny and small, she did not look pregnant at all. She also attended cheerleading practice as usual and began dating a new boy.
Things with her new boyfriend were getting more and more serious, so her mom though it would be a good idea for Brooke to go to an OB-GYN and get birth control.
Opening Up
When Brooke visited the OB-GYN, her mother waited in the waiting room. There, the doctor examined her and felt that something strange was going on, so he gave her a pregnancy test, which she took then and there.
The result obviously came back positive and Brooke broke down in tears. She told the doctor that she was secretly pregnant and that she could not have this baby.
No Way Out
If Brooke had only been a few weeks pregnant, she could have gotten an abortion. However, by April 26, 2017, the day she visited the doctor, she was already eight months pregnant.
Her doctor told her that she had no other choice but to have this baby and that she had to start taking care of herself and prepare for the baby's arrival. But to Brooke, this was not an option.
Begging For Help
Brooke begged her doctor to give her a prescription for birth control so that her mother wouldn't find out about her pregnancy and, although reluctant, the doctor agreed.
The doctor gave Brooke the prescription under the promise that she would start taking care of herself and prepare for the baby's arrival. She told the doctor that she would be back in a few weeks and went home with her mother.
Nobody Knew
Being eight months pregnant, Brooke only had about a month to tell people the truth, but she decided to conceal it. Her life continued as normal, and she even went to prom with her boyfriend wearing a tight dress a few weeks later.
And, as you can see, it's no wonder that people did not realize she was pregnant: she did not look pregnant at all!
Contractions
What was going through Brooke's mind during this time? What was she planning on doing when it was time to give birth? Was she planning to hide it all forever? Those are questions that, to this day, remained unanswered.
What we do know is that, a couple of days after prom night, Brooke started having contractions in the middle of the night. Instead of telling her parents or calling a doctor, she locked herself in her room.
Giving Birth
Brooke was clearly going into labor, but keeping the secret was more important to her than anything, so she quietly had contractions in her room without waking anybody up.
In the middle of the night, she headed to the bathroom and gave birth to her baby all by herself while her family slept. Then, the story gets even more confusing.
Stillborn
According to Brooke, the baby was stillborn. It wasn't breathing, there was no heartbeat, and it quickly went cold. Because of this, Brooke thought the best thing to do would be to bury it.
The baby was a girl, who Brooke named Anabelle. Brooke took Anabelle to the backyard while her family was still asleep and buried her. Then, life went on as normal.
As If Nothing Happened
The next day, Brooke went to school as usual, and her family had no idea about all the crazy things that had happened in their own home the previous night.
However, according to friends and family, Brooke seemed much happier and energetic that day, as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
Looking Happier
Just hours after giving birth, Brooke headed to the gym and even took photos that she later uploaded to social media, along with captions detailing how excited she was about losing weight.
But her happiness wouldn't last long, because the truth was about to come out. A couple of weeks after giving birth, Brooke went back to the OB-GYN...
Telling The Truth
Brooke went back to the doctor, who was shocked to see a skinny Brooke with no baby. The doctor immediately asked her where the baby was, and Brooke told him that the baby had been born dead.
Naturally, the doctor asked her what happened afterwards, and that's when Brooke broke down again. She told him that she buried the baby in the backyard because there was no point in telling people about it since it was stillborn anyway. But the doctor was not happy with this answer.
The Investigation
After Brooke left the doctor's office, he immediately called the police. The doctor felt that something was fishy and that the police should get involved. After all, you can't just bury a baby in the yard without telling anybody, even if it is stillborn!
The police went to Brooke's home and took her to the police station for interrogation. After being confronted, she broke down and told the police her story. Her parents, who were there with her, were completely shocked.
Questions
Now, the big question was whether the baby was actually stillborn or not. If it was, then this whole thing had just been a tragic series of events, but what if Brooke had killed her baby to keep it a secret forever?
The police wasted no time and found the baby's body in the backyard, which was promptly examined by a forensic pathologist. What the pathologist discovered gave everyone chills.
The Evidence
The forensic pathologist determined that the baby had been burned, which made Brooke look extremely guilty. However, a second examination by another pathologist revealed that the baby had not been burned at all.
The truth was that the body had already been buried for a couple months and was severely decomposed, therefore making it impossible to determine a cause of death. Now, it was all about believing Brooke's story or not.
Believable?
The reason why the police believed that Brooke had killed her baby was that she purposely kept it a secret from everyone and had no desire to have it. In fact, she was extremely happy after her baby died.
And yet, there was no physical evidence to say that she had actually killed her child. Still, Brooke was charged with reckless homicide and arrested. She was bailed out and awaited trial at home with her family.
The Defense
The defense argued that Brooke was just a scared teenager who did not know what to do. She was immature and terrified about having a baby, so she kept it a secret for as long as she could, but she was planning on telling her parents after giving birth.
However, when the baby was born dead, Brooke thought she might as well bury it and continue with life as usual, as there was no point in telling her parents now. Not only that, but the defense also claimed that she honestly had no idea she was pregnant until that fateful doctor's appointment when she was eight months along.
The Prosecution
The prosecution had a different theory in mind. They claimed that Brooke was a teenager who had it all and felt that having a baby would take everything away from her. She gave birth in secret, killed her baby, and hid the evidence, then continued life happier than ever.
The prosecution also claimed that, if Brooke had actually felt bad about the baby's death, she would have told someone, but she didn't. And by the time the baby was found, it was so decomposed that the cause of death could not be determined, which had been her plan all along.
More Clues
According to the prosecution, Brooke clearly did not want a baby. One thing that really made them think that Brooke killed her own baby was the fact that she had no plans for the baby's arrival: she had no diapers, no crib, had not prepared in any way, and obviously, had not told anyone.
This was because she never planned on letting the baby live. What was she planning on doing with the baby once it was born? Not much, judging by the evidence.
Happy About It?
Another thing that made Brooke look guilty was how happy she was after the whole ordeal. Giving birth alone to a stillborn baby and having to bury it surely sounds traumatic, but not for Brooke. She went to the gym and to school, and even sent some pretty suspicious texts to people the day after the birth.
She texted her mother saying that she was happy she was losing weight and that she hated how she had gained a few pounds in the previous months. She also took a gym selfie showing her flat stomach and posted it on social media.
Actual Evidence
No matter how guilty Brooke looked, all of this is just speculation. However, the prosecution did manage to get some actual evidence to back up their story. The first one was that Brooke actually took birth control even after knowing she was pregnant, perhaps hoping it would cause a miscarriage.
It was also proven that she searched 'how to get rid of a baby?' on Google several times during her pregnancy.
Not Guilty
No matter whether Brooke seemed believable or not, the truth was that there was not enough evidence to convict her of reckless homicide. She was found not guilty and was only sentenced to probation for mishandling a corpse.
The outcome of this case outraged most of the public, as most people believed she was guilty. What do you think about it?