Laken Snelling, a 21-year-old former cheerleader at the University of Kentucky, has been charged with manslaughter in the death of her newborn, whom a medical examiner ruled died of asphyxiation. The charge was added by a grand jury after initial accusations of abuse of a corpse and evidence tampering. Prosecutors say the infant was alive at birth but suffocated by undetermined means.
On August 28, Lexington police responded to a call around 10:30 a.m. about an unresponsive infant in a home on the 400 block of Park Avenue, near the University of Kentucky campus. Officers pronounced the newborn dead at the scene and found the infant wrapped in a towel inside a black trash bag in a closet.
Laken Snelling, from White Pine, Tennessee, admitted to police after receiving Miranda warnings that she had given birth to the child. According to the arrest citation obtained by local NBC affiliate WLEX, she concealed the birth by cleaning up evidence and placing the items, including the infant, into the trash bag.
Snelling reportedly told investigators she did not believe the baby was breathing before she passed out on top of the child. Initially charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant, Snelling faced escalated charges when a medical examiner determined the newborn was born alive and died from asphyxiation.
A grand jury added the first-degree manslaughter charge. Fayette County Commonwealth's Attorney Kimberly Baird explained the decision to CBS affiliate WKYT: "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."
Snelling, who had been a member of the university's competitive cheerleading team for three seasons, is out on bond but faces an arrest warrant for the new charge. The University of Kentucky confirmed her team membership and deferred further comments to police; she has since dropped out of school.