Laken Snelling, University of Kentucky cheer student makes bond and is ordered to stay with her Tennessee parents until next court appearance. Beauty queen charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant. Cause of death pending autopsy.
A University of Kentucky cheerleader charged with hiding the corpse of her newborn baby in a garbage bag inside a closet was released on Tuesday after she made $100,000 bond.
As part of the conditions of her release, Laken Snelling, 21, was ordered to live under her parents roof in Tennessee until her next court appearance, LEX 18 reported.
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The college student’s arrest follows police being called to a Lexington, Kentucky address where cops found found her deceased infant ‘wrapped in a towel inside a black trash bag’ in a closet at an off-campus residence, according to a police report.
Police said the newborn was pronounced dead at the scene, with the cause of the infant’s death pending review by the Fayette County Coroner’s Office.
Snelling allegedly ‘admitted to giving birth’ during questioning and said she covered it up by cleaning all the evidence and tossing the supplies in a black trash bag, with the infant, the arrest report said, the outlet reported.
In her last TikTok post June 25, Snelling included an emoji of a mother holding a baby under her list of ‘goals’ beside a wedding ring, house and cash.
Social media users flocked to her comments section after the mom – a senior and member of the University of Kentucky’s STUNT cheerleading team – was charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and concealing the birth of an infant.
‘Goal to be a mother but [kills] her baby??’ one commenter wrote.
Another said, ‘You can’t tell me this girl didn’t have options…’
maternity photos with what appears to be the child’s father, posted in June.
Kentucky Safe Haven law
Others pointed out to the Safe Haven baby box option which located in several fire stations across the state, providing a legal and anonymous way for parents to surrender a newborn under the Kentucky Safe Infants Act, which allows parents to drop off infants younger than 30 days old at staffed fire stations, police stations, hospitals, or participating places of worship.
The episode comes as nearly all abortions have been illegal in Kentucky since 2022.
Authorities had yet to determine whether the child was born alive or dead.
Snelling faced additional charges or upgrade of charges pending the results of autopsy results.
Snelling, who pleaded not guilty to her charges, was being held at the Fayette County Detention Center before being freed Tuesday.
She is due back in court on Sept. 26.
