Skylar Richardson's parents speak. CREDIT: SBS News 48 Hours
The parent of Brooke Skylar Richardson, the US cheerleader who went on trial accused of murdering her newborn baby, have spoken for the first time since she was acquitted of murder.
Kim and Scott Richardson have given an interview to 48 Hours where they will share what the past year has been like for them. Skylar, 20, will also directly address the media for the first time since her explosive trial.
In May 2017, Skylar, then 18, gave birth in the middle of the night on the toilet while her parents were asleep. She said the baby girl, who she named Annabelle, was stillborn and she buried her in the backyard.
However, prosectors claimed she killed the baby by smashing its skull with a rock then set fire to the corpse in a bid to keep it a secret.
She had been facing life in prison if convicted of murder but it took a jury three hours to find her not guilty of murder, but instead guilty of gross abuse of a corpse. She was sentenced to time already served.
Much was made during the court trial of Skylar’s changing body in the lead up to having her secret baby, and why her parents hadn’t noticed she was heavily pregnant at her prom.
In a trailer for the CBS News documentary, Skylar’s mum addresses the criticisms saying, ‘we missed everything’.
Speaking about what they’ve been through since Skylar was arrested and the world found out about her secret baby, her parents still look shell-shocked.
‘Worst nightmare. Purgatory every day. I don’t know when it hit me but I was a grandmother but I never had any of the benefits of it. Our lives have been completely turned upside down,’ says Kim.
The trial made headlines around the world and the family say they were surrounded by media reporting on the trial.
‘It was like Super Bowl level. It was like the world stopped. Everyone wanted to know what was going on in our backyard… The sidewalk was lined with people and sitting on lawn chairs,’ says Kim. ‘We had no privacy, we are followed, we are stalked.’
The show is due to air in the US on Saturday, September 28 at on CBS.
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