Laken Snelling

Introduction

Laken Snelling is a former University of Kentucky student and member of the school’s STUNT acrobatics and tumbling team who pleaded guilty in August 2026 to killing her newborn son, whose body was found wrapped in a towel inside a trash bag in the closet of her off-campus Lexington home in August 2025. She admitted the killing in open court — telling the judge, “Instead of helping him, I ended his life” — and on October 16, 2026 was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Coverage of the case, including the New York Post’s, identified her by her cheerleading background .

Background Information

At the time of the birth, in August 2025, Snelling was a senior at the University of Kentucky on the school’s STUNT team — a discipline covering stunts, pyramids, baskets and tumbling that is separate from the university’s cheerleading squad, though she was widely described in coverage as a cheerleader. Court records obtained by WKYT and LEX 18 show her roommates had suspicions she might be pregnant but said they had never confirmed it with her. On the morning of August 27, 2025, they discussed hearing unusual noises from her room around 4 a.m. in a Snapchat group chat that included Snelling; later that morning they went into her room to investigate, found the baby, and police were called to the home in the 400 block of Park Avenue around 10:30 a.m. for an unresponsive infant .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted and sentenced. Snelling pleaded guilty to all four counts against her — first-degree manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant — before Fayette Circuit Judge Diane Minnifield on August 21, 2026, admitting in open court that she ended her newborn son’s life. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison on October 16, 2026.

Lexington police responded on August 27, 2025 after an unknown caller reported a dead newborn at the home. Snelling was not there when officers arrived; a roommate had found the baby boy’s body in a trash bag inside a closet, wrapped in a towel, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. A roommate’s 911 call described a blood-soaked towel on the floor and a plastic bag containing evidence of childbirth. She was arrested four days later, on August 31, on charges of abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant .

The Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office determined the baby had been born alive and ruled his cause of death asphyxia by undetermined means. On that finding, a Fayette County grand jury indicted her on the original charges on March 10, 2026 and added a count of first-degree manslaughter; she initially pleaded not guilty, and was arraigned on the manslaughter count in April 2026. According to court documents, she first told investigators she did not believe the baby was breathing or alive after the birth, then said she had passed out on top of the child and woke to find him turning blue and purple; she later told medical staff the newborn had shown “a little bit of fetal movement” and made a whimper after being born. Cops said she also took photos while in labor and deleted them in an attempt to hide the birth .

At the August 21, 2026 plea hearing — scheduled as a status hearing — Snelling changed her plea and admitted the conduct: asked what she meant when she said she had not helped the child, she said, “I ended his life,” and when the judge asked how, she answered, “I deprived him of oxygen.” She told the court she was “under a lot of emotional stress” and that her baby came unexpectedly, and admitted placing the baby’s body in a plastic bag and the towels in bags to conceal evidence of the birth — “And instead of helping him I ended his life and afterwards I cleaned up and didn’t tell anyone,” she said, crying before Judge Minnifield. Prosecutors recommended 10 years in prison for the manslaughter count and one year for each of the other three counts, which could have totaled as much as 13 years had they run consecutively .

Public Reaction and Consequences

The case drew sustained national coverage from the discovery onward, and the release of court records — including the search warrant for Snelling’s Snapchat account and the roommates’ accounts — kept it in the headlines through the plea and sentencing. Local coverage documented the roommates’ 4 a.m. group chat and their decision to go into her room, and the medical examiner’s finding that the baby was born alive became the pivot on which the manslaughter indictment turned. Snelling spent much of the case on house arrest at her family’s Tennessee home after posting a $100,000 bond, and withdrew from the university after her arrest .

Current Status

On October 16, 2026, Snelling was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Fayette Circuit Court. Prosecutors had recommended the 10-year term for the manslaughter count — plus one year each on the abuse-of-a-corpse, tampering and concealing-the-birth counts — as part of the plea agreement. Her plea covered all four counts and there is no public indication of an appeal; the sentencing hearing closed out a case that ran from the August 2025 discovery to conviction and sentence in just over a year .

Impact on Their Career/Life

A guilty plea to first-degree manslaughter and three related counts, and a 10-year prison sentence, ended Snelling’s university career and any prospect of the athletics path she was on as a STUNT team member; she had already withdrawn from the University of Kentucky following her arrest. The admission she gave in court — “I ended his life” — stands as the case’s defining record, and the sentence places her in prison for the killing of a child the medical examiner concluded was born alive .

Sources

“New York Post: Cheerleader Laken Snelling learns her fate after killing newborn son found stuffed in trash bag,” October 16, 2026 source
“LEX 18: Laken Snelling sentenced to 10 years in infant death case,” October 16, 2026 source
“WKYT: Former UK student sentenced for baby’s death following earlier guilty plea,” October 16, 2026 source
“ABC News 4/WKRC: ‘I ended his life’: Former University of Kentucky student pleads guilty to killing baby,” August 21, 2026 source
“New York Post: Laken Snelling pleads guilty to killing newborn son found stuffed in trash bag,” August 21, 2026 source
“Kentucky Today: Former UK student athlete says she ended her newborn son’s life, pleads guilty to manslaughter,” August 21, 2026 source
“AOL/Nexstar: Laken Snelling sentenced in death of newborn son,” October 16, 2026 source
“NBC News: Laken Snelling, ex-Kentucky student whose infant was found dead in closet, pleads guilty to manslaughter,” August 21, 2026 source