By Tessa Redmond
Kentucky Today
A University of Kentucky student-athlete has been arrested and charged in the death of an infant who was found in a trash bag.
According to LEX18, officers were dispatched to the home of 21-year-old Laken Snelling on Aug. 27 at approximately 10:30 a.m. for “a deceased infant being located in a closet.”
An arrest citation details that the infant was found wrapped in a towel inside of a black trash bag and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Snelling, a UK junior and a three-year member of the STUNT team, a competitive cheer program, was interviewed by officers and 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.”
An autopsy was performed on Aug. 29, according to the Lexington Herald Leader, and the Fayette County Coroner’s office will release the infant’s cause of death.
Snelling has been charged with abuse of a corpse, which is a Class D felony, as well as tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant. She was being held at the Fayette County Detention Center and until her arraignment on Tuesday..
News reports say she has been released on bond to the custody of her parents and will be wearing an ankle bracelet.