Laken Snelling, whose infant was found dead in closet, pleads guilty to manslaughter

A former University of Kentucky student-athlete pleaded guilty Friday to first-degree manslaughter in the death of her infant son, whose body was found inside a trash bag in a closet. Laken Snelling had initially pleaded not guilty after a grand jury indicted her on several charges, including first-degree manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant. Snelling, 22, changed her plea to guilty on Friday, NBC affiliate in Lexington, Kentucky, WLEX reported. Appearing before Fayette County Circuit Court Judge Diane Minnifield, Snelling began crying as she entered her guilty plea. “I was under a lot of emotional stress and my baby came unexpectedly,” Snelling tearfully told the judge. “And instead of helping him, I ended his life. And afterwards I cleaned up and didn’t tell anyone.” When Minnifield asked how she ended his life, Snelling answered, “I deprived him of oxygen.” When asked about the tampering of physical evidence charge, Snelling replied, “I put the towels in a plastic bag.” Asked bout the charge of concealing the birth of an infant, Snelling said, “I didn’t tell anyone about it.” Minnifield accepted the guilty plea and then set a sentencing hearing for Oct. 16. Snelling faces up to 10 years in prison on the most serious charge of manslaughter. Officers responded to a residence on Aug. 27 for a report of an unresponsive infant, according to a press release from the city of Lexington. The Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office determined the baby was born alive and his cause of death to be “asphyxia by undetermined means.” Police said Snelling hid her dead infant, found wrapped in a towel, inside a black trash bag in a closet. The former member of the university’s STUNT team allegedly told police that she tried to conceal the evidence of giving birth from her roommates, a police citation stated.