Smiling 'Baby Killer' Beauty Queen Says She Didn't Do It

Snelling, you are here today with formal. arraignment. >> We are entering a not guilty plea. The. Commonwealth is giving us discovery. >> Laken Snelling, the former University of. Kentucky cheerleader accused of giving. birth alone in her apartment, letting. her baby die, wrapping his body in a. towel, hiding him in a closet. Those. allegations, that defendant, she has. just pled not guilty to a charge that. could send her to prison for decades. Now, here's what matters. The prosecutor. is already handing over discovery. And.

it does become a question, what is the. evidence in this case? What is going to. happen to her now? What is her potential. defense? Let's get into it. Welcome to. Sidebar, presented by Law & Crime. I'm. Jesse Weber. Laken Snelling was in court this. morning. Now, this was a big hearing. If. you don't know who she is, I'm going to. get into it right now. I will tell you, this is not easy to listen to, okay? But. she is the former University of Kentucky. cheerleader who is accused of giving.

birth alone in her off-campus house. The. one who allegedly caused her baby's. death, wrapped this baby in a towel, stuffed him inside of a trash bag, like. literal garbage, and hid him in a. closet. Those are the allegations that. she's facing. She is innocent until. proven guilty, but those are the. allegations. What happened today? She. walked into that courtroom today facing. a brand new charge. A charge that could. send her to prison for up to 20 years.

And she said two words in particular, not guilty. We were inside that. courtroom. We're going to take you. inside in just a moment, but we have to. explain what all of this means. Because. she's not taking a deal. As of right. now, she intends to fight this. She is. forcing the Commonwealth of Kentucky to. prove every single word of that. indictment, to prove their case beyond a. reasonable doubt. So, what happens. between now and her next court date? Very important. What is the evidence in. this case, the potential evidence? Is. she really willing to let a jury of her.

peers, 12 strangers, decide whether or. not she is guilty on this? I have to. back up, okay? I have to explain how all. of this ties together. You need to. understand the gravity of the. accusations, what she might be facing, what she allegedly did, and this goes. back to August 27th of 2025. Here's the. timeline, okay? So, around 10:30 in the. morning, again, August 27th, 2025, Lexington police were called to. Snelling's off-campus home on Park. Avenue. What was the report? Unresponsive infant. According to People.

magazine, it was Snelling's roommates. who placed the call. Reportedly, they. found blood in her room, heard these. weird noises. We're going to get into it. more, but this is according to. affidavits in this case. When officers. arrived, they made an alleged discovery. that is just haunting. A baby boy. wrapped in a towel inside a black trash. bag hidden in a closet. Those are the alleged details. The baby. was apparently pronounced dead at the. scene and was reportedly a full-term.

baby. Here's the next part. Snelling, according to People magazine and the. documents, wasn't there. She is accused of leaving her home, going to class, although there is a. dispute about whether or not she went. into class. Again, by the way, despite. just having allegedly given birth and. allegedly concealing the baby's body, that she eventually is accused of. ordering McDonald's, sitting outside or. parking outside of a student clinic. before eventually making her home, where. she's ultimately detained and brought in.

for questioning. Now, according to the. paperwork, according to the arrest. citation, after she was read her Miranda. rights, but decided to waive those. rights, I am going to read you verbatim. from this incident report. Quote, "The. listed offender was Mirandized and. interviewed and admitted to giving. birth. Furthermore, the listed suspect. admitted 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. In the process of. cleaning the evidence of the birth, the. listed suspect tampered with said. evidence that proved she was giving. birth by wrapping the infant in towels. and placing it inside of a black trash. bag. The listed suspect treated the. corpse in a way that would outrage. ordinary family sensibilities. That's. what leads to a charge that you're going. to hear in a little bit. Now, remember, that's the police's narrative. We'll see. if the defense challenges that alleged. confession. But, the alleged details. that came out later are what turned this.

