Arrest Warrant for Kentucky Cheerleader, Laken Snelling, Newborn Found Dead in Closet: Court This Week
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline
4.2 • 8.1K Ratings
🗓️ 14 May 2026
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Laken Snelling, a former University of Kentucky student athlete, 22, stands accused of killing her newborn in her off-campus room. She has pleaded not guilty to a first-degree manslaughter charge after the Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office determined the infant was born alive and died of “asphyxia by undetermined means”. She previously told police she did not believe the baby was breathing.
Snelling has a pretrial hearing set for May 14, 2026, followed by a status hearing June 12. If convicted of first-degree manslaughter, she faces 10 to 20 years in prison.
Laken Snelling is arrested after her infant is found dead in a trash bag inside the closet. Authorities allege Snelling gave birth in secret, wrapped her baby in a towel, placed him in a trash bag, and left him in her closet.
According to an arrest report, Lexington police were called to a home on Park Avenue for an unresponsive infant on Wednesday. Police said they found a baby's body in a closet, wrapped in a towel inside a black trash bag.
Joining Nancy Grace today,
- Josh Kolsrud - Criminal Defense Attorney and Former Assistant U.S. Attorney, Founder of Kolsrud Law Offices, kolsrudlawoffices.com, Facebook and YouTube @KohlsrudLawOffices
- Dr. Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst, Author: "Deal Breaker,” featured in hit show: "Paris in Love" on Peacock, www.drbethanymarshall.com , Instagram & TikTok: drbethanymarshall, Twitter: @DrBethanyLive
- Dr. Kendall Crowns - Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth), Host of NEW Podcast "Mayhem in the Morgue”, Lecturer: Burnett School of Medicine at TCU (Texas Christian University)
- Chris Byers - Private investigator and owner of Byers Investigative Services, Former Police Chief Johns Creek Georgia, 25 years Police Officer, website: byersinvestigative.com
- Germania Rodriguez - Chief US Reporter, DailyMail.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:03.2 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:05.5 | Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. |
| 0:11.4 | An arrest warrant issued for Kentucky cheerleader |
| 0:15.6 | Lakin Snelling after her dead, |
| 0:19.7 | newborn baby boy found hidden in her closet. |
| 0:25.6 | I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us. |
| 0:31.3 | That's right, a University Kentucky cheerleader charged with leaving her newborn baby boy dead. Kentucky law enforcement issued an arrest warrant |
| 0:42.8 | for Lake and Snelling, 21 years old, less than 24 hours after a grand jury indicts her. |
| 0:50.1 | Lakein Snelling, a former University of Kentucky student athlete accused of killing her newborn baby, |
| 0:56.1 | pleaded not guilty to a first-degree manslaughter charge in a Kentucky courtroom. A grand jury |
| 1:00.8 | indicted Snelling on the charge of first-degree manslaughter after the Kentucky Medical Examiner's |
| 1:05.7 | Office determined the infant was born alive and died of asphyxia by undetermined means. Snelling is accused of giving birth |
| 1:12.4 | in her off-campus apartment, placing the newborn in a trash bag and leaving the baby in a closet, |
| 1:18.2 | then going to class. She previously told police she did not believe the baby was breathing. |
| 1:23.1 | The former stunt team member at the University of Kentucky is not currently in jail, but she is under |
| 1:28.9 | strict house arrest after being indicted for first-degree manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, tampering |
| 1:34.4 | with physical evidence, concealing the birth of an infant regarding the death of her newborn |
| 1:38.8 | baby. Snelling has pleaded not guilty and has a pretrial conference scheduled for May 14th, followed by a |
| 1:45.3 | status hearing on June 12th. If convicted, Snelling faces 10 to 20 years in prison. What do we know |
| 1:52.1 | about the Lakin Snelling case? Chilling words after her baby, her newborn, is found wrapped in a blanket, then a trash bag, dead in her closet. |
| 2:09.2 | Lake and Snelling, a radiant beauty pageant queen, excelling in her final year of college. |
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