Kentucky Cheerleader Laken Snelling Arrested After Baby F…
Laken Snelling is a competitive cheerleader and student at the University of Kentucky. She performed on the university’s STUNT team.
On TikTok, she posted a string of videos showing off fashions and her life. She was a pageant winner named the Jefferson County Fairest of the Fair, according to her Facebook page, which is filled with posts about beauty pageants.
Police in Lexington, Kentucky, have now arrested her in connection with the death of a baby. The baby was discovered “wrapped in a towel inside of a black trash bag” in a closet at a home near campus, according to WLWT-TV.
“One person has been arrested in connection with the death of an infant that occurred on Park Avenue,” Lexington police wrote in a news release.
“On Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025, around 10:30 a.m., officers were dispatched for an unresponsive infant at a residence in the 400 block of Park Avenue,” police added. “When officers arrived, they located an infant that was pronounced deceased at the scene.”
The Fayette County Coroner’s Office “will release the infant’s cause of death,” police wrote.
“Laken Snelling, 21, was arrested on August 31, 2025, and charged with Abuse of a Corpse, Tampering with Physical Evidence, and Concealing the Birth of an Infant,” police added. “She is currently being held at the Fayette County Detention Center. Ms. Snelling is the infant’s mother.” Jail records, though, show that she was no longer in the facility on Sept. 2.
“The department’s Special Victims Section is continuing to investigate. Anyone with information about this case is asked to call Lexington Police at (859) 258-3600,” the police release says. “Anonymous tips can be submitted to Bluegrass Crime Stoppers by calling (859) 253-2020 or online at www.bluegrasscrimestoppers.com.”
Snelling’s Instagram page has been deleted. Her X page contains a couple of cheerleading photos and shares of posts about football.
The University of Kentucky cheerleading roster still has a photo of Snelling on it, revealing she is a junior from White Pine, Tennessee, who went to Jefferson High School. Some of her TikTok videos show her with a man.
Snelling’s Facebook page says she is studying Interdisciplinary Disability Studies.
The University of Kentucky’s STUNT team is “a head-to-head competition between two teams that focuses on the technical and athletic aspects of cheer. It is one of the fastest-growing female sports in the United States,” a university news release says.