case from disturbing to absolutely. gut-wrenching. Court documents that were. obtained by the University of Kentucky. student newspaper, the Kentucky Kernel, revealed what Snelling reportedly told. police. Per those documents that were. reviewed by the outlet, Snelling. allegedly said she gave birth at around. 4:30 that morning, alone. She allegedly. told officers that the baby fell on the. floor, that she didn't think the baby. was breathing or alive. She then. allegedly said she was awake for about a. half hour and then she fell asleep on.

top of the baby. When she woke up, she. reportedly claimed the baby had turned. blue and purple. She allegedly said she. didn't think he was alive. And then, she allegedly said she wrapped. the baby, quote, "like a burrito" and. laid next to him in what she reportedly. called a moment of comfort. When she. woke up for class later that morning, she allegedly wrapped the baby in a. towel, put the body in a trash bag, placed the bag in the closet, cleaned up. the blood with paper towels, put the.

placenta in a Ziploc bag, and then left. the house. She then reportedly said she. planned to go to class but didn't. According to her, instead, she allegedly. sat in her car. And according to court. documents, she is then accused of. ordering McDonald's through the app. And. by the way, we'll see if they have a. digital receipt to prove that. But while. all of this was happening, Snelling had. roommates in the house, and they had. reportedly become suspicious because. around the same time that Snelling says. she was giving birth, one roommate.

texted a Snapchat group saying they. thought they heard something fall. Another apparently said they heard. noises for about an hour. And according. to the Kentucky Colonel, Snelling. reportedly responded in this group chat. saying the noises were from her falling. down from night eating, that she hadn't. been feeling well, and that she planned. to go to the doctor. After Snelling. allegedly left for class, the roommates apparently went into her. room, and they reportedly found a. blood-soaked towel. They reportedly. found a plastic bag with evidence of. childbirth, and they reportedly found.

the baby. And that is when they called. police. Now, Snelling eventually went to. the hospital, and this is crucial. because at the hospital, she allegedly. told medical personnel something. different than what she told police. She. allegedly said the baby displayed, quote, a little bit of fetal movement. She allegedly said the baby made a. whimper, and she said she, quote, guessed the baby was alive. That is very. important for a legal context because. when the baby was alive or not alive, and how the baby died, that's the case.

That's crucial. We've seen this in a. number of these cases before because. there's a difference between saying. stillbirth, right, versus death after. birth. Very different. Now, there was an. autopsy that was performed, and. according to reports, the autopsy. apparently concluded the baby was born. alive. Cause of death, asphyxia by. undetermined means. And I'm sure that's. going to be ripe for a battle of the. experts, right? Defense expert, prosecution expert about the cause of. death and what happened to this baby. Now, as investigators started digging.

into this case, they didn't just rely on. what was found inside that apartment. They went straight to Snelling's digital. footprint. What do I mean? According to. affidavits that were tied to multiple. search warrants, police reportedly. seized her phone and sought access to. several of her online accounts, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and even. this shared iCloud account that was. connected to her mother. And what they. claim they found is telling. Investigators reported discovering a. series of searches related to pregnancy. along with images of Snelling during.

labor. Photos they described as. inconsistent with what you typically. expect from somebody in late-stage. pregnancy. Authorities also claim that. some of those images, meaning, you know, at least one taken during labor, had. been deleted. And that raised a red. flag. In their view, it suggested a. possible attempt to conceal the. evidence, not just the birth, but the. pregnancy itself. And that is why they. pushed for even broader access. In those. warrant requests, investigators made it. clear they believed that her social. media and cloud accounts could contain. critical evidence including deleted.

material tied to the pregnancy, the. birth of the baby, and ultimately the. child's death. So, A, not only could. that potentially be used to prove their. case, but B, it goes back to this idea. of potentially defeating an argument. like we've seen in other cases. I don't. know if it's going to be presented here, where you have a defendant saying, "I, you know, I didn't know I was pregnant. until it happened, until I went into uh. labor." Again, if this evidence is true, it could be difficult. So, Snelling was. initially arrested and charged with. abuse of a corpse, tampering with. physical evidence, and concealing the.

