Laken Snelling, former Kentucky cheerleader, sentenced to 10 years for newborn's death

Laken Snelling, a former University of Kentucky cheerleader, received 10 years' imprisonment for murdering her infant on Friday, October 16, 2026.

Snelling, 22, was convicted of first-degree manslaughter for the death of her infant child.

The ex. University of Kentucky cheerleader was indicted for manslaughter and three other charges in March, and she pleaded guilty in August.

“I was under a lot of emotional stress, and my baby came unexpectedly,” Snelling said in her statement in court, adding, “And instead of helping him, I ended his life and afterward I cleaned up and didn’t tell anyone.”

Lexington Police Department officers apprehended Snelling in August 2025 after her roommates heard loud noises coming from her closet.

Officers who arrived at the scene found the infant’s body already cold and folded in a trash bag placed in the closet, according to the statement by the Lexington police.

The Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office determined the infant’s cause of death was asphyxiation, the statement added.

When Judge Diane Minnifield asked Snelling how she ended the infant’s life, she replied, “I deprived him of oxygen.”

Snelling, then a college senior, told investigators she stayed awake for about 30 minutes after giving birth before losing consciousness on top of the baby.

When she woke up, she saw the infant “turning blue and purple", the court documents show.