Cheerleader Laken Snelling who killed her newborn then hid body in closet is sentenced to 10 years in prison, as baby’s father suggests he has forgiven her

The former University of Kentucky cheerleader who killed her newborn baby and hid his body in a closet has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. 

Laken Snelling, 22, gave birth to a baby boy in her of campus apartment on August 27, 2025 and suffocated the infant in a panic, prosecutors said.

Although she first denied the charges, Snelling pled guilty to manslaughter this past August, telling the hushed courtroom: ‘I deprived him of oxygen.’

Snelling appeared before Fayette County Circuit Court Judge Diane Minnifield this morning and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. 

Prosecutors had recommended the 10-year term as part of the plea agreement.

The baby’s father, college quarterback Izaiah Hall, spoke briefly at Snelling’s sentencing, suggesting he has forgiven her.

‘I don’t wish the worst on Laken. What happened is, it is what it is. I can’t change it,’ he said. Hall is understood to have named the infant McCoy Cade Hall. 

The baby’s paternal mother, who also spoke during Friday’s hearing, described him as a ‘perfectly healthy, beautiful baby boy’ who ‘deserved a chance to grow to be loved.’

As Judge Minnifield handed down her sentence Friday, she told Snelling that she is ‘going to have a lot of time’ to sit with her crime. 

‘Based on the nature of this charge, you’re not even probation eligible to be considered,’ the judge told the cheerleader. 

‘You know, this is a crime of violence. This is a crime that took the life of a baby innocent that did nothing, you know, did nothing but come out and breathe, and that’s it.’ 

Judge Minnifield added: ‘You’re young, you’re 22 years old. You’re going to have a lot of life. This family of Cade is going to have a lot of life ahead of them, but this hole will never go away. 

‘This loneliness, this just now in the pit of your stomach, it’s never going to go away. You’re going to have to find ways to live with it and all of that’s only going to come by God.’ 

Snelling was immediately taken into custody after Friday’s sentencing hearing.

She had been on house arrest in her parents’ Tennessee home since her first arraignment in September 2025. In March she posted a $10,000 bond to be re-released following her second indictment.

Snelling has received 415 days of credit for the time she served under house arrest. 

Snelling was arrested on August 30, 2025, three days after she gave birth to the child in her off-campus apartment.

Her roommates told police they heard strange noises coming from her room during labor, as the cheerleader gave birth alone and in secret. 

After giving birth, Snelling cleaned up the scene and left her home to go to McDonald’s, prosecutors said.

Her roommates said they then discovered the newborn baby dead in a blood-soaked towel and a trash bag hidden on the floor of her closet, wrapped in a plastic bag.

One friend said she reported to police that the infant was ‘cold to the touch’ when they found him.

Her horrified roommates told police that they believed she was concealing a pregnancy for some time.

Photos from last April shows Snelling performing with UK’s STUNT team with what appears to be a pregnant bump on her stomach. 

She was initially charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant, and she pleaded not guilty to those charges in September. 

Following her arrest, Snelling initially claimed the newborn was stillborn. She said she didn’t believe the baby was ‘breathing or alive,’ and then claimed to have passed out ‘on top of the baby,’ and woke up to find him ‘turning blue and purple.’

Court documents said Snelling told investigators she wrapped her newborn up ‘like a burrito’ and ‘laid next to it,’ explaining that she was panicking and it ‘gave her a little comfort in the moment.’

Police later alleged that Snelling told a medical worker that her newborn had shown ‘a little bit of fetal movement,’ and made a ‘whimper’ when he was born.

Snelling was then indicted again in March 2026 on first-degree manslaughter charges after the Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office determined the baby boy was alive when born and died as a result of ‘asphyxia by undetermined means’.

In August 2026, she admitted first-degree manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant as part of a plea deal.

Through tears, she told the courtroom: ‘I was under a lot of emotional stress and my baby came unexpectedly.

‘And instead of helping him, I ended his life. And afterwards I cleaned up and didn’t tell anyone.’