Former University of Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling received a 10-year prison sentence after admitting she deprived her newborn of oxygen and hid his body in a closet.
Laken Snelling, a 22-year-old former University of Kentucky cheerleader, was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for the death of her infant son in Lexington, Kentucky.
She had pleaded guilty in August to first-degree manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant. The case centered on a newborn found cold, wrapped in a trash bag, and left in a closet after roommates heard loud noises and called police.
Fox News reported that Snelling stood before Judge Diane Minnifield and described what she did in plain terms.
When the judge asked how she ended the infant’s life, Snelling answered directly.
"I deprived him of oxygen."
She spoke through tears as she addressed the court about the birth and what followed.
"I was under a lot of emotional stress and my baby came unexpectedly. And instead of helping him, I ended his life and afterward I cleaned up and didn’t tell anyone."
Lexington Police arrested Snelling on Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025, after her roommates reported loud noises coming from her closet. Officers found the infant cold to the touch and wrapped in a trash bag inside that closet, according to a city of Lexington statement on the investigation.
The Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office determined the baby had been born alive and died from asphyxiation, the city statement said. That finding matched what Snelling later told the court about cutting off the child’s oxygen.
Court documents described her account to investigators in more detail. Snelling said she was awake for 30 minutes after giving birth, then passed out on top of the baby. When she woke, she saw the infant “turning blue and purple.”
Investigators also found she had deleted photos of her labor from her phone and removed other evidence of the pregnancy, court documents showed. She cleaned up. She told no one. The child was left in the closet until police arrived.
A grand jury indicted Snelling in March on manslaughter and three related charges. She entered her guilty plea in August to manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant.
University of Kentucky officials confirmed she was a senior at the school and a former cheerleader. The arrest and sentencing closed a short, grim timeline: hidden pregnancy evidence, a live birth, asphyxiation, a body in a trash bag, an arrest after roommates heard the noise, a plea, and a 10-year term.
Snelling said the baby “came unexpectedly” and that she was under heavy emotional stress. The medical examiner’s conclusion and her own words in court left little dispute about the core facts. The child was born alive. He died from lack of oxygen. She admitted she ended his life instead of helping him.
Abuse of a corpse and tampering charges reflected what happened after the death: the cleanup, the deleted photos, the concealment of the birth, and the decision to place the infant in a bag in a closet rather than seek help or report what occurred.
Judge Minnifield imposed the 10-year prison sentence after Snelling’s plea and her statements in court. The case did not turn on a contested trial. It turned on a guilty plea, a medical finding of live birth and asphyxiation, police recovery of the body, and the defendant’s admission that she deprived her son of oxygen and then hid what she had done.
Lexington police, the city statement, the medical examiner’s determination, and the court record described the same sequence. Roommates heard noise. Officers found the infant. The examiner ruled asphyxiation after a live birth. Snelling admitted the act and the cover-up.
A newborn cannot protect himself. When an adult ends that life and hides the body, the law’s job is straightforward: establish the facts, record the plea, and impose a real sentence. Ten years is the measure the court entered in this case.
Emotional stress does not erase a live birth, a death by asphyxiation, or a trash bag in a closet. The sentence treats the infant as a victim and the concealment as part of the crime, and that is how a serious justice system is supposed to answer.