birth of an infant. She was not hit with. a homicide charge yet. She had pleaded. at the time not guilty to those charges. She posted a $100,000 bond. She was. released to her father's home in. Tennessee with electronic monitoring. And for months, that's where things. stood. Then, March of 2026, a grand jury. was convened. And they added a new charge that changed. everything. On March 11th, a Fayette. County grand jury indicted Lakyn. Snelling on first-degree.

manslaughter. I'm going to read you. exactly what that indictment says. Quote, "On or about the 27th day of. August 2025 in Fayette County, Kentucky, the above-named defendant committed the. offense of manslaughter first degree. when, with the intent to cause serious. physical injury to the infant, she. caused the death of the infant, or with. the intent to cause the death of the. infant under circumstances which do not. constitute murder because she acted. under the influence of extreme emotional.

disturbance, she intentionally abused. the infant and thereby caused death. Two. different theories there. Now, this is a. apparently a class B felony, which in. Kentucky our understanding carries 10 to. 20 years in prison. She still faces the. other charges, by the way, abuse of a. corpse, tampering with physical. evidence, concealing the birth of an. infant. That last one, by the way, misdemeanor, believe it or not, meaning. you won't get more than a year in jail. But, she's looking at serious prison. time when you look all at all this. together. And that brings us to this. morning, April 10th, 2026. You go to.

Fayette County Circuit Court. Lakyn. Snelling walked into that courtroom for. her formal arraignment on the new. manslaughter charge, and I'm going to. play you exactly what happened. It was. fast, but also incredibly important. >> Morning, ma'am. >> Hi. What's your name? >> Uh, it's Lakyn Snelling. >> Snail? Okay. Ma'am, are you Lakyn Snail? >> Yes, sir. >> Is it Snelling? >> Snelling. >> Okay. We're going to call 26 CR 209209. Ms. Snelling, you are here today for.

formal arraignment. And Mr. Lowry, are. you going to be the attorney of record? >> Mr. Nash and I are here today. >> As long as and well as Mr. Nash. And I. have a Brandon Marshall. Is he in as. well? >> I'm Marshall, ma'am. >> You're Marshall, not Nash. Okay. >> I have another case I've got with Mr. Nash later this morning. >> All righty. And um. uh who's going to be the Commonwealth? >> We are. >> All righty, Ms. Nash, Mr. Okay, thank you. And.

um Mr. Lowry, are we going to waive. formal reading of the indictment? >> We are entering a not guilty plea. Uh, your honor, ask for pre-trial date. I. believe we've agreed on May 14th as a. pre-trial date, and status date. following that. They. >> May 14th? >> The Commonwealth is giving us discovery. We've given them a reciprocal warrant. >> Okay. And then my next available status. date would either be June 12th, June. 26th. >> June 12th, ma'am. >> Okay. 6 12. Ms. Snelling, you are.

currently out on a posted bond. Continue. to comply with the terms of your bond. conditions, no further violations of the. law. We will see you back on two dates. You have a pre-trial scheduled for May. the 14th. That's when you and your. attorneys will meet with the. Commonwealth to determine if there's any. resolution of this short of a trial, and. then we will come back and see me for a. status hearing on June the 12th, and. that will be at 8:30. Okay? Anything else from the Commonwealth? >> No, your honor. Thank you.

>> Thank you. >> So, let me break down what just. happened, okay? So, first, she pleaded. not guilty. This is her formal official. answer to that manslaughter charge. She's saying under oath in front of a. judge, I did not cause that baby's. death. Second, her lawyers waived formal. reading of the indictment. Standard, speeds things up, but I mean, from a. practical point of view, it also means. we didn't and she didn't and no one had. to sit through the prosecutor reading. what she's accused of doing and some of. the the gruesome aspects of it. Third, and this is the most important part for.

where this case goes next. The judge set. two dates, right? May 14th, pre-trial. conference. Here's what usually happens. Snelling's attorneys and the. Commonwealth's attorneys, the. prosecution, they're going to meet. And. they'll talk about whether there can be. a resolution to this case. Can it be. resolved before trial? Talking plea. negotiations. Also, potentially any. issues of discovery could come up. Essentially, the prosecution handing. over evidence to Snelling's defense. team, digital evidence, forensics, police reports, uh, witness statements. And here's the thing, the Commonwealth. has already started because in court.

