Former University of Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty in the death of her newborn son, whose body was found concealed in a closet.
During an Oct. 16 hearing in Fayette Circuit Court, Snelling, 22, received a 10-year prison sentence to be served concurrently. She had pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, concealing the birth of an infant and tampering with evidence.
The hearing also marked the first time the baby’s father, Izaiah Hall, spoke publicly about the case.
“I don’t wish the worst on Laken,” Hall said, according to Court TV. He said he had named their son McCoy Cade Hall. “What happened is, it is what it is. I can’t change it.”
Hall was accompanied in court by members of his family. “He was not garbage,” his sister said, according to WKYT. “He was the most beautiful, perfect, innocent, full-term baby boy.”
Hall’s mother also described her grandson as “a perfectly healthy, beautiful baby boy.”
“A baby who had barely begun its life. A baby that deserved a chance to grow to be loved,” she said, according to Court TV. “Instead of celebrating his milestones, we’re left mourning the milestones that never were passed. Instead of watching him grow, I’m left wondering who he would have been.”
Judge Diane Minnifield ruled that Snelling would not be eligible for probation because of the “crime of violence.” However, Fayette County Commonwealth’s Attorney Kimberly Baird said Snelling may qualify for parole after serving 85% of her sentence, according to Fox 56.
Snelling’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Oxygen.
“One of the concerns we had, this case has had some media attention, and we just didn’t want to fuel that fire anymore by letters in support of her,” the attorney said, according to Court TV. “So the fact that we did not submit anything, don’t take that as a reason she doesn’t care about what happened.”
“She is incredibly, deeply saddened by what happened,” the attorney added. “She’s taking complete responsibility for it.”
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What Crime Did Laken Snelling Commit?
The case came to light more than a year earlier after Snelling’s roommates made a discovery inside their home.
In the early morning hours of Aug. 27, 2025, the roommates heard loud, persistent sounds coming from Snelling’s bedroom. The noise was strong enough to knock a picture from the wall, according to a 97-page Fayette County case file obtained by LEX 18 News.
Later that day, Snelling texted her roommates to say she felt ill and had passed out. When they went into her bedroom, they found the newborn inside bags in the closet, the case file states.
The roommates told police they had suspected Snelling was pregnant, though they never received confirmation from her. Investigators later found pregnancy-related Facebook searches and hashtags referring to various stages of pregnancy on her phone.
Snelling was taken to University of Kentucky Hospital. According to an affidavit obtained by Fox 56, she told medical staff that she heard the baby “whimper” and “guessed” he was alive. She also told investigators that she had passed out on top of the infant and, after waking, saw that he was “turning blue and purple.”
Snelling said she believed the baby had died. She told investigators that she “wrapped him like a burrito” and lay beside him because doing so “gave her comfort.”
The Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office later determined that the boy had been born alive. His cause of death was listed as asphyxia by undetermined means.
Snelling was arrested on Aug. 31, 2025. She posted a $100,000 bond and was placed on home incarceration at her parents’ home in Tennessee. She initially was not required to wear an ankle monitor.
She was first charged with abuse of a corpse, concealing the birth of an infant and tampering with physical evidence. In March, a Fayette County grand jury added a charge of first-degree manslaughter.
Snelling pleaded not guilty to all four charges but later changed her plea in a surprise move.
“I was under a lot of emotional stress and my baby came unexpectedly,” Snelling tearfully told a Fayette County judge in August. “And instead of helping him…I ended his life. I deprived him of oxygen.”
