The roommates of a former University of Kentucky cheerleader reportedly heard a disturbing noise before they found dead baby inside her closet.
Laken Snelling, age 21, was arrested on August 31 after authorities found the body of a newborn baby boy inside a trash bag in her bedroom closet.
It is now believed she gave birth to the child in the early morning hours of August 27, and the infant was alive at the time of delivery.
According to recently filed court documents, prosecutors allege that Snelling gave birth to the child around 4am, with her roommates reporting they heard loud sounds emanating from her room.
Days after the incident, Snelling told the police that she stayed awake for about thirty minutes after delivering the baby before she fainted and subsequently fell asleep on top of the newborn, as detailed in an affidavit obtained by Lex 18.
When she awoke, Snelling allegedly said she saw the baby was ‘turning blue and purple,’ leading her to believe the baby was dead.
Following that, she swaddled the baby ‘like a burrito and placed it on the floor beside her to provide some solace at the time,’ according to WKYT.
Reportedly, she fell back to sleep and was awakened by her alarm at 7:30am. It is alleged that at this point, Snelling wrapped the baby in a towel and placed the placenta in a black trash bag, which she then stored in her closet.
Laken Snelling, 21, allegedly gave birth to a baby boy on August 27 before she tried to conceal the infant’s death
Her roommates said they heard loud noises that night, but Snelling allegedly claimed she just passed out and fell to the ground
When she then saw her roommates, Snelling told them the loud noises they heard were simply her passing out and falling.
She then said she was going to a doctor because ‘she had not eaten and had not been feeling well,’ according to the affidavit.
Snelling did go to a student clinic in the aftermath, but did not go inside, according to affidavit.
Instead, it says, she left her apartment, skipped her 9.30am class, sat in her car, ordered food on the McDonald’s app and picked it up.
While she was out, her roommates—who were suspicious of her concealed pregnancy and the strange noises during the night—entered her room and discovered a ‘blood-stained towel on the floor along with a plastic bag that contained evidence of childbirth,’ prosecutors claim.
The baby was ‘cold to the touch’ when an unidentified person called 911 later that morning, and by the time Snelling returned home, she was detained by police.
As officers continued to investigate in the days that followed, they executed a search warrant on Snelling’s phone and requested access to her Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and a shared iCloud account with her mother.
The ensuing search revealed that Snelling had made a number of Internet searches ‘including different things pertaining to pregnancy, images of her during labor, photos of her doing things ordinary pregnant woman should not be doing and a concealed or hidden pregnancy,’ the affidavit says.
‘Other items could have also been deleted in an attempt to hide any evidence of the pregnancy, birth and newborn baby,’ Lexington police note, including information related to ‘the birth of the full-term baby.’
Shocking photos from April shows Snelling performing with UK’s STUNT team with what appears to be a pregnant bump on her stomach
The infant was found inside the closet of Snelling’s off-campus home
Meanwhile, Snelling allegedly told staff at the University of Kentucky Labor and Delivery Unit that her baby had shown ‘a little bit of fetal movement’ and made a ‘whimper,’ and that she ‘guessed’ he was alive at birth.
When authorities finally found the deceased infant inside her closet, they also noted he ‘appeared to be full-term.’
Snelling is now facing charges of abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant.
She appeared in court briefly on Friday, when she waived her right to a preliminary hearing – allowing for a grand jury to be empaneled and weigh whether to indict her.
The former cheerleader is now out on bond and is under home incarceration, ordered to live with her parents in Tennessee.
But questions still remain about the case, including how the child died – as Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn said that a preliminary autopsy on the tragic baby boy inconclusive.
It is also unclear whether Snelling, who has since dropped out of school, had told anyone she was pregnant.
Snelling is facing charges of abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant
She posted photos in June of her with her then-boyfriend, former college basketball star Connor Jordan, 24
However, unearthed footage from April shows Snelling performing with UK’s STUNT team with what appears to be a pregnant bump on her stomach. Snelling also posted images in June where her then-boyfriend, former college basketball star Connor Jordan, 24, held her stomach, which appeared to have a visible bump.
Other images posted on social media in recent months also showed Snelling with what appeared to be a stomach bump.
