Cheerleader Laken Snelling has been indicted on first-degree manslaughter after her newborn son was found lifeless in her closet.
The 21-year-old was charged on Tuesday (March 11). The Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office determined that her baby was born alive but lost his life from “asphyxia by undetermined means.”
Snelling faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for the first-degree manslaughter charge.
Highlights
- Laken Snelling has been indicted on first-degree manslaughter in connection with the fatality of her newborn son last August.
- The 21-year-old university student was detained at her off-campus residence after her baby was found unresponsive inside a closet.
- Snelling gave contradictory accounts of what happened to the baby to police and medical examiners.
Image credits: Lexington Police Department
Trigger warning: this article contains graphic details that may be distressing to some.
The young woman was originally charged in August with ab*se of a body, tampering with physical evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant. She has since been on house arrest in Tennessee.
Snelling pleaded not guilty to those charges, for which she faces an additional 11 years in prison.
Image credits: Laken Snelling/Facebook
The former University of Kentucky cheerleader gave birth to a boy at about 4 a.m. in her off-campus residence in Lexington on August 27.
Her roommates told police they heard loud noises coming from her room at the time.
After the incident, Snelling allegedly cleaned up blood from the scene, showered, and left the residence. She skipped her morning classes and a planned visit to the clinic to go to McDonald’s.
Image credits: Laken Snelling/Facebook
In her absence, her roommates entered her bedroom and discovered a “blood-soaked towel on the floor” as well as a plastic bag “containing evidence of childbirth,” according to court documents.
The infant’s body was reportedly placed inside a black plastic bag in a closet.
During a 911 call, Snelling’s roommates told the operator that the baby was “cold to the touch.”
The 21-year-old was detained and taken in for questioning as soon as she returned to her apartment.
Image credits: Laken Snelling/Facebook
According to court documents, she admitted that she wrapped “the baby up like a burrito” and laid next to her son’s body because it “gave her a little comfort in the moment.”
However, she gave different accounts regarding what happened to her child. First, she told officers that the infant fell on the floor after she gave birth and that she didn’t think he was “breathing or alive.”
Snelling then claimed she passed out on top of the baby and woke up to find the newborn “turning blue and purple,” leading her to believe he was lifeless.
Image credits: UK Athletics
An investigation revealed that she also told medical staff that the infant had shown “a little bit of fetal movement” and made a “whimper” after he was born.
The affidavits alleged that the suspect cleaned up the blood in her bedroom, placed the towel-wrapped baby in a trash bag, and put her placenta "inside of a zip lock bag," which she also tossed in the trash bag.
“By wrapping the infant in towels and placing it inside of a black trash bag, the listed suspect treated the corpse in a way that would outrage ordinary family sensibilities,” read a police report about the arrest.
Police found that she had taken photos while she was in labor but allegedly deleted them “in an attempt to hide the birth.” Snelling is also suspected of deleting other images connected to the case.
On Tuesday, a Fayette County grand jury charged Snelling with manslaughter.
Attorney Kimberly Baird told WKYT that jurors “were given the information about homicide, the four levels of homicide and then deliberated and decided that manslaughter first degree was the charge that should come out of the grand jury.”
Image credits: Laken Snelling/Facebook
The grand jury arrived at this decision after hearing that Snelling's infant had been born alive, the Lexington Police Department said.
Snelling was held at the Fayette County Detention Center until September 2, when the judge allowed her to be placed on house arrest after posting a $100,000 surety bond.
In the wake of her arrest, Snelling withdrew from the University of Kentucky and is no longer a member of the STUNT team, a competitive cheerleading team at the university.
Image credits: WHAS11
The 21-year-old’s next court appearance is expected to take place within the next two to three weeks.
After news of her arrest emerged, a group of former classmates accused Snelling of bullying, with one of them claiming she “had many, many people that she took her personal anger out on.”
“She would bully my sister and her friends in the bathroom at school. She would just corner them. There were talks with teachers about her behavior, but nothing led to her stopping doing it,” one of them, Sydney, told The Daily Mail.
