NEED TO KNOW
- University of Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling asked to be “checked out” medically while police questioned her about her newborn found dead in her closet on Aug. 27
- Snelling, 21, has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges in connection with the case
- The baby’s cause of death remains under investigation
University of Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling asked to be “checked out” medically while police questioned her about her newborn found dead in a closet at her off-campus home last month, according to an arrest citation reviewed by PEOPLE.
On Sunday, Aug. 31, Snelling was arrested and charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant, the Lexington Police Department said in a news release. Snelling, 21, pleaded not guilty during a court appearance on Sept. 2 and remains under house arrest at her parents’ home in Tennessee.
The charges are related to the grim Aug. 27 discovery of a newborn inside a trash bag in the closet of Snelling’s off-campus home, PEOPLE previously reported. Authorities identified Snelling as the biological mother of the baby boy, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
She wasn’t home when the 911 call was placed and police, EMTs and fire department personnel arrived, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
Officers found her about five minutes away from the home shortly after. She was taken to police headquarters and asked to be “checked out” medically, per the arrest citation.
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Snelling admitted to giving birth when interviewed by officers, and to cleaning up all evidence and throwing it in a black trash bag, “including the infant, who was wrapped in a towel,” the arrest citation states.
On Sept. 3, Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn said that the results of a preliminary autopsy yielded inconclusive findings for the baby’s cause of death. The death investigation remains ongoing “pending the results of these studies,” he said.
Snelling’s attorney did not respond to PEOPLE’s previous requests for comment.
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