In The Headlines: Laken Snelling

Welcome to Deadly Divas: In The Headlines!

Tina brings you something a little different with a shorter episode covering a case making headlines right now.

In August 2025, University of Kentucky student and former STUNT team member Laken Snelling gave birth to a baby boy alone in her off-campus bedroom. Hours later, her roommates made a horrifying discovery: the newborn's body concealed inside Laken's closet.

For nearly a year, questions remained about whether the baby had been born alive and exactly how he died. Then, on August 21, 2026, Laken pleaded guilty—and admitted in court that instead of helping her newborn son, she ended his life by depriving him of oxygen.

Join Tina as she breaks down the hidden pregnancy, the roommates who suspected something was wrong, the unanswered questions surrounding the baby's father, and the guilty plea that finally revealed what happened inside Laken's bedroom.

Transcript

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Hello, all you True Crime Divas and Dudes. I'm Tina, and welcome back to your favorite True Crime podcast, Deadly Divas. And right off the bat, you're probably noticing something is different. Sarah is not here with me for this episode, but don't worry, I did not finally snap and bury her in the backyard. This is actually something new we're trying. Normally, our episodes are full deep dives that Sarah and I record together, but sometimes there's a developing case where something major happens, and I'm just like, I need to tell y'all about this. And this is one of those times. Because yesterday, August 21st, 2026, 22-year-old Lakin Snelling walked into a courtroom in Fayette County, Kentucky. She had pleaded not guilty to causing the death of her newborn son and was expected to eventually stand trial. Instead, though, Lakin changed her plea. She pleaded guilty. And for the first time, she publicly admitted what happened inside her bedroom almost exactly one year ago. When the judge asked Lakin to explain what she'd done, she said she'd been under a lot of emotional stress and that her baby came unexpectedly. Then she said instead of helping him, I ended his life. The judge asked how Lakin answered I deprived him of oxygen. And that admission finally answered the biggest question surrounding this case. But let's go back to the beginning. Who is Lakin Snelling? In August 2025, Lakin was 21 years old and entering her senior year at the University of Kentucky. She was originally from Tennessee, had competed in beauty pageants, and spent three seasons on the University of Kentucky's stunt team, which is basically competitive cheerleading. She was also active on social media, and one particular post became incredibly eerie after her arrest. In June 2025, Lakin posted a TikTok listing some of her goals getting married, having a home, making money, and becoming a mother. The problem was Lakin was already pregnant, and the baby she was carrying would eventually be described as full term. When this case first broke, everybody asked the same question. How did nobody know she was pregnant? Well, people suspected. Lakin lived with several roommates in an off-campus house in Lexington, and they later told investigators that they had wondered whether she was pregnant. Lakin apparently never confirmed it, and looking back at photos Lakin posted during her pregnancy, it becomes a little easier to understand why her roommates were suspicious. In June, just a couple of months before she gave birth, Lakin posted a professional couples photo shoot with her boyfriend. In several of the pictures, she's wearing a long white dress, and in at least one, she is sitting in the grass with her hand resting over her stomach. And after her arrest, people flooded the comments saying that she appeared very visibly pregnant and that the pictures looked more like maternity photos than a normal couple's shoot. Lakin never publicly described them as maternity photos, so we can't say that's what they were, but in hindsight, that baby bump is very difficult to miss. Investigators would also find evidence on her phone suggesting that she absolutely knew she was pregnant. There were searches related to different stages of pregnancy, and then there was this concealed or hidden pregnancy. That was an actual phrase investigators reportedly found in her search activity. And police discovered something even stranger. Lakin had taken photographs of herself while she was in labor. Some had been deleted, and that immediately raises about fifty questions. Why take pictures during a birth you are desperately trying to conceal? Were they intended for somebody? Did she send them to anybody? What else was deleted? We don't know. Investigators apparently wanted to know too because they sought additional records from her social media accounts. At around 4 o'clock in the morning on August 27, 2025, Lakin's roommates started hearing noises coming from her bedroom. One heard something that sounded like a person falling. Another said the noise was strong enough to knock a picture off of her wall. According to one roommate, the noises continued for about an hour. The roommates started messaging each other in their Snapchat group chat, wondering what the hell Lakin was doing. What they didn't know was that Lakin was on the other side of the wall giving birth alone on her bedroom floor, and she actually delivered a baby boy. Lakin originally told investigators that the baby fell onto the floor during delivery. She said she didn't initially believe he was breathing or alive. She claimed that at some point she passed out, fell on top of him, and later woke to see his color becoming blue or purple. That explanation left open the possibility that this had been a horrific accident. Except Lakin herself described signs that her baby had been alive. She told medical personnel that she saw some movement and she heard a whimper. She said she guessed he was alive. Remember that, because her story changes later. Lakin said that she wrapped her son in a towel, describing it as wrapping him like a burrito, and lay beside him because it gave her some comfort. Then her alarm went off around seven thirty AM and Lakin started cleaning. Like furiously cleaning. She cleaned evidence of the birth from her bedroom. She put the placenta into a trash bag, and her newborn son, wrapped in the towel, was also placed inside a trash bag and hidden in her closet. Then she showered and left the house. Just before nine that morning, Lakin messaged her roommates. She told them she hadn't been feeling well, hadn't eaten, and had passed out. That, she claimed, explained all the