Ex-cheerleader who buried baby in backyard found not guilty of murder

CARLISLE, Ohio (WXIN) -- An Ohio woman accused of killing her newborn daughter and burying her in her Carlisle backyard has been found guilty of abuse of a corpse.

Brooke Skylar Richardson, 20, was found not guilty of aggravated murder, involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment.

She will be sentenced Friday for the abuse of a corpse and faces up to a year in prison, CNN affiliate WKRC reported.

When the verdicts were read out Thursday, Richardson sobbed before she was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

The baby was found 2 months after childbirth. Richardson delivered her baby at home in her bedroom the night of May 7, 2017, when she was 18, according to the affiliate.

Two months after the baby she named Annabelle was born, investigators found the skeletal remains in a shallow grave with a flower on top placed by Richardson, according to the affiliate.

The sheriff's office started an investigation that led to the remains after she showed up at her doctor's office — where she'd taken a pregnancy test — without a baby, prosecutors said in closing arguments.

Prosecutors said when the doctor asked, she burst into tears and said the baby was not alive at childbirth and she'd buried her in the backyard.

Prosecutors painted a picture of a teen who was in a new relationship at the time and wanted nothing to do with the baby or the man who impregnated her. They alleged she killed the baby after she gave birth in the middle of the night, believing she'd have no future as a mother.