LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Laken Snelling, the former UK student connected to the death of her infant, was ordered to wear an electronic monitor and was placed on home confinement, court documents reveal.
According to the documents, Snelling was ordered by a judge to home confinement at her father's house in Tennessee.
Original Story:
Records from Lexington Police have reveal that the newborn baby of Laken Snelling "appeared to be full term when discovered."
According to a filed affidavit, Snelling told medical staff at UK Hospital that "the baby made a "whimper," and that she "guessed" the baby was alive."
LPD reports that a search warrant for Snelling's social media accounts found searches "including different things pertaining to pregnancy, images of her during labor, photos of her doing things ordinary pregnant women should not be doing, and a concealed or hidden pregnancy."
Police additionally believed that other items and information may have been deleted relating to pregnancy and "to the birth of the full term baby."
Snelling's roommates, another document reports, had heard loud noises after she had given birth at 4 a.m. on August 27. Snelling told police later that she did not believe the baby was alive.
She also, according to court documents, told police that she passed out on top of the baby, and when she woke, she saw "the baby turning blue and purple."
Snelling then wrapped the baby in a towel, believing he was dead, police wrote in their report. It went on to say she woke up again at her 7:30 alarm and placed the baby and the placenta in a black trash bag in her closet.
Around 8:40, Snelling told her roommates she had passed out early that morning and caused the loud noises, and then said she was going to the doctor because "she had not eaten and had not been feeling well."
Rather than attending her 9:30 a.m. class, police say she ordered through McDonald's app and picked up food, and then drove to the university clinic. She did not go inside, and returned to her residence just after 10:30, where she was soon arrested.
The affidavit states Snelling's roommates had become suspicious of her pregnancy, as well as the noises they heard overnight. They entered her room and found a “blood-soaked towel on the floor and a plastic bag containing evidence of childbirth."
Snelling, who no longer attends the University of Kentucky, is charged with abuse of a corpse in connection with her infant's death.
