Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Beauty Queen Cheerleader Rocks Court in Baby Trash Bag Case

Episode Date: September 26, 2025

The Kentucky beauty queen cheerleader who was arrested after her infant was found dead in a trash bag appeared in court Friday. Laken Snelling waived her preliminary hearing. The newborn was found in her closet in August. Snelling has been on house arrest since her arrest and has pleaded not guilty to abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant. Law&Crime’s Angenette Levy breaks down her latest court hearing on this episode of Crime Fix. Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Producer:Jordan ChaconCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. You understood you got a right now for them here in this morning. A college cheerleader appears in court after police said they found her newborn baby boy dead in a closet. I'll unpack the very latest on Lake and Selling's case. What happened in court and what we know about that baby boy's death? Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Lake and Snelling was in court this morning as she faces charges related to the birth and death of her baby boy.

Snelling was a member of the stunt team at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. That basically means she was a cheerleader. But she has withdrawn from the school now that she's facing charges. She's currently out on bail and living with her parents in Tennessee after being charged criminally in connection to the death of her newborn baby boy. This case is not unlike others I've seen over the years, sadly. Back on August 27th, Lexington Police received a 911 call from a home. And when they arrived, they found a baby boy wrapped in a towel in a black trash bag in a closet.

Can you imagine? Police records say that the baby was cold to the touch. So there was no point in performing CPR. His life could not be saved. The baby had died. But how that baby died at this point remains a question without an answer. Police tracked down Lakin Snelling, the baby's mother, and they say she admitted to giving birth to the baby and then trying to clean it all up. An incident report claims that Lakin asked to be checked out at the police department so she was taken to the hospital.

Laken Snelling was charged with abuse of a corpse, concealing the birth of an infant and tampering with physical evidence. An autopsy was performed on the baby boy, and it didn't reveal a cause of death. At this point, the cause and manner of death are listed as inconclusive, so it could be eight to ten weeks before those toxicology results come back. As far as manner of death goes, there are five undetermined, homicide, accidental, natural, and the one where a person dies by their own hands. Lakin was very, very active on social media. As many young people are, she shared her life on TikTok.

We found a video online. of Lakin performing cheerleading stunts with her squad in it, she has a slight bump, but I don't know if you would be able to tell that she was pregnant unless you knew her, or maybe you think she might have put on some weight. So this morning, Laken Snelling was back in Lexington, Kentucky for a preliminary hearing. That's where prosecutors have to put on enough evidence to meet that low standard of probable cause. And after that, the case goes to a grand jury. This also gives the defense a chance to question witnesses and figure out,

a little bit more about the case. Ms. Nellon, you were Lake and Snelly? Yes. Okay. Yes, sir. You got to look very to waived this in the grand jury. And so that's, I would have to say that's your desire to waive this matter. So, Lake and Snelling, you understood you got a right now for the hearing this morning, but it is your desire to waive this matter this time. So Lake and Snelling waived her preliminary hearing, meaning she was giving up the right to the hearing. To the hearing. so the Commonwealth didn't call any witnesses, and her attorney did not get to question them. Ms. Snelly, you just heard your attorney state that it's your desire to waive this matter to the state county manager. You understood you got a right to have a freedom there in here in this morning, but it is your desire to waive this matter this time. I know that you have posted in

electronic monitoring, designing the clearance, all of that still in close. Correct. Okay. All right. So, thank you. Thank you. Lake and Snelling scurried out of court, appearing to avoid any eye contact with the TV cameras. So to discuss the very latest in Lake and Snelling's case, I want to bring in Mark Weaver. He works as a prosecutor in the state of Ohio and also just a lawyer in general. So Mark, you know, Lake and Snelling walks into court with her lawyer today, avoiding the cameras. That's my opinion, you know, hair kind of like this and not, you know, kind of standing by her lawyer and being shielded. She's not on TV a lot, and she waives her preliminary hearing at the advice of her attorney.

So explain to me why one would do that, because a lot of times these defense attorneys love a preliminary hearing because then they can really grill the detective or whoever takes the stand and get some info. Sure. In most states, a preliminary hearing is a step that ensures there's enough evidence before the case goes on to trial. It's a way of getting a case dismissed if there's not enough evidence early on without having to bother with a trial. And law enforcement doesn't love doing it because it allows the defense lawyer, as you mentioned, to put the officers on the stand, and ask a butts of questions. It's almost like defense lawyers can kick the tires or test the case of the Commonwealth in this case. And so it's rare that you see a defense lawyer waive that. And the best theory is probably that this has been a big story in at least two states and, of course, nationally on networks like yours.

