Former University of Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges for killing her newborn son, whose lifeless body was found stuffed in a trash bag.
Snelling, now 22, was charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant, to which she pleaded not guilty in April.
But in court Friday morning, an emotional Snelling finally admitted to “ending” her baby’s life and copped to putting the infant in a plastic bag.
“I was under a lot of emotional stress and my baby came unexpectedly,” Snelling said while crying in court.
“And instead of helping him I ended his life and afterwards I cleaned up and didn’t tell anyone.”
Asked by Judge Diane Minnifield how she ended his life, Snelling admitted, “I deprived him of oxygen.”
Lexington police responded to an off-campus home Aug. 27, 2025, after her horrified college roommates discovered the boy in a black plastic bag stuffed in a closet, finding the child unresponsive.
Her roommates later said they had suspected Snelling was hiding a pregnancy.
The Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office concluded the baby was born alive and died of asphyxia by undetermined means, after which a grand jury indicted her on first-degree manslaughter charges in March.
In an interview with police, Snelling, who has been free on $100,000 bond since her arrest last year, initially claimed the baby had fallen on the floor after she gave birth, but she didn’t think he was “breathing or alive.”
However, her story soon changed, claiming instead she had passed out “on top of the baby” and woke up to find him “turning blue and purple.”
She later told medical staff that the newborn had shown “a little bit of fetal movement” and made a “whimper” after being born, court documents state.
Cops said she also took several photos while in labor, but deleted them “in an attempt to hide the birth.”
Prosecutors have recommended a 10-year prison term for manslaughter, and one year each for abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant.
Snelling is set to be sentenced on October 16.
