Univ. of Kentucky Cheerleader Laken Snelling Performed Months Before Giving Birth, Allegedly Hiding Pregnancy

Former University of Kentucky competitive cheerleader Laken Snelling took to the mat just months before she allegedly gave birth and hid the remains in a trash bag.

Snelling, 21, can be seen competing at the 2025 STUNT National Championship on April 25, in a video on the FloCheer YouTube page. 

The cheerleader was arrested on August 30 and charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant. She was released on $100,000 bond and is now living on “home incarceration with no ankle monitor” with her parents in Tennessee.

During an appearance in a Lexington courtroom on Tuesday, September 2, Snelling pleaded not guilty to all charges. 

In the video, Snelling can be seen helping to hoist one of her teammates into the air during a routine. Snelling also acts as an encouraging teammate elsewhere in the video, supporting a cheerleader enthusiastically from the side of the mat. 

The University of Kentucky STUNT team lost to California Baptist University in the national championship, held at Nashville’s Lipscomb University. It was Cal Baptist’s fifth straight national title in STUNT. 

According to USA Cheer, STUNT “removes the crowd-leading element and focuses on the technical and athletic components of cheer, including partner stunts, pyramids, basket tosses, group jumps and tumbling. These elements are put together in short routines that both teams must perform head-to-head on the floor at the same time.”

Snelling had been on the University of Kentucky STUNT team for three seasons before her arrest last month. 

A university spokesperson told Us Weekly on Friday, September 5, that Snelling is no longer a student at the school or on the STUNT team. 

Snelling was arrested at her home in Lexington, Kentucky on August 30, after authorities had previously responded to a call about an unresponsive infant at the residence on August 27. 

The “infant was located wrapped in a towel inside of a black trash bag,” according to an arrest citation. 

During her interview with authorities on the scene, Snelling “admitted to giving birth.” 

Snelling also admitted to “concealing the birth by cleaning any evidence, placing all cleaning items used inside of a black trash bag, including the infant, who was wrapped in a towel.”

A spokesperson for the Lexington Police Department told Us Weekly on Monday, September 8, that the investigation into the birth and the infant’s death remains “ongoing.”

Snelling’s preliminary court hearing is scheduled for September 26.