noise. She said she was gonna go get checked out by a doctor, but her roommates were suspicious. So after Lakin left, they entered her bedroom. They found blood. They found evidence consistent with childbirth. Then they searched her closet and inside they were horrified at what they found. Inside a trash bag, wrapped in a towel was Lakin's newborn son. He was cold to the touch, and they immediately called 911. Police arrived around 1030 that morning, and the baby was tragically pronounced dead. Meanwhile, Lakin had apparently planned to attend a class at 9 30. She drove toward campus, but didn't go to class. Instead, she ordered McDonald's through the app and picked up her food. Then she drove to the University of Kentucky Student Health Clinic. And remember, she just told her roommates she was going to get checked out. She made it all the way to the clinic, but she never went inside. Now, why was that? We don't know. It could be that she went there to place herself there as an alibi. Maybe she planned on pretending as though she went to the doctor to get checked out, and she was gonna come back and try to actually dispose of the baby's body. Or maybe she really was gonna go get checked out, but she lost her nerve at the last minute. We don't know. But eventually, Lakin returned home, and by then police were waiting. Initially, Lakin was not charged with homicide. She was charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant. She pleaded not guilty, posted a $100,000 bond, and returned to Tennessee under home incarceration. Investigators still needed to answer the most important question. Had this baby been born alive? Eventually, the medical examiner determined that he had. His cause of death was asphyxia by undetermined means. He had been deprived of oxygen, but the medical examiner couldn't determine exactly how. That was particularly important because Lakin had claimed she'd passed out and fallen on top of him. Then, in march twenty twenty sixth, everything changed. A grand jury indicted Lakin for first degree manslaughter. And if you're wondering why manslaughter rather than murder, I get it, but there is an important legal distinction here. Prosecutors alleged that Lakin intentionally caused her son's death while acting under extreme emotional disturbance. Under Kentucky law, that distinction can reduce what otherwise could constitute murder to first degree manslaughter. Lakin pleaded not guilty. It looked like this was going to trial until just yesterday. On august twenty first, twenty twenty six, Lakin returned to court and pleaded guilty to first degree manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant. Then came the admission that completely changed the way we understand everything she had said after her arrest. Lakin stated Instead of helping him, I ended his life. The judge asked, How? I deprived him of oxygen, she said. Now think back to Lakin's original account of this. She says the baby moved. He whimpered. He was alive. She wrapped him in a towel and laid beside him. And now Lakin herself admits that instead of helping her newborn son, she deprived him of oxygen. She killed him. And because she pleaded guilty, there will be no trial as long as that plea remains in place. And there's another mystery surrounding this case. Who is the baby's father? And despite a lot of internet speculation, we don't definitively know. One possibility discussed publicly was Isaiah Hall, an ex-boyfriend of Lakin's who played college football. After the baby was discovered, Hall reportedly provided a DNA sample to the police for paternity testing. His father confirmed that Isaiah provided the sample but said the family did not know whether he was the father. Another name connected to Lakin was Connor Jordan, a former college basketball player who appeared on her social media and was reportedly dating her around the period before the birth. He was also the one in those maternity-style photos with Lakin. That led to the speculation that Jordan could be the father, but I have not found any reliable public confirmation that either man is the father yet. And this is important. Neither man has been accused of having anything to do with the baby's death. So unless the DNA results eventually become public, the identity of Lakin's son's father remains an unanswered question. But I only mention this because can you imagine being that baby's father and receiving the horrific news of his death at the hands of his own mother? I mean, it's unfathomable. So what happens now? Lakin will be sentenced on october sixteenth, twenty twenty six. Prosecutors are recommending ten years for first degree manslaughter plus additional sentences on the other charges. Their recommendations total approximately 13 years if imposed consecutively, but the judge hasn't sentenced her yet. And there's an interesting provision in the plea agreement. The judge decides to impose more time than prosecutors recommend, Lakin can withdraw her plea. So October 16th is going to be important. And I already know the potential sentence is going to generate a lot of debate. Some people are going to think that 13 years is not enough time for deliberately ending the life of your newborn helpless baby. And I get that. But the question that haunts me in cases like this is always just like, why? Why? Like you had options. You had other options. Murder should not have been one of those options. Was it shame or fear or just plain selfishness? Could it have been prevented if women simply had full autonomy over their own bodies? Maybe if she'd had a better support system or more education or better resources. We'll probably never know. But these are discussions worth having to prevent tragedies like this in the future. So in ending this episode, I do want to say rest in peace to Lakin's son. His name has not been publicly released. We don't know who his father was. We don't know what his life would have looked like, but we know that sometime around four o'clock in the morning on August 27, 2025, he entered this world in a bedroom in Lexington, Kentucky. His mother acknowledged that he moved, whimpered, and most importantly, that he was alive. And almost exactly one year later, she stood in a courtroom and admitted that instead of helping him, she ended his life. Lakin Snelling will be sentenced October 16th, and I will be sure to update y'all at that point. For now, thank you for joining me for this mini Deadly Divas episode. And let me know, do you want more episodes like this for breaking cases? And don't worry, Sarah will be back on our next regular episode, and we'll see you then. Until next time, be divas, not deadly. Bye.