today the defense attorney said quote. the Commonwealth is giving us discovery, past tense. They've already started. handing things over. What's in that. evidence? We don't know exactly. We're. kind of getting snippets of what might. be there, but we know what the. prosecution has been looking for. according to WKYT. before the grand jury indicted her, prosecutors had issued a subpoena to UK. Medical Center demanding all of Lakyn. Snelling's medical records going back to. August of 2024. So that's a full year. before she gave birth. Goes to this. knowledge component, goes to this idea. of did she know she was pregnant? Was.

she seeking treatment? What was. happening? Who knew? And they also. requested a search warrant for her. social media accounts. Why? Again, I. talked about it before because police. said those accounts quote could contain. current or deleted information that. relates to Miss Snelling's pregnancy, to. the birth of the full-term baby, and. ultimately its potential demise. We also. know police recovered those images or. alleged images of Snelling during labor. or image during labor that she allegedly. tried to delete. So between now and May 14th, the. Commonwealth is going to have to show. their hand essentially and Snelling's.

defense team is going to see exactly. what the prosecution has and that will. direct whether or not they want to take. this to trial. The second date is June. 12th. So that's a status hearing. That's. when both sides come back to the judge. and say, here's where we stand. Are we. settling? Are there plea negotiations? Can we resolve this? Are we picking a. trial date? Do we need more time? Are. there any issues? So that's where we are. right now. But Lakyn Snelling, yes, she's pleaded not guilty. The clock is. ticking toward May 14th, but there's. something else. And this is something. that could tell us more about Snelling's. potential strategy. What do I mean? Back.

in September of 2025, shortly after her. arrest, Lakyn Snelling had a hearing. It. was a preliminary hearing. Now for those. of you who don't know, a preliminary. hearing is where the prosecution has to. show that there's probable cause to hold. a defendant over for trial. It's the. first real test of the Commonwealth's. case. It's a low standard, low burden. It's not proof beyond a reasonable. doubt, but you just show what you have. Is there enough to go to trial? And it's. often the first time the public gets to. see what evidence the prosecution. actually has. Defense, too. Now, Lakyn. Snelling waived that hearing.

We have audio of exactly what she said. >> Ms. Snelling, I did your search attorney. say that your desire to waive this. matter at the preliminary hearing this. morning? Yes. But it is your desire to. waive this matter at this time? >> Yes. >> She said yes. She gave up her right to. hear the Commonwealth's evidence in open. court in that format. She gave up her. right to challenge that evidence. She. sent the case straight to the grand. jury, which the defense doesn't really. have a say in. So, yes, a grand jury.

determines if there's probable cause for. charges here, but you go to the grand. jury, it's a secret proceeding, right? The defense doesn't get a a chance to. present their side or challenge the. evidence. It's secret, so the public. doesn't see what's being presented. Why. would she do this? Well, the way that I. see it, there might be a couple ways to. look at it. So, one, maybe her lawyers. think or she thinks the evidence is. weak. They don't want to give the. prosecution a chance to lock in witness. testimony early or maybe even give the. prosecution the chance to alter their. strategy at a trial. Don't give them a.

first shot at this. They want to see the. grand jury indictment first, which is. usually, as I said, a one-sided. proceeding. Or two, this is another way. of looking at it. The evidence is. devastating against her. And her. lawyers, they want it hidden from public. view as long as possible, right? Because. if that preliminary hearing had. happened, generally speaking, usually. those details would have been in the. news. Would have been reported on. The. gruesome pieces of evidence would have. been laid bare. From a PR point of view, public opinion point of view, problem. for young woman like herself, but also.

potentially for jury selection in. finding fair and impartial jurors who. haven't heard anything about this. There's a lot of talk about preliminary. hearing, it might make it more. difficult. So, by waiving it, Snelling's. team arguably controlled the narrative. They bought themselves time. But that's. the context of where we are right now. She waived her preliminary hearing. She. got indicted on manslaughter and today. she said she pleaded not guilty. So what. does a defense attorney think about all. this? Well, my colleague Chris Stewart. spoke with attorney, criminal defense. attorney, Eric Faddis to break down what. this case looks like from the defense.

