Did Laken Snelling, University of Kentucky cheer student kill her newborn baby? 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 beauty queen and cheerleader at the University of Kentucky was arrested after the 21-year-old-female student was found to have given recent birth only to hide the body of her newborn in a closet.
Laken Snelling, 21, was taken into custody on Saturday and charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant.
The cause of the newborn had yet to be disclosed.
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The mother’s arrest follows officers with the Lexington Police Department responding to a call to home on the 400 block of Park Avenue, Wednesday morning following a report of an unresponsive infant.
The baby was pronounced dead at the scene at around 10:30am.
The ‘infant was located wrapped in a towel inside of a black trash bag,’ according to an arrest affidavit.
Snelling admitted to officers that she gave gave birth after being read her rights, LEX 18 reported.
She ‘admitted to concealing the birth by cleaning any evidence, placing all cleaning items used inside of a black trash bag, including the infant, who was wrapped in a towel,’ according to the police documents.
The citation also included the mother admitting to ‘hiding cleaning supplies.’
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maternity photos with the child’s father, posted in June.
Did Laken Snelling, Kentucky university student kill her newborn?
Not immediately clear is who made the initial call to authorities.
The Fayette County Coroner’s Office has yet to issue a cause of death, according to the Independent.
The identity of the child’s father was not immediately known.
The newborn’s death comes amid a near total ban going into effect in Kentucky since 2022, with no exceptions for rape or incest.
The ban only permits abortion to prevent the ‘substantial risk of death’ or to prevent the ‘serious, permanent impairment of a life-sustaining organ’ of the pregnant person.
Snelling is a member of the University of Kentucky ‘stunt team,’ a competitive cheer program, according to the school’s athletics website.
‘We can confirm that she has been a member of the STUNT team for the last three seasons,’ the university said in a statement to LEX 18. ‘All other questions should be directed to the Lexington Police.’
According to a social media account, Snelling is from White Pine, Tennessee, and was studying Interdisciplinary Disability Studies at the University of Kentucky.
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A social media post shared by Snelling in June included her uploading a video in which she stated that her goals in life were to be a mother and having a family.
Come Monday, Snelling remained held at the Fayette County Detention Center with the department’s Special Victims Section continuing to investigate. It remained unclear when a bond hearing would be set.
It remained unclear if Snelling would face additional or upgraded charges.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to call Lexington Police at (859) 258-3600.
