A former University of Kentucky cheerleader admitted in a quiet courtroom that she “deprived him of oxygen” as she pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of her newborn son.
Laken Snelling, 22, broke down in tears during Friday’s hearing in Kentucky, nearly one year after the baby was discovered inside a trash bag at a home in Lexington.
Crying as she addressed the court, Snelling said: “I was under a lot of emotional stress and my baby came unexpectedly.
“And instead of helping him, I ended his life. And afterwards I cleaned up and didn’t tell anyone.”
According to WLEX, the statement about depriving the infant of oxygen came after Judge Diane Minnifield asked Snelling to explain how she had killed her baby.
Snelling had previously pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, but changed her plea under an agreement with prosecutors. She is scheduled to be sentenced on October 16 and could face up to 14 years in prison.
Laken Snelling, seen in a Kentucky courtroom on Friday, initially pleaded not guilty after being indicted on multiple charges following her arrest last August
Under the plea agreement, Snelling was required to describe what happened in court and admitted to Judge Diane Minnifield that she concealed the birth and tampered with evidence
The agreement also saw Snelling plead guilty to charges including abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant.
The state Medical Examiner’s Office determined that the baby boy was alive when born and died as a result of ‘asphyxia by undetermined means’.
The body of the newborn was discovered hidden in a closet in her off-campus apartment by her horrified roommates.
The cheerleader was first charged on August 30, 2025, three days after she gave birth.
Her roommates told police that they believed she was concealing a pregnancy for some time.
Photos from last April shows Snelling performing with UK’s STUNT team with what appears to be a pregnant bump on her stomach.
Her roommates told police they heard strange noises coming from her room during labor, as the cheerleader gave birth alone and in secret in her dorm room.
Judge Minnifield accepted the plea and set a sentencing hearing for October
The agreement also saw her plead guilty to charges including abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant
Photos from last April shows Snelling performing with what appears to be a pregnant bump on her stomach
After giving birth, Snelling allegedly cleaned up the scene and left her home to go to McDonald’s.
Her roommates said they then discovered the newborn baby dead in a blood-soaked towel on the floor of her closet, wrapped in a plastic bag.
One friend said she reported to police that the infant was ‘cold to the touch’ when they found him.
Following Snelling’s arrest, she initially claimed the newborn was stillborn. She said she didn’t believe the baby was ‘breathing or alive,’ and then claimed to have passed out ‘on top of the baby,’ and woke up to find him ‘turning blue and purple.’
Court documents said Snelling told investigators she wrapped her newborn up ‘like a burrito’ and ‘laid next to it,’ explaining that she was panicking and it ‘gave her a little comfort in the moment.’
Police later alleged that Snelling told a medical worker that her newborn had shown ‘a little bit of fetal movement,’ and made a ‘whimper’ when he was born.
The cheerleader was first charged on August 30, 2025, three days after she gave birth
In exclusive Daily Mail images, the former cheerleader was spotted in October 2025 walking the streets after she was placed under house arrest
Following Snelling’s arrest, she initially claimed the newborn was stillborn
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 probe revealed that Snelling had made a number of Internet searches ‘including different things pertaining to pregnancy,’ the search also uncovered ‘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 said.
‘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.’
Authorities also found that her phone contained ‘images of her during labor,’ which she allegedly ‘deleted in an attempt to hide the birth.’
It is unclear whether Snelling had told anyone she was pregnant before giving birth.
In June 2025, she had shared images where her then-boyfriend, former college basketball star Connor Jordan, 24, where she seemed to cover her front.
She has not publicly disclosed who the father is.
The Daily Mail previously revealed Snelling was previously in a relationship with college quarterback Izaiah Hall who underwent a DNA test to determine whether the baby was his last September.
The results of the DNA test have not been publicly disclosed, and it is unclear who the father of Snelling’s baby was.
