New details are being revealed in the case regarding cheerleader Laken Snelling and her baby’s death.
According to a Lexington Police Department incident report obtained by Fox 56, an initial 911 call was placed on August 27 just after 10:30 a.m.
Although the caller’s name and phone number have been redacted from the report, the dispatcher noted a “complainant just found a dead baby in a closet; it is cold to the touch.”
It doesn’t appear that Snelling, 21, was home when police arrived at the residence.
According to Fox 56, records show that the University of Kentucky Police Department was asked to assist in the search and was notified Snelling had been located around 11:18 a.m.
“The UK Police Department frequently works with the Lexington Police Department to ensure the safety of our campus community,” Dani Jaffe, UK’s strategic communication associate director, wrote via Fox 56. “That can include requests for assistance in locating an individual on campus in connection with a crime or concerns for the individual’s safety. In this instance, UKPD, while asked to assist, did not locate or make contact with this individual on Aug. 27.”
Around noon, a dispatcher noted that Snelling was at Lexington police headquarters and had asked to be “checked out.” An emergency care unit was dispatched to the police station shortly after.
Snelling was later arrested on August 30 and charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant.
She was released on $100,000 bond and is now living on “home incarceration with no ankle monitor” with her parents in Tennessee.
During a court appearance on September 2, Snelling pleaded not guilty to all charges. Her preliminary hearing is set for September 26.
Snelling was formerly on the University of Kentucky STUNT cheerleading team for three seasons. The Tennessee native is also a pageant queen, having competed in the 2023 Jefferson County Fairest of the Fair.
She made national headlines when authorities were dispatched to her Kentucky home on August 27, after receiving a call about an unresponsive infant.
The “infant was located wrapped in a towel inside of a black trash bag,” according to an arrest citation.
Snelling “admitted to giving birth” and to “concealing the birth by cleaning any evidence, placing all cleaning items used inside of a black trash bag, including the infant, who was wrapped in a towel,” the report stated.
The baby’s cause of death has been ruled inconclusive, and “extensive microscopic analyses are essential to determine the cause and manner of death,” according to a report from the Fayette County Coroner’s Office obtained by Luxury Handbag Shopping on September 4.
