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A 21-year-old University of Kentucky cheerleader has been arrested after allegedly hiding her dead infant inside a closet.
The Lexington Police Department took Laken Snelling into custody Sunday after officers were “dispatched for an unresponsive infant at a residence in the 400 block of Park Avenue” earlier last week.
“When officers arrived, they located an infant that was pronounced deceased at the scene,” police said. “The Fayette County Coroner’s Office will release the infant’s cause of death.”
Snelling, whom the Lexington Police Department said was the infant’s mother, was charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant.
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University of Kentucky student Laken Snelling was arrested on Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (UK Athletics/Getty Images)
A University of Kentucky spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that Snelling “is a senior at UK and a member of the STUNT team.”
University of Kentucky Athletics describes STUNT as a “head-to-head competition between two teams that focuses on the technical and athletic aspects of cheer” that is “one of the fastest-growing female sports in the United States.”
Snelling is listed as a member of the STUNT team on its website.
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A sign for one of the entrances to the University of Kentucky campus. (Getty Images)
A police document said the “infant was located wrapped in a towel inside of a black trash bag” and was placed in a closet, according to WLEX.
The station also cited the document as saying that Snelling, during an interview with police, “admitted to giving birth.”
Pedestrians walk along Rose Street on the University of Kentucky campus in Lexington, Ky., on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023. (Getty Images)
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The Lexington Police Department said its “Special Victims Section is continuing to investigate.”