University of Kentucky athlete charged after dead infant found hidden in closet

A University of Kentucky athlete allegedly placed her dead infant inside a trash bag later found in a closet while trying to hide the baby’s birth, leading to her being jailed, according to local authorities and media reporting.

Laken Ashlee Snelling, 21, faces charges of corpse abuse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant after her arrest on Sunday, police in Lexington, Kentucky, said in a statement.

Snelling had been a member of the University of Kentucky’s competitive cheer stunt squad for the past three seasons, the school told the local news station WLEX in a statement. Her arrest citation, which was obtained and reviewed by WLEX, says police were called out to Snelling’s home on 27 August to investigate a report of “a deceased infant being located inside … a closet”.

The baby was “wrapped in a towel inside … a black trash bag”, prompting police to read Snelling her Miranda rights as well as interrogate her, the citation said. The citation added that Snelling admitted to investigators that she had given birth to the child and then tried to conceal that by “cleaning any evidence, placing all cleaning items used inside of a black trash bag, including the infant”.

Lexington police said that the local coroner’s office would conduct an autopsy on the infant and later release information about the baby’s cause of death.

Snelling was scheduled to make a preliminary court appearance on Tuesday, two days after her arrest, according to public records.

Details about whether a bond was set for her – or its amount – were not immediately available. Snelling no longer appeared to be in the custody of Lexington’s jail by Tuesday morning.

The more serious charges against Snelling are corpse abuse and tampering with physical evidence. Under Kentucky state law, both are considered class D felonies, meaning people convicted of those crimes in particular could receive between one and five years in prison as well as a fine of up to $10,000.

Since the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022, multiple women have faced criminal charges after suffering miscarriages, sparking fears among experts and women that pregnancy losses may now be treated like crime scenes.

It was not clear on Tuesday if Snelling gave birth, suffered a miscarriage or stillbirth, or underwent a self-managed abortion. It is legal in most states, including Kentucky, to self-manage your own abortion.