Arrest warrant issued for ex-Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling whose dead newborn was found in closet

A University of Kentucky cheerleader accused of leaving her newborn son for dead may soon find herself behind bars.

Kentucky authorities issued an arrest warrant for 21-year-old Laken Snelling on Wednesday, the Daily Mail reported — less than 24 hours after a Fayette County grand jury indicted her on first-degree manslaughter charges for allegedly leaving the newborn to die in her closet last August.

Following the incident, Snelling was initially charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant, to which she pleaded not guilty.

She withdrew from the University of Kentucky and its STUNT team, and has since been hiding out at her family’s Tennessee home while on house arrest.

Her latest indictment, however, may land her back in handcuffs.

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Here’s the latest on the college cheerleader whose newborn was found dead

• Ex-University of Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling whose newborn was found dead in trash bag indicted for manslaughter, autopsy shows baby was born alive
• University of Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling heard baby ‘whimper’ before hiding newborn in closet: docs
• Cheerleader arrested after her baby is found dead ‘inside of a black trash bag’ in closet
• College cheerleader, whose newborn was found dead in trash bag, drops out of school
• Cheerleader’s ex-boyfriend provides DNA sample to cops after her newborn is found dead in trash bag

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The jury’s decision came after the medical examiner determined that the baby was born alive and his cause of death was asphyxia by undetermined means, WKYT reported.

“They were given the information about homicide, the four levels of homicide and then deliberated and decided that manslaughter first degree was the charge that should come out of the grand jury,” Fayette Commonwealth’s Attorney Kimberly Baird told the outlet.

She faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for the first-degree manslaughter charge, and an additional 11 years for the remaining charges if found guilty.

Snelling’s horrified college roommates were the first to discover the dead baby boy in a black plastic bag stuffed in her closet at their shared off-campus home in Lexington on Aug. 27. 

In her room, they also found a “blood-soaked towel on the floor and a plastic bag containing evidence of childbirth” – as well as the infant, who was “cold to the touch,” they told a 911 operator. 

The roommates – who had suspected the cheerleader was concealing a pregnancy – later told cops they’d heard loud, strange noises coming from Snelling’s room around the time she gave birth at roughly 4 a.m.

After that, Snelling allegedly tried to clean up the scene, showered and left the house – skipping morning classes and a visit to the school clinic – and went to McDonald’s. 

Cops arrested her at the house upon her return. 

Snelling initially claimed during an interview with police that the baby fell on the floor after she gave birth, but she didn’t think he was “breathing or alive.” 

But she soon changed her story, saying she had passed out “on top of the baby” and woke up to find him “turning blue and purple.” 

Snelling admitted she wrapped “the baby up like a burrito and laid next to it” because it “gave her a little comfort in the moment,” according to court documents. 

However, an investigation later revealed she told medical staff that the newborn had shown “a little bit of fetal movement” and made a “whimper” after he was born.

She allegedly took several photos while she was in labor, too, but deleted them “in an attempt to hide the birth,” police said.

Investigators believe other images may have been destroyed before her arrest.