Moments After Giving Birth, Kentucky Cheerleader Laken Snelling Left the Hospital for McDonald’s and Went Viral.NN
Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling snapped selfies as she secretly delivered her baby — before allegedly leaving it in a closet as she popped out to grab McDonald’s, according to police.
Snelling’s phone had “images of her during labor, photos of her doing things ordinary pregnant women should not be doing,” according to newly unsealed court documents obtained by People magazine.
The recovered photos of her in labor were later “deleted in an attempt to hide the birth,” the affidavit said — and investigators believe other images may have been successfully destroyed before her arrest.
After giving birth, Snelling allegedly stuffed the baby boy in a trash bag and went to McDonald’s for a bite, according an affidavit. It was unclear exactly when — or how — the baby died.
While she was out, Snelling’s roommates — who had heard disturbing noises from her room the night before — snuck into her bedroom and found a “blood-soaked towel on the floor and a plastic bag containing evidence of childbirth.”
They later found the baby “cold to the touch” in the closet and called 911, according to the affidavit.
Snelling initially told cops the baby fell on the floor after she gave birth, but she didn’t think he was “breathing or alive,” according to the affidavit.
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Snelling allegedly told cops that, believing the baby to be dead, “she wrapped the baby up like a burrito and laid next to it on the floor because it gave her a little comfort in the moment,” according to the affidavit.
She woke up around 7:30 a.m., and placed the baby in the trash bag. She then showered, cleaned up the blood and placed the placenta in a zip-loc bag before skipping her morning classes and a visit to the school clinic for McDonald’s.
She later admitted to medical staff that the newborn had shown “a little bit of fetal movement” and made a “whimper” after he was born, the court documents state.
The photos that were “taken while she was in labor were deleted in an attempt to hide the birth,” the affidavit said — and investigators believe there could be additional images that were also removed from her phone before her arrest.
Snelling was charged with concealing the birth of an infant, tampering with physical evidence, and abuse of a corpse, charges to which she has since pleaded not guilty.
After her initial court appearance, Snelling withdrew from Kentucky school and is no longer a member of the STUNT team.
She remains under house arrest.
