A 911 call reported a newborn body that was “cold.”
Three days later, authorities arrested Laken Snelling.
Now, a grand jury has indicted the University of Kentucky cheerleader.
She faces multiple charges, including first-degree manslaughter.
Man 1 is a serious charge
On Tuesday, March 10, a grand jury indicted Snelling on charges of first-degree manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant.
The childbirth and alleged homicide took place in August 2025.
There was initially some uncertainty over which level of homicide charge the former University of Kentucky competitive cheerleader would receive.
However, after the medical examiner determined that Snelling’s newborn was alive at the time that she allegedly stashed the infant in a trash bag in her closet, this information was seemingly enough for the grand jury.
Prosecutor Kimberly Baird explained: “They were given the information about homicide, the four levels of homicide and then deliberated and decided that manslaughter first degree was the charge.”
Snelling is due back in court within the next two-to-three weeks.
As you can see in the video above, she waived ehr right to a preliminary trial in September 2025.
Snelling’s arrest was on August 30 of that year — just three days after someone uncovered a “cold to the touch” infant inside a trash bag within Snelling’s closet.
The ME concluded that the infant’s cause of death was “asphyxia by undetermined means.”
Sometimes, suffocation leaves evidence — fabric debris in the lungs, a pattern or residue over the mouth and nose. Not in this case, it seems.
How did the newborn die?
According to at least one statement that Snelling allegedly made to police, she lost consciousness after giving birth in her room.
She said that she passed out on top of the newborn.
When she awoke, Snelling told police, the infant was “blue and purple.”
She apparently lied down beside the newborn for a time before bundling up everything from the birth — including the baby — and stashing it in the closet.
Snelling allegedly confessed to having heard a “whimper” during the bagging process.
In September 2025, Snelling pleaded not guilty to all of the charges that she is facing.
She was released on a $100,000 bond.
The court required Snelling to live on house arrest.
She is no longer enrolled at the University of Kentucky, where she had been part of the school’s STUNT cheerleading team.
Additionally, she is no longer part of the STUNT team.
Crimes like this are often an indictment of the broader community
Every incident like this is nothing short of a horror.
Infanticide has a long and brutal history. Accidental deaths of infants are also a grim reality — especially for a young woman going through the unthinkable trauma of giving birth alone.
Notably, Kentucky has outlawed nearly all forms of abortion.
If Snelling, who reportedly was unaware that she was pregnant for the majority of her pregnancy, had learned of her pregnancy in time, she would probably have had to travel across state lines — perhaps to Illinois — to exercise her human rights.
Infanticide is not excusable, if that is what happened. But this very much appears to be a no-win situation that society and our nation’s backwards laws forced upon her.