DISTURBING new details have emerged about the hours before cheerleader Laken Snelling’s baby was found dead in her closet.
Snelling, 21, allegedly took selfies during labor and deleted them to try to hide evidence of her giving birth, police said.
Laken Snelling, 21, was arrested on August 31 and charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant[/caption]
Laken Snelling appeared in court in Lexington, Kentucky, on September 2 and pleaded not guilty to the charges against her[/caption]
Snelling was previously a cheerleader at the University of Kentucky[/caption]
Four days after she gave birth, the former University of Kentucky athlete was arrested after her dead son’s corpse was found wrapped in a towel and a trash bag in a closet at her off-campus apartment.
The police affidavit says Snelling gave birth to a baby boy at around 4 am on August 27, CBS affiliate WKYT reported.
A search of her phone showed that she had looked up “concealed or hidden pregnancy” before she gave birth, police records said.
The search warrant also revealed Snelling took pictures of herself during labor, police said.
However, Lexington Police said some of the pictures were deleted.
Cops believe that “other items could have also been deleted in an attempt to hide any evidence of the pregnancy, birth, and newborn baby,” according to the police affidavit.
Snelling allegedly stuffed the baby’s body in a trash bag and tried to keep it a secret, police said.
Later that day, Snelling’s roommates called Lexington Police and reported finding a baby that was “cold to the touch” in her closet.
They told police they thought they had heard Snelling giving birth in her room the night before.
When questioned, Snelling told cops that she thought the baby was dead.
Snelling said she was awake for about 30 minutes before she passed out, according to the affidavit.
She said when she woke up, the baby was “turning blue and purple,”
Because she thought her son was dead, Snelling allegedly wrapped him up and lay next to him on the floor.
She admitted to the police that she had given birth and then covered it up by cleaning.
Timeline of Laken Snelling’s case
Laken Snelling, 21, faces charges of abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant after her baby was found dead in a closet in Lexington, Kentucky. Below is a timeline of the case:
- August 25 – First day of fall classes at the University of Kentucky, where Snelling is enrolled as a Senior.
- August 27 – Police are dispatched to a home in Lexington, Kentucky, to reports of an unresponsive baby. A baby later identified as Snelling’s son is found dead in a closet at the home.
- August 31 – Snelling is arrested and booked in the Fayette County Detention Center.
- September 1 – She is released on $100,000 bond and is put on house arrest at her parents’ home in Tennessee.
- September 2 – Snelling pleads not guilty to the three charges.
- September 26 – She appears in court for the first time and waives her right to a preliminary hearing.
Snelling said she put “all cleaning items used inside of a black trash bag, including the infant, who was wrapped in a towel,” the arrest record said.
She told police she then went to school but didn’t go to class, then went to the student clinic and didn’t go inside.
Police said she then went home, where she was detained and questioned.
After she was taken to police headquarters, she went to the UK hospital, where she told hospital staff she heard her baby whimper before he died.
On August 31, she was arrested and charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant.
She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Snelling is no longer enrolled at the University of Kentucky.
Snelling is accused of hiding her dead baby’s body in her closet[/caption]
