From Cries to Silence—Roommates of Kentucky Cheerleader Make Grim Discovery After Hearing Birth Behind Closed Doors.NN
Laken Snelling’s roommates heard loud noises coming from the University of Kentucky cheerleader’s bedroom around the time she gave birth — then snuck into her room when she went to get McDonald’s, finding the dead newborn stuffed in her closet.
The roommates — who were suspicious that Snelling was hiding a pregnancy — heard the commotion as the 21-year-old student gave birth to a baby boy at about 4 a.m. on Aug. 27 in her off-campus house in Lexington, according to court documents obtained by Lex18.
Hours later, the cheerleader allegedly told them that the noise was from her having fallen over, passing out from a routine illness.
She then left the apartment to pick up a McDonald’s, ditching her 9:30 a.m. class, the court documents stated.
While she was gone, her roommates went snooping in her bedroom — and found a “blood-soaked towel on the floor and a plastic bag containing evidence of childbirth,” according to the affidavit.
They then found the newborn stuffed inside a black plastic bag in a closet, calling 911 and telling the dispatcher the infant was “cold to the touch.”
The cheerleader — who skipped a planned trip to a clinic — then returned home to find cops already waiting for her.
The details were laid bare after Snelling pleaded not guilty to charges of abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant.
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.
She then claimed to have passed out “on top of the baby” and woke up to find “the baby turning blue and purple.”
Snelling then admitted she wrapped “the baby up like a burrito and laid next to it” because it “gave her a little comfort in the moment,” the court documents said.
She hid her son in the closet before showering and cleaning up the blood in her room, authorities said.
But the probe has since revealed she told 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.
She allegedly took several photos while she was in labor, too, but deleted them “in an attempt to hide the birth,” police said.
In the wake of her arrest, Snelling withdrew from the Lexington-area school and is no longer a member of the STUNT team.
