LEXINGTON, Ky. (Court TV/Scripps News Lexington) — Newly obtained court records reveal that the newborn baby of Laken Snelling “appeared to be full term when discovered.”
The Kentucky Kernel, a student publication, first reported details from the affidavit that Court TV has since obtained.
Laken Snelling appears in court. (Court TV)
In the affidavit, an officer details that Snelling claimed “she didn’t think the baby was breathing or alive” when she gave birth. Snelling allegedly said she passed out on top of the newborn about 30 minutes after giving birth, and when she woke up, she wrapped the baby in a towel, believing it was dead.
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Snelling allegedly said she woke up again at her 7:30 a.m. alarm and placed the baby and the placenta in a black trash bag in her closet.
Around 8:40 a.m., Snelling told her roommates she had passed out early that morning and caused the loud noises, and then said she was going to the doctor because “she had not eaten and had not been feeling well.”
Rather than attending her 9:30 a.m. class, she ordered through the McDonald’s app, picked up food, and then drove to the university clinic. She did not go inside and returned to her residence just after 10:30 a.m., where she was soon arrested.
Snelling was arrested at her apartment after her roommates called police to report finding the deceased infant in her closet, states the affidavit. Her roommates had become suspicious of Snelling’s pregnancy and found “a blood-soaked towel on the floor and a plastic bag containing evidence of childbirth” in her room while she was gone.
The officer later noted that Snelling told medical staff at University of Kentucky Labor and Delivery that “her baby displayed ‘a little bit of fetal movement'” at birth, he made a “whimper,” and that “she ‘guessed’ the baby was alive.”
Additional records, including a search warrant for Snelling’s social media accounts, stated that she had deleted photos to “hide evidence of the pregnancy, birth and newborn baby.”
Snelling, 21, is charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Scripps News Lexington, an E.W. Scripps Company, contributed to this report.
