Cheerleader Laken Snelling Indicted for Manslaughter After Death of Her Newborn Baby
A Kentucky grand jury has indicted former University of Kentucky competitive cheerleader Laken Snelling on four charges, most seriously first-degree manslaughter, in the death of her newborn baby in 2025.
The grand jury added the manslaughter charge this week to abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant “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,” according to Daniel Trainor.
“The Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office determined the infant’s cause of death was ‘asphyxia by undetermined means.’”
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Attorney Kimberly Baird explained to WKYT after the March 9th hearing that “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.”
Her arraignment is scheduled for April 10.
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,” Trainor reported.
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.
According to Court TV the indictment
accuses Snelling of causing the death of the infant “under circumstances which do not constitute murder because she acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance, or through circumstances not otherwise constituting the offense of murder, she intentionally abused the infant and thereby caused death.”
LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. He frequently writes Today’s News and Views — an online opinion column on pro-life issues.
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