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Cheerleader who killed newborn baby sent text to roommates before they made discovery in closet
It has been revealed what was said in the chilling message a former University of Kentucky student sent to roommates after ending her newborn son's life.
Laken Snelling, an international student from the UK, has since been sentenced to 10 years in prison after her roommates discovered his body hidden inside her closet.
Woman responsible for baby's death
The young woman was taken into custody immediately after being sentenced on Friday in connection with the death of her baby boy, McCoy Cade Hall.
Snelling pleaded guilty in August to manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and concealing the birth of an infant.
Fayette County Circuit Court Judge Diane Minnifield told Snelling that her actions would have consequences extending far beyond her own future.
“Sometimes those choices and consequences affect our future for the rest of our lives, and you’ve made a decision that has affected not only your future but the future of all of [the baby’s] biological paternal side,” Minnifield claimed.
The case dates back to August 2025, when police were called to a home on Park Avenue in Lexington, Kentucky, following reports of an unresponsive infant.
When officers arrived, they discovered a newborn boy wrapped in a towel and placed inside a trash bag in a bedroom closet, and with the baby pronounced dead at the scene, Snelling was arrested four days later.
The disturbing message Laken sent to roommates after killing baby
Court documents have revealed disturbing events leading up to the discovery, including messages exchanged between Snelling and her roommates on Snapchat shortly after she gave birth.
According to a search warrant for Snelling's Snapchat account, one roommate reported hearing a loud noise at around 4:00am on August 27 that sounded as though something had fallen, while another roommate said she had heard the noise too, describing it as forceful enough to knock a picture off her wall, with the noise reportedly continuing for around an hour.
Just before 9:00am, Snelling sent a message to the group chat claiming she had passed out, saying she had been feeling unwell and had not eaten, adding that she intended to get checked out by a doctor.
However, despite her explanation, her roommates reportedly doubted her and decided to investigate her room themselves.
According to court documents, they discovered a blood-soaked towel before looking inside the closet, where they found the dead newborn hidden in bags, later telling police they had believed Snelling might be pregnant, but had never received confirmation from her.
A separate search warrant concerning Snelling's phone reportedly uncovered online searches relating to pregnancy, alongside Facebook hashtags corresponding to different stages of pregnancy.
Investigators believed her social media account could contain information connected to her pregnancy and the birth of the full-term baby, as well as what the warrant described as “its potential demise.”
The Kentucky Medical Examiner's Office determined that the baby had been born alive, with his cause of death therefore recorded as asphyxia by undetermined means.
During Friday's sentencing hearing, the baby's biological father, Izaiah Hall, and members of his family addressed the court and Snelling, describing the devastating loss of a child who never had the chance to grow up.
“He was not garbage; he was the most beautiful, perfect, innocent, full-term baby boy,” Hall’s sister claimed.
Prosecutors asked the court to impose a 10-year sentence for manslaughter, alongside one year for each of the three additional charges.
As such, Judge Minnifield said she considered Snelling's age, education and lack of a prior criminal record before agreeing to the prosecution's recommendation that the sentences run concurrently.
Fayette County Commonwealth's Attorney Kimberly Baird said the sentence could not undo the damage suffered by the baby's relatives, who continue to struggle with unanswered questions.
“They are so raw right now and so emotional right now, still have questions about why, so I think they are okay with the fact that she got sent to prison.
"I’m not sure there’s a number big enough that that was going to make this okay for them,” Baird said.
Snelling will receive 415 days of credit for time already served while on bond.
She is not eligible for probation, but can qualify for parole after completing 85 percent of her 10-year sentence.