A former University of Kentucky student athlete was indicted Monday on a first-degree manslaughter charge and other felonies after her newborn son’s body was found in a closet last year.
Laken Snelling, 21, who was a member of the university's stunt team, is accused of hiding the birth and putting the baby’s body in a closet. Snelling was taken into custody by the Lexington Police Department on Aug. 31, officials said.
Officers had responded to a call about an unresponsive infant on Aug. 20, and the baby was "pronounced deceased at the scene," wrapped in a towel inside a black trash bag, according to police.
Snelling told staff at the University of Kentucky hospital that she heard the newborn "whimper" at birth and "guessed" he was alive, according to an affidavit previously cited by manslaughter, first degree, was the charge that should come out of the grand jury," Fayette Commonwealth’s Attorney Kimberly Baird told university, FOX56 reported.