Ex-Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling re-arrested on new manslaughter charge for suffocating her newborn — then sprung on bail

A former University of Kentucky cheerleader accused of killing her newborn and then stuffing its lifeless body in a trash bag was arrested again Thursday — and seen walking the streets hours later after her father posted her $10,000 bond, according to authorities and reports.

Laken Snelling, 21, was booked in the Fayette County Detention Center after a grand jury indicted her on a new charge of first-degree manslaughter for the shocking death of her infant son, jail records obtained by Fox56 and the Lexington Police Department show.

Laken Snelling, 21, was booked in the Fayette County Detention Center on Thursday, after a grand jury indicted her on a new charge of first-degree manslaughter for the death of her baby boy. Fayette County Detention Center

She was released Thursday when her dad posted her $10,000 bail, according to court records obtained by the outlet.

Snelling’s indictment and subsequent arrest this week — she was first cuffed in late August when the baby’s body was discovered — came after the Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office determined the infant’s cause of death was “asphyxia by undetermined means,” police said.

Snelling gave birth to the boy in her off-campus house in Lexington at around 4 a.m. on Aug. 27, 2025.

Her horrified college roommates were the first to discover the dead newborn in a black plastic bag stuffed in Snelling’s closet.

They also found a “blood-soaked towel on the floor and a plastic bag containing evidence of childbirth” – as well as the infant, who was “cold to the touch,” they told a 911 operator. 

Her father posted her $10,000 bail on Thursday after she was cuffed. Facebook / Laken Snelling

The roommates — who had suspected the cheerleader was concealing a pregnancy — later told cops they’d heard loud, strange noises coming from Snelling’s room around the time she gave birth.

Snelling then allegedly tried to clean up the scene, showered and left the house – skipping morning classes and a visit to the school clinic – and went to McDonald’s. 

She was arrested when she returned home on Aug. 31, 2025 — and was initially charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant, which she pleaded not guilty to.

After withdrawing from the University of Kentucky, Snelling has since been living at her family’s Tennessee home under house arrest after posting a $100,000 surety bond.

The ex-cheerleader will be re-arraigned on April 10, according to court records.