And this lawyer is probably trying to shield this young woman from this very difficult and challenging set of facts, which is either she gave birth and didn't report the birth, which is a class A misdemeanor in Kentucky, or she abused a corpse, which is a felony, or a, concealed or tamper with evidence and other felony we don't know is whether or not she actually killed the baby and that's going to require some more testing that will require some more testing and you know i i think you're right you know i i think that the defense attorney knows enough already just based on the police reports and what's in the media that he may know what happened his client may have told him, you know, attorney-client privilege, what happened? Right now, they're saying, you know, it's inconclusive, the baby's cause and manner of death. So they're waiting on toxicology, of course, and whatever else, what other testing they might be doing. This is wild to me,

though, these young women, because this is now the second or third case ever that I've covered, maybe even fourth actually that i've covered where young women give birth on their own no hospital no anesthesia oh my god what is going on and then you have to cut the cord and then you know deliver the placenta the whole nine yards and then instead of calling for help you are putting the the baby in a towel and in trash and then hiding it, concealing it. So that's the allegation here. What in the heck is going on? Because the most famous of these cases that I covered was in Warren County, Ohio, Skyler Richardson years and years ago. She was acquitted at trial of aggravated murder charges. So she's free. But I just can't even imagine doing such a thing.

like that this takes some major um endurance some major pain endurance you know pain tolerance and some major compartmentalization as a prosecutor what are your thoughts no i think you're right first of all the schuyler richardson case i remember that case well uh very high profile i represented the judge in that case when there was a lawsuit over his gag order and i in fact i argued that case to the highest supreme court that's been some years now but i have seen cases like this as you have and they're very troubling we know what's happening here young women who didn't intend to be pregnant and don't want certain people, whether it's their parents or their father or their friends, to know they're pregnant. They have to be a certain

size woman to be able to conceal a pregnancy, right? Somebody who normally weighs 110 pounds in 5, 6 is not going to conceal a pregnancy. So I don't know enough about this woman to know how she did it, but whether it's clothing or other ways, there's a desire to conceal the pregnancy, which is fine, but when it results in concealing the birth, and in this case the death of your baby, people need to know. And Kentucky law is such that you have to report it. And I understand the mindset of young people. We were all young once. And there is a childish impulse when you've done something wrong or shameful to want to hide it from your parents. I don't know that's what happened here. But we were talking about the preliminary hearing. Here's something.

interesting. You were wondering aloud what the evidence was. In most cases, the defense lawyer goes into a preliminary hearing, hoping to find out what the Commonwealth, in this case, the prosecutors know about the case. But right now, the defense lawyer likely knows much more about the case than investigators do, because the person who knows the most is his client, Lake and Snelly, she knows the most. So if she's been honest with her lawyer, this lawyer knows the most. There probably weren't witnesses. We'd be surprised if there were witnesses to this. The toxicology nobody has yet. So ironically, at the preliminary hearing, the person with the most knowledge would have been the defense lawyer. Yeah, very interesting. And I think you're right about that. I mean, he may have,

he may have signed the retainer agreement and met with his client and she may have been like, this is what happened. I mean, a lot of defense attorneys have told me they don't ask their clients what happened. You know, some do. She's a young girl. she's 21 you know she's a woman young woman she's not a girl but you know to me she is a girl um she's a kid she's in college right you know so i'm just thinking to myself i just can't even imagine what in the heck was going on and what's confounding to me is that they said on the in the police reports that the baby was cold to the touch so the birth had to have happened relatively soon before before the baby was found.

But now they're calling this the cause amoeuvre death inconclusive. They need to wait for toxicology. Does that mean that there were no obvious signs of trauma and when they do the autopsy, obviously, that they found nothing that told them what happened? Or are they having to wait for other additional testing to see whether maybe the baby died of asphyxiation or something like that? Well, the coroner knows this is a high-profile case.

The corridor put out a press release in this case, mentioning that more microscopic testing is going to have to be done. One would think that if there had been obvious signs of trauma, that that would have been reported because you would know that immediately. If you're a medical examiner within the first few minutes of examining the body, you would know whether there was any external trauma. The harder part, as we all know, being familiar with the birth process, is if the child died because of a fixia, did that happen?

while the pregnancy, I'm sorry, while the birth was happening, perhaps with a cord wrapped around its neck, we've all heard about that, or after, I think it's a boy, this little boy was born. And that's why you need more serious testing. It was the baby breathing before it wasn't breathing. And different parts of the body should show that to the medical examiner. But even if it, none of that happens, what's interesting is this tampering charge, which I presume is, putting the baby in a trash bag where it couldn't be found. That's probably the tampering charge. The abuse of a corpse is simply not taking care of a corpse in the respectful way that we

all expect corpses to be treated and then failure to report a pregnancy. There are enough charges for which the evidence is obvious already to put this woman in prison for at least a few years. The maximum I think would be 11 years. I'd be shocked if she got a term like that on these facts. Now, if the baby was born alive and crying and she killed. the baby, it's a whole different sentence. But on these charges, if this prosecutor wants to hold this young woman accountable, there's enough there to send her for anywhere up to 11 years.

If I were the judge, it wouldn't do 11 years. I think probably three or four is probably appropriate. But that's what we have so far, just on the facts known to date. Wow. You know, I just think to myself, if the baby died during childbirth and it was a result of the cord being wrapped around the neck of the child, the baby, the infant, I would think that that would look different on autopsy than had the baby been asphyxiated after birth. I could be wrong about that because maybe then the baby would still have the fluid and everything in his nose and mouth and everything, you know, what happens when babies are born. You have to clean all that stuff out.

