An arrest warrant has been issued for former University of Kentucky competitive cheerleader Laken Snelling after she was indicted for manslaughter over the death of her newborn baby.
The warrant was issued after the manslaughter charge came down on Tuesday, March 10, according to court records viewed by WKYT.
Snelling was arrested in August 2025 after admitting to giving birth and hiding the infant’s body in a trash bag in a closet of her Lexington, Kentucky, home.
The manslaughter charge was issued on Tuesday after it was revealed the baby was alive at the time Snelling gave birth. The Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office determined the infant’s cause of death was “asphyxia by undetermined means.”
Snelling was also indicted on charges of abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant, which were originally issued after her arrest last year.
The former cheerleader has been living at her father’s home in Jefferson City, Tennessee, since late October 2025, when a judge ordered her to home confinement and to wear a GPS ankle monitoring device.
Laken Snelling Courtesy of Laken Snelling/Facebook
Prior to that, Snelling had been splitting her time between her parents’ homes under a joint custody provision, according to court documents obtained by People. She spent her days at her mother’s home in Morristown, Tennessee, and her nights at her father’s home, about 15 miles away.
Snelling was placed on house arrest in September 2025 when she was released on $100,000 following her initial arrest. She waived her right to a preliminary trial later that month, instead opting for her case to be heard by a grand jury,
Fayette Commonwealth’s Attorney Kimberly Baird explained how the grand jury came to their manslaughter indictment after Tuesday’s hearing.
The events leading to the arrest of former University of Kentucky competitive cheerleader Laken Snelling could have been prevented, according to a leading infant safety activist. Snelling, 21, was arrested in Lexington, Kentucky on August 30, and charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant. According […]
“They were given the information about homicide, the four levels of homicide and then deliberated and decided that manslaughter first degree was the charge that should come out of the grand jury,” Baird told WKYT.
After her arrest last year, Snelling “admitted to giving birth” and 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.”
Snelling told authorities the baby was likely still alive when she gave birth and claimed she passed out on top of the infant’s body shortly after, waking up to find it “blue and purple.”
A former competitor on the University of Kentucky’s STUNT cheerleading team, Snelling is no longer enrolled at the school or a member of the team.
