Former University of Kentucky competitive cheerleader Laken Snelling has been indicted for manslaughter after it was determined her baby was born alive before she allegedly hid the body in a trash bag last year.
Snelling was indicted by a grand jury on charges of first-degree manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant on Tuesday, March 10.
The manslaughter charge was added after testing revealed her baby was alive when she allegedly concealed the newborn’s body in a trash bag in the closet of her Lexington, Kentucky, home in August 2025.
The Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office determined the infant’s cause of death was “asphyxia by undetermined means.”
“They 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,” Fayette Commonwealth’s Attorney Kimberly Baird explained to WKYT after the hearing.
Baird said Snelling is due back in court in the next two or three weeks. She waived her right to a preliminary trial in September 2025.
Snelling was arrested on August 30, 2025, three days after a third party called 911 and reported that an infant was found “cold to the touch” in the closet of Snelling’s room.
When she was questioned by the police, Snelling “admitted to giving birth” and 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.”
In court records obtained by WKYT in September 2025, Snelling told authorities she guessed the baby was still alive when she gave birth and passed out on top of the body.
Snelling claimed she woke up and found the baby “blue and purple.”
The former cheerleader then wrapped up the infant and laid next to the body on the floor, per the records.
After eventually being taken to a local hospital for evaluation, Snelling admitted to hearing a “whimper” before she concealed the baby’s body.
She pleaded not guilty to all charges in September 2025. Snelling was released on $100,000 bond and ordered to live on house arrest.
Snelling is a former student at the University of Kentucky and had been a performer on the school’s STUNT cheerleading team for three seasons.
Shortly after she was arrested, a university spokesperson confirmed to Us Weekly that Snelling was no longer enrolled at the school or on the STUNT team.