But I'm just like thinking to myself, you know, maybe it is because of the high profile nature of the case. The coroner doesn't want to get it wrong because if you recall there was a big mix up, a big, a big bad thing that happened in the Skylar Richardson case where it just jumbled up the whole thing. I don't want to get too far in the weeds in that. But the forensic anthropologist told the cops one thing and then came back and said, oh yeah, not so much. And it was just a whole mess with that case. So I'm just trying to think to myself, you know, what on earth they could find in this further testing, the microscopic testing, the toxicology that is going to reveal the cause of death. So I, you know, obviously I'm not a toxicologist or a forensic pathologist, but I just can't get over the number of cases we see, Mark, where young women are giving birth. I just covered one earlier this week from Georgia.

Thank God the baby was found alive in the dumpster there. And now that baby is in the custody and care of, you know, the children's services. But the number of young women who are doing this. I feel like it's probably a lot higher than we realize. And that scares me. It does. And let's take this opportunity because Long Crime has many young women, viewers and listeners. And everyone needs to know that most of the people.

states, including Kentucky, has a law that says that if you have a baby and you don't want this baby, if you bring the baby to a safe place, like a fire station that has firefighters and EMTs inside, like a hospital. Police station or if you just take those steps, you will not be charged with anything. The baby will be taken care of immediately. And here's what's important. There are thousands of couples right now who would love to have an infant and will take care of that infant and will take care of your baby and make sure your baby has a great life and you, the person who didn't want to be pregnant, the woman who didn't want to be pregnant, you can move on with your life.

And so it's important that people know you're not in trouble. If you have a baby, you can leave the baby, that baby's going to have a fine life, you're going to have a fine life, no legal charges. When I talk to young people and this topic comes up, I always tell them to let their friends know you have a way out here. Definitely. And along with those safe havens, and you're right, you know, the hospital, police station, there are all these different places, firehouses where you can take the baby and leave the baby

and then you will not get in trouble. A lot of states have those baby boxes, too. I've done stories on those. And you can actually just leave the baby in the baby box. And nobody ever sees you. And nobody comes running after you. Nobody wants to know your name. Firehouses and police departments.

Yeah. It's, it's, I wish the law had been put into place many more years. It's a fairly recent thing. Last 15 years or so, lives could have been saved. But I want to be empathetic to a young woman who thinks she has no other option. And that's why I'm speaking to. And for the people who are listening, tell the young women who you know. There's always an option.

Nobody needs to die. We understand this is a shameful thing perhaps for you. You feel some shame. But don't hide this. The key factor I as a prosecutor would want to know in this case is, did this infant breathe? if this infant breathed air then it's a much different case than if the infant only got its oxygen through the mother's umbilical cord and never breathed air on his own because that makes a much different charge and to me though they should have they should know that at autopsy

i would think they'd be able to tell that at autopsy no i don't know enough about it i am not a good science i have a lot of biology have had no chemistry in my life and so what i have cases with experts. I always count on the experts to teach me the science so I can teach the jury of the science. Okay, good practice. That's a good practice. So we'll wait. We will wait. But now the case goes to the grand jury. And I'm assuming they are going to wait potentially for the final autopsy result to present the case to the grand jury because you're certainly not going to go to the grand jury unless you have the goods, or at least I would hope you would not go to the grand jury and pursue charges that you knew you couldn't prove at trial. That would be

unethical. Yeah, the prosecutors have an obligation under the rules of professional conduct to not bring a charge for which they don't have probable cause to believe that the charge is true. And there is no rush. The young woman is out on bond. I don't think she's going to skip the country, perhaps, but that's unlikely. That doesn't usually happen. Her whole support system is there. And we don't have a statute of limitations problem. We have these other pending charges. And so they're going to be on time that defense lawyer may or may not waive the speedy trial. So you have to keep an eye under speedy trial clock. But there's certainly no reason to take any other steps until we hear back from the medical examiner. Sure, of course. And one final thought here, Mark,

you're a parent, you're a dad, I'm a mom, parents have to, you know, let their kids know that they can come to them with anything because part of me thinks that sometimes these young women do these things because they feel like if I go tell mom and dad, you know, A, I'm going to be in trouble, B, they're going to make me keep the baby or C, they're going to do, you know, it's like the fear of the unknown or whatever. And I think that parents need to make it clear to They're kids that, yes, you can come to me no matter what. Yes, I agree. And one of the things I did with my children who are now adults is I let them know on many

occasions, often in a funny way, that I made all kinds of mistakes growing up, like countless mistakes. And when children think their parents are perfect, they're afraid to take their imperfect mistakes to the parents because they won't measure up. So I tried as often as possible to let my kids know, if you only knew how good. dumb your dad was and how many mistakes I made. And the things I put my poor mother through, hashtag my poor mother, I made a constant reminder that we don't expect them to be perfect. We just want them to be honest with us and we love them. We want to help them. And I'm no parenting expert,

but that's what worked for me. Yeah, no doubt. Mark Weaver, thank you so much. Thank you. So Lake and Snelling, she's free on a $100,000 bond and living with her parents in Tennessee. That next step, her case goes to the grand jury, but that likely won't happen until the final autopsy results are ready, and that could take some time. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.