Laken Snelling Kentucky beauty queen pleads not guilty to manslaughter of newborn but evidence is stacked against her as prior admissions and attempts to delete photos contradict claims of giving birth to dead baby.
A Kentucky beauty queen charged with the manslaughter death of her newborn appeared in court on Friday where continued to maintain her innocence.
Laken Snelling, 22, is accused of killing her newborn child and then stuffing the baby boy’s body in a trash bag after giving birth in the bedroom of her off-campus home during the first week of classes at the University of Kentucky in Aug. 2025.
After further investigation, the Kentucky Medical Examiner’s office determined the baby was born alive and the baby boy’s cause of death was asphyxia by undetermined means according to WKYT.
Former University of Kentucky student indicted with first degree manslaughter
A Fayette County grand jury on March 10 indicted Snelling with first degree manslaughter in addition to three other charges she previously faced and pleaded not guilty to, including; abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant.
She was taken into custody at the Fayette County Detention Center on March 12. Snelling’s father posted a $10,000 bond and she was released.
Officers with the Lexington Police Department (LPD) were dispatched to Snelling’s off-campus home on the morning of Aug. 27, 2025, after her roommates called to say they had found blood in her bedroom, along with hearing strange noises coming from Snelling’s area of the house earlier that day.
Once on the scene, officers allegedly discovered a deceased newborn wrapped in a towel and placed in a trash bag inside of Snelling’s bedroom closet.
An autopsy determined the infant’s cause of death to be ‘asphyxia by undetermined means.’
Kentucky Beauty Queen alleges falling asleep after giving birth to ‘dead baby’
Snelling was not home at the time, and according to an arrest report had allegedly left her off-campus home to attend class just a few hours after giving birth.
Officers were able to track Snelling down and took her to receive medical treatment at the university hospital after placing her under arrest.
While at the hospital, Snelling opted to waive her Miranda rights and spoke with police in which she disclosed giving birth at 4 a.m. on Aug. 27, ‘to a baby which fell onto the floor of her bedroom,’ according to court documents.
Snelling said she didn’t think the newborn was ‘breathing or alive.’
After giving birth, she said that she stayed awake for another 30 minutes before ‘falling on top of the baby and going back to sleep’.
Snelling said that when she next woke up her newborn was ‘turning blue and purple.’
Snelling said she then wrapped her baby in a towel and laid next to the newborn on the floor of her bedroom.
Snelling then went back to sleep until her alarm went off at 7:30 a.m., at which point she cleaned up the blood and afterbirth in her bedroom, placed the towel-wrapped baby in a trash bag and her placenta ‘inside of a zip lock bag,’ which she also put in the trash bag and hid in a closet.
Damning evidence and admissions
In previous released court documents, Snelling is alleged to have told doctors that the infant was born alive and that she had heard it ‘whimper’ before ultimately stuffing it in a trash bag.
Snelling allegedly took several photos while in labor, but had since deleted them ‘in an attempt to hide the birth,’ according to police.
After her arrest, Snelling withdrew from the University of Kentucky. Prior to that, she had been a member of the school’s STUNT team, which finished as runners-up at the 2025 NCAA competition.
Snelling is also a decorated beauty queen who competed in pageants up until the time of her arrest.
The 22-year-old is scheduled to return on May 14 for a preliminary hearing and again on June 12 for a status hearing according to People Mag.
Snelling faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for the first-degree manslaughter charge and an additional 11 years for the remaining charges if found guilty.
