{"id":5017,"date":"2026-08-21T18:38:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T18:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=5017"},"modified":"2026-08-21T18:38:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T18:38:20","slug":"former-uk-athlete-pleads-guilty-after-her-baby-was-found-dead-in-lexington-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=5017","title":{"rendered":"Former UK athlete pleads guilty after her baby was found dead in Lexington home"},"content":{"rendered":"<article><!-- --><!-- --><!-- WPS-5038 -- removed the script from WPS and added the placeholder for trinity player --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- CONTENT --><!--[--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>A former University of Kentucky athlete arrested after an infant was found dead in her closet pleaded guilty Friday for charges related to the baby\u2019s death.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=5015\">Pea-sized hail expected with thunderstorms to hit Union and Spartanburg counties Friday<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Laken Snelling pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant. She was indicted on those charges by a Fayette County grand jury in March. She addressed the judge Friday and admitted to killing the child, but was hard to hear during an emotional statement.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was under a lot of emotional stresses and my baby came unexpected,\u201d Snelling said.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors on Friday recommended that Snelling be sentenced to 10 years in prison for manslaughter and one year for each of her other charges, bringing her total sentence to 13 years. Fayette Circuit Judge Diane Minnifield will have the final discretion of how long Snelling\u2019s sentence will be.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 16.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Snelling, 21, was originally charged with concealing the birth of an infant, tampering with physical evidence and abuse of a corpse. The manslaughter charge was added in the indictment.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Snelling was arrested in August 2025 after police found an infant\u2019s remains wrapped in a trash bag inside a closet at her home near downtown Lexington.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The Kentucky medical examiner\u2019s office determined the baby was born alive and died of asphyxia, Lexington police said previously.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>She was a student at the university \u2014 she has since withdrawn \u2014 and was a member of the school\u2019s STUNT team.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Since her arrest, Snelling has been out on bond at her parents\u2019 homes in Tennessee.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Fayette Commonwealth\u2019s Attorney Kim Baird told reporters Friday that Snelling and her attorneys contacted the prosecutors\u2019 office to discuss a plea deal. Baird said those conversations began before Snelling was even indicted, and the deal was crafted by Snelling and her attorneys.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou never know what a jury might do,\u201d Baird said. \u201cA jury may, based on information presented, come up with something lower or may come up with a higher sentence, and that\u2019s one thing that they have to contend and same for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<div> <\/div>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<h2>What happened in the case<\/h2>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Officers were dispatched to Snelling\u2019s Lexington home at 10:30 a.m. Aug. 27, 2025, for a report of a \u201cdeceased infant,\u201d according to a police citation.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The caller, who was unidentified in a heavily-redacted dispatch record, said she found a \u201cdead baby\u201d in the closet, and it was \u201ccold to the touch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Snelling was a senior at UK at the time and studied interdisciplinary disability. She is originally from White Pine, Tennessee. She was a member of the university\u2019s STUNT team, a new women\u2019s athletic program derived from cheerleading that focuses on technical and athletic skills such as partner stunts, pyramids, tosses, jumps, tumbling and team routines.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=5013\">Live update: A look at the sights and happenings during Trump\u2019s Myrtle Beach visit<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Snelling told police she gave birth in her bedroom around 4 a.m., and the baby fell on the floor, according to her arrest citation.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe didn\u2019t think the baby was breathing or was alive,\u201d police said wrote in the citation.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>About 30 minutes after giving birth, Snelling said, she passed out and fell on top of the baby, police records say. When she woke up, Snelling said the baby was \u201cturning blue and purple,\u201d and she told police she wrapped him in a towel \u201clike a burrito\u201d and lay next to him on the floor \u201cbecause it gave her a little comfort in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Snelling \u201cadmitted to concealing the birth\u201d by cleaning up evidence, placing cleaning items and the infant\u2019s body, wrapped in a towel, inside a trash bag, court records say. Baird thinks Snelling has accepted responsibility and learned from her actions.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was a lot of things going on that I think maybe she\u2019s addressing and that hopefully this won\u2019t happen again,\u201d Baird said. \u201cI get the impression that this won\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Snelling\u2019s roommates reported hearing noises \u201cthat sounded like something had fallen\u201d around 4 a.m. the day the baby was born, court records say. Snelling told roommates in a Snapchat group message that the noises were from her passing out because she hadn\u2019t eaten and wasn\u2019t feeling well.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>After Snelling left the house, roommates entered her room and found \u201ca blood-soaked towel on the floor and a plastic bag containing evidence of child birth, according to the police citation. They looked in Snelling\u2019s closet and found the baby placed in bags. Police wrote that it appeared to be a \u201cfull-term baby.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The baby was pronounced dead at the scene. Snelling was arrested later that day, and was taken to police headquarters for questioning and later transferred to UK Hospital for treatment.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt should be noted that when speaking to medical staff at the University of Kentucky Labor and Delivery, she stated that the baby had a little bit of fetal movement, but passed out shortly after,\u201d Snelling\u2019s arrest citation said.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Police said Snelling \u201calso told medical staff that the baby made a \u2018whimper,\u2019 and that she \u2018guessed\u2019 the baby was alive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The initial coroner\u2019s report, released Sept. 3, was inconclusive for cause and manner of death. Further testing was required to determine those factors, Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn said at the time.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Ginn said \u201cextensive microscopic analysis\u201d was required to determine how the baby died. His report confirmed the baby was a boy.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=5011\">Spectacular fire at SC mattress plant sent agencies scrambling to protect the public<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--]--><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former University of Kentucky athlete Laken Snelling pleaded guilty to charges after her newborn was found dead in a closet at her Lexington home, authorities say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Former UK athlete pleads guilty after her baby was found dead in Lexington home - 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