The headlines were jarring. One day, Laken Snelling was a senior cheerleader at the University of Kentucky, a visible athlete on the school’s competitive STUNT team. The next, her name was linked to a discovery so grim it felt like a plot from a dark true-crime podcast. But this wasn’t fiction.
In late August 2025, police were called to a home in Lexington. What they found inside a bedroom closet changed everything. A newborn baby, wrapped in a towel and tucked inside a black trash bag. It's the kind of story that stops you mid-scroll, mostly because the details coming out of the courtroom are so intensely human and deeply unsettling.
The Discovery of the Baby in the Closet
It started with a 4 a.m. noise. According to court affidavits, Snelling’s roommates heard loud thuds and sounds coming from her room on August 27. When they checked on her later that morning, she played it off. She told them she’d fainted because she hadn't been eating well. She even said she was heading to the student health clinic.
Honestly, she did go toward the clinic. She even ordered McDonald’s on the app and picked it up. But police say she never actually went inside the doctor’s office. Instead, she went back to the residence.
While she was out, the roommates’ suspicion hit a breaking point. They entered her room and found what no one ever wants to find: a blood-soaked towel and a plastic bag that clearly suggested a birth had happened. By the time Lexington Police arrived on August 31, the situation had turned from a medical concern into a criminal investigation.
The infant was pronounced dead at the scene. He was a full-term baby boy.
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What Laken Snelling Told Investigators
The most haunting part of this case isn't just the discovery; it’s the narrative Snelling reportedly gave to medical staff and police. She admitted to giving birth alone. She told investigators that she heard the baby "whimper" and "guessed" he was alive.
Then things got blurry.
Snelling claimed she passed out on top of the newborn for nearly 30 minutes. When she woke up, she said the baby was "turning blue and purple." Believing the child was dead, she told police she "wrapped him like a burrito" and laid next to him because it "gave her comfort."
The Charges and the Legal Battle
Laken Snelling isn't currently charged with murder. That’s a massive distinction people often miss. Instead, she faces:
- Abuse of a corpse
- Tampering with physical evidence
- Concealing the birth of an infant
She pleaded not guilty to all of them. Her defense team has a lot to work through, especially since the initial autopsy results came back "inconclusive." While the baby was full-term, the coroner, Gary Ginn, noted that extensive microscopic analysis is required to determine exactly how and when the infant died. Was it a tragic accident during a secret birth, or was it something else? That’s the question the Commonwealth of Kentucky is trying to answer.
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A Secret Pregnancy in Plain Sight
How does a high-level athlete hide a pregnancy? Snelling had competed with the UK STUNT team as recently as April 2025 in Nashville. People who watched the footage saw her being lifted into the air, performing high-intensity routines.
Yet, police found a digital trail. A search warrant for her social media revealed searches about pregnancy and labor. It also showed photos of her during her labor and images of her doing things "ordinary pregnant women should not be doing," likely in an attempt to maintain her athletic status or keep the pregnancy hidden.
There’s also the "serial bully" narrative that popped up. A former high school classmate, Sydney Kite, went public with claims that Snelling had a history of aggression. While these character testimonials don't prove criminal intent in the baby's death, they’ve added fuel to the fire on social media, where the "all-American cheerleader" image has been completely dismantled.
The Reality of Safe Haven Laws
Kentucky has "Safe Haven" laws. You can leave a newborn (up to 30 days old) at a fire station, hospital, or with a "Safe Haven Baby Box" with no questions asked. No charges. No shame.
That’s what makes these cases so frustrating for the public. The resources were there. Lexington is a major city with multiple hospitals. But fear is a powerful thing. Psychologists often point out that "pregnancy denial" or extreme panic can lead people to make irrational, even grizzly, decisions.
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Where the Case Stands Now
As of early 2026, Laken Snelling is out of jail on a $100,000 bond. She’s under house arrest at her father’s home in Tennessee, wearing an electronic monitor. The University of Kentucky has confirmed she is no longer a student or an athlete there.
We are essentially waiting on the "why." If the microscopic tests show the baby died of natural causes or stillbirth, the "abuse of a corpse" charge remains, but the narrative shifts. If they show something else, the charges could get much heavier.
Key Takeaways and Insights
If you’re following this case, it’s important to look past the tabloid headlines and focus on the legal reality:
- Wait for the forensics: Inconclusive autopsies are common in newborn deaths without obvious trauma. The "microscopic analysis" will be the turning point.
- The digital footprint is key: Police believe Snelling deleted evidence related to the birth. In 2026, nothing is ever truly deleted, and those recovered files will likely be the backbone of the prosecution's case.
- Safe Haven awareness: This tragedy serves as a brutal reminder that Safe Haven laws exist to prevent exactly this. If you or someone you know is in a crisis pregnancy, every state has anonymous drop-off points.
The legal process is slow. Snelling’s preliminary hearings and the subsequent trial will likely stretch through the rest of the year. For now, a small town in Tennessee and a college campus in Kentucky are left trying to reconcile the girl they saw on the sidelines with the woman in the mugshot.