Former University of Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling has been sentenced for the death of her newborn son and concealing his body in a closet.
During an Oct. 16 hearing in Fayette Circuit Court, Snelling received a 10-year prison sentence to be served concurrently. The 22-year-old had previously pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, concealing the birth of an infant and tampering with evidence.
The baby’s father, Izaiah Hall, spoke publicly about the case for the first time during the hearing.
“I don’t wish the worst on Laken,” Hall said, according to Court TV. He said he had named their son McCoy Cade Hall. “What happened is, it is what it is. I can’t change it.”
Hall’s family stood beside him in court. “He was not garbage,” Hall’s sister said, according to WKYT. “He was the most beautiful, perfect, innocent, full-term baby boy.”
Hall’s mother also described her grandson as “a perfectly healthy, beautiful baby boy.”
“A baby who had barely begun its life. A baby that deserved a chance to grow to be loved,” she said, according to Court TV. “Instead of celebrating his milestones, we’re left mourning the milestones that never were passed. Instead of watching him grow, I’m left wondering who he would have been.”
Judge Diane Minnifield said Snelling would not be eligible for probation because of the “crime of violence.” Fayette County Commonwealth’s Attorney Kimberly Baird said Snelling could become eligible for parole after serving 85 percent of her sentence, according to Fox 56.
Snelling’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Oxygen.
“One of the concerns we had, this case has had some media attention, and we just didn’t want to fuel that fire anymore by letters in support of her,” her attorney told the judge, according to Court TV. “So the fact that we did not submit anything, don’t take that as a reason she doesn’t care about what happened.”
“She is incredibly, deeply saddened by what happened,” the attorney added. “She’s taking complete responsibility for it.”
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What Crime Did Laken Snelling Commit?
The case came to light more than a year earlier, after Snelling’s roommates made a disturbing discovery.
In the early morning hours of Aug. 27, 2025, the roommates heard loud, persistent noises coming from Snelling’s bedroom. The sounds were so forceful that a picture fell from the wall, according to a 97-page Fayette County case file obtained by LEX 18 News.
Later that day, Snelling texted her roommates that she felt ill and had passed out. When they entered her room, they found the baby inside bags in the closet, according to the case file.
The roommates told police they had suspected Snelling was pregnant but had never confirmed it. Investigators later found pregnancy-related Facebook searches and hashtags covering different stages of pregnancy on her phone.
Snelling was taken to University of Kentucky Hospital, where she told staff she heard the baby “whimper” and “guessed” he was alive, according to an affidavit obtained by Fox 56. She also told investigators that she had passed out on top of the baby and woke to find him “turning blue and purple.”
Snelling said she believed the baby had died. She told investigators that she “wrapped him like a burrito” and lay beside him because it “gave her comfort.”
The Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office later determined that the boy had been born alive and died from asphyxia by undetermined means.
Snelling was arrested on Aug. 31, 2025. She posted a $100,000 bond and was placed under home incarceration at her parents’ Tennessee residence, initially without an ankle monitor.
She was initially charged with abuse of a corpse, concealing the birth of an infant and tampering with physical evidence. In March, a Fayette County grand jury added a first-degree manslaughter charge in its indictment.
Snelling pleaded not guilty to all four charges but later changed her plea in a surprise move.
“I was under a lot of emotional stress and my baby came unexpectedly,” Snelling tearfully told a Fayette County judge in August. “And instead of helping him…I ended his life. I deprived him of oxygen.”