Cheerleader Laken Snelling Sentenced to 10 Years for Killing Newborn Baby, Stuffing Him in Trash Bag

Former University of Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling was sentenced on Friday to ten years in prison for killing her newborn son and stuffing him in a trash bag. Snelling, 22, pleaded guilty in August to first-degree manslaughter, concealing the birth of an infant, tampering with physical evidence, and abuse of a corpse. She was sentenced after previously confessing in court to killing her son, saying, “Instead of helping him, I ended his life,” the New York Post reported. She will be up for parole after serving 85 percent of her sentence, however, she will not be eligible for probation, per the report. Before Snelling was sentenced, the court heard the baby boy had been named McCoy Cade Hall, and that his family is devastated by his death. “As a grandparent, you imagine the memories you’ll make with your grandchildren,” one relative said, adding that she had looked forward to “first words, kisses, and all the little moments that become lifelong memories.” “You look forward to watching them grow and seeing the person they become,” she added. “For Cade, those possibilities were taken away before he ever had the chance to experience them.” Snelling pleaded not guilty initially in April but later admitted she had killed her son by depriving him of oxygen. “I was under a lot of emotional stress and my baby came unexpectedly,” Snelling said tearfully in an August court appearance. “And instead of helping him I ended his life and afterwards I cleaned up and didn’t tell anyone,” she said. Lexington police officers responded to her off-campus home on August 27, 2025, after her roommates reportedly discovered a dead newborn baby wrapped in a towel, stuffed in a trash bag, and hidden in a closet. Her roommates told 911 they had also found a “blood-soaked towel on the floor and a plastic bag containing evidence of childbirth.” The Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that the baby boy was born alive and died of asphyxia by undetermined means, according to the report. WATCH: Snelling first told police the baby fell on the floor after she gave birth, and she did not believe he was “breathing or alive.” She then changed her story and told police she had passed out on top of her son and woke up to find him “turning blue and purple.” Snelling later told hospital staff her baby had made a “whimper” after being born and showed “a little bit of fetal movement.” Police said she took several photos while she was in labor but later deleted them “in an attempt to hide the birth.”