BREAKING: Former University of Kentucky cheerleader pleads guilty to killing her newborn, stuffing him in plastic bag in closet

A former University of Kentucky cheerleader has admitted to killing her newborn son and stuffing his body in her closet, pleading guilty to manslaughter and other charges associated with the killing.  

Laken Snelling, 22, initially pleaded not guilty to first-degree manslaughter in April, however, in a Kentucky courtroom on Friday, she pleaded guilty to the count. She also pleaded guilty to abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant, per the New York Post. 

She said while crying in court, “I was under a lot of emotional stress and my baby came unexpectedly.” She added, “And instead of helping him I ended his life and afterwards I cleaned up and didn’t tell anyone.” When Judge Diane Minnifield asked how she ended the newborn’s life, Snelling said, “I deprived him of oxygen.” 

Police in Lexington responded to an off-campus home on August 27, 2025, after Snelling’s roommates had discovered the dead newborn stuffed in a closet, wrapped in a black plastic bag. The roommates told a 911 operator that they found a “blood-soaked towel on the floor and a plastic bag containing evidence of childbirth” in her room.  

The Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office had concluded that the baby was born alive, and died of asphyxia by undetermined means. Snelling’s roommates later said that they had suspected Snelling was hiding that she was pregnant, and Snelling admitted in court that she “didn’t tell anyone” after she gave birth.

Snelling had told police initially that the baby had fallen on the floor after she gave birth, and didn’t think he was “breathing or alive.” She later claimed instead that she had passed out “on top of the baby” and woke up to find him “turning blue and purple.”

Later, she told medical staff that the newborn had shown “a little bit of fetal movement,” and had made a “whimper” once born.”