perspective. Here's what he told Chris. about the grand jury's decision to go. with manslaughter instead of murder. Again, this is on the case. >> I can't help but wonder if there was. some sympathy in in in those. deliberations that that that could have. caused the grand jury to land on this. first-degree manslaughter charge. You. know, like you mentioned, that that's a. lesser charge than some of the other. homicide and murder options they had. with which they were presented. And so. I'm just wondering if sort of that human.

aspect of all of this could have played. a role in that charging decision. >> Now look, we don't know for sure if a. higher homicide charge was presented, but it is interesting. So even the grand. jury, which only hears the prosecution. side, maybe they felt some sort of. sympathy for Snelling. Young college. student, cheerleader, pregnant alone, panicking, maybe. Not entirely sure. Maybe they just presented manslaughter, but I'll also say sympathy only goes so. far because Faddis also explained what. the defense is likely to argue, that. this was an accident, that Snelling. passed out, that she rolled over on the.

baby, that the death wasn't intentional, that she didn't intend to cause any. harm. >> If there was some malice involved, if. there was some. after deliberation, usually those are. elements required for for first-degree. murder and also the intentional killing. So if she had planned this out, if this. is something that she had contemplated. for quite some time, that this was how. she was going to handle this. this. baby coming, that that certainly could have elevated. the charge. But but here it seems like,

according to most public reports, that. this was kind of. something that happened very quickly. and and she made the decision she made. and and here we are. She's still charged. with something very serious, but but. it's not the same as if she had sort of. planned to kill this baby from, you. know, weeks prior. >> So, that could be a defense, right? Accident, panic, young girl freaked out, made horrible choices after the baby was. already dead, but she should not be held. responsible for homicide. Here's the. problem for Snelling, though. Allegedly,

she didn't call 911, her roommates did. She allegedly didn't go to the hospital. immediately. She allegedly went to. class, but allegedly sat in her car and. ordered McDonald's. And that is. knowledge that may be kind of hard to. defend. >> Now, certainly, that's a problematic. fact for the defense. It might appear. callous, it might appear heartless. And. and so, I think defense really have to. sort of humanize that piece of this by. saying, "Hey, this was a young girl. She. was freaked out. She didn't know what in. the world to do, and um she made the.

wrong choice, but that's not the same. thing necessarily as making the criminal. choice." In most jurisdictions, prosecutors are allowed to seek an. increase of bond. Just as the defense. often times seeks a decrease of bond, a. a modification of bond conditions, prosecutors can do that, too, based on. new information, based on new. developments in the case, based on new. evidence. And and and with this very. serious charge of. of manslaughter, that could change the. calculus in terms of bond, could.

convince a judge to cause her to be. remanded back into custody while this. case is proceeding. However, I think the. judge might be more inclined to maintain. the status quo. to the extent of the defendant has been. compliant, which it sounds like she has. So, she may still receive the benefit of. being able to fight this on the outside. >> So, look, this is where we stand. Lakyn. Snelling has formally pleaded not guilty. to first-degree manslaughter. She. appears to still be allowed out on bond,

on house arrest, seemingly, in. Tennessee, wearing a GPS monitor. I. haven't seen anything that would suggest. that it's different. And the next days. are going to be critical. Between now. and May 14th. It is Snelling her defense. team. They have to decide, do they want. to take this to trial? Do they want to. try to negotiate a plea here? Less. prison time maybe on the table. We'll. see. Because if this does go to trial. and she loses, as I mentioned, she's. potentially looking at 10 to 20 years in. prison just from the manslaughter. charge. If she takes a plea, admits to. something, accepts responsibility maybe. I don't know. Well, we would have to.

see. So look, we don't know which way. she'll go, but we'll be watching to see. what happens next. That's all we have. for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank. you so much for joining us and as always. please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcast. You can also check us. out on NBC's Peacock as well. If you. want to follow me, X, Instagram, my. NewsNation show, Jesse Weber LIVE, Monday through Friday, 11:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you next time. everybody.