NEED TO KNOW
- University of Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling, 21, told police she ordered McDonald’s after giving birth on Aug. 27 at her off-campus home
- Snelling confessed to then wrapping her newborn in a towel before placing it in a trash bag that she hid in her closet, according to two affidavits obtained by PEOPLE
- She is currently on house arrest in Tennessee despite facing charges in Kentucky and is not required to wear a monitoring device ahead of her trial
The University of Kentucky cheerleader who allegedly gave birth in her bedroom and then hid the newborn in a trash bag in the closet went to McDonald’s after delivering her baby.
Laken Snelling, 21, spoke to an officer with the Lexington Police Department while receiving medical treatment after her arrest, and provided details about her activities in the hours after the birth of her child.
This included a trip to the fast food restaurant, which took place just before her roommates called to report that they had discovered a “blood-soaked towel” on the floor of Snelling’s bedroom, according to police.
Lexington Police Department
Upon arriving at the home, responding officers discovered the body of a newborn baby wrapped in a towel and put in a trash bag that had been stashed away in Snelling’s closet.
Snelling returned home shortly after police made that discovery and was taken into custody.
It was a few hours after her arrest and while receiving treatment at the University of Kentucky Hospital that Snelling opted to waive her Miranda Rights and speak with police, according to a pair of search warrant affidavits obtained by PEOPLE.
One of those affidavits was filed on Sept. 4 seeking access to Snelling’s iCloud and the other on Sept. 8 requesting permission to probe her Facebook account.
Snelling said that at 4 a.m. on Aug. 27, she gave birth “to a baby which fell onto the floor of her bedroom,” according to the affidavits.
After giving birth, she stayed awake for another 30 minutes before “falling on top of the baby and going back to sleep,” said the affidavits.
It is not revealed how long Snelling was asleep in the affidavits, but she said that when she did wake up her newborn was “turning blue and purple.”
Snelling told the officer that she then wrapped her baby in a towel “like a burrito” and laid next to the newborn on the floor of her bedroom.
She said that this “gave her a little comfort in the moment,” according to the affidavits.
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Snelling then went back to sleep until her alarm went off at 7:30 a.m., said the affidavits, at which point she cleaned up the blood and afterbirth in her bedroom, placed the towel-wrapped baby in a trash bag and her placenta “inside of a zip lock bag,” which she also tossed in the trash bag.
Then, she left home intending to go to class, according to the affidavits, until she had a change of heart.
“Laken stated that she did not go into class, but sat in her vehicle in the parking lot. Ms. Snelling stated that she wasn’t feeling well so she ordered McDonalds through the McDonalds app,” Capt. Matthew Carrier wrote in both affidavits.
“Ms. Snelling said that after getting McDonalds, she went to the University of Kentucky’s Student Clinic where she also did not go inside. After this, Ms. Snelling stated she returned home where she was detained and transported to headquarters for questioning.”
A few days later, police charged her with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant.
She was booked into jail, but released on a $100,000 surety bond.
The judge then signed off on Snelling being placed on house arrest without electronic monitoring at her family home in Tennessee ahead of her trial.
The charges Snelling faces could be dropped or upheld when her case is presented to a grand jury — a move she agreed to during a court appearance last week when she waived her right to a preliminary hearing.
There could also be a murder charge added depending on the autopsy report.
The medical examiner said in a statement last month that additional testing is needed to determine the cause of the newborn’s death after the results from the initial autopsy proved to be inconclusive.
