Kentucky beauty queen, 21, is arrested for hiding her dead newborn in a closet

A beauty queen and cheerleader at the University of Kentucky was arrested after giving birth and hiding her newborn’s body in a closet.

Laken Snelling, 21, was taken into custody on Saturday and charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant.

Officers with the Lexington Police Department were called to a home on the 400 block of Park Avenue for a report of an unresponsive infant on Wednesday morning, LEX 18 reported.

The baby was pronounced dead at the scene at around 10:30am.

An arrest citation said the ‘infant was located wrapped in a towel inside of a black trash bag.’

Snelling admitted to officers that she gave gave birth after being read her rights.

She ‘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,’ according to the citation.

As of Monday, the child’s cause of death had not yet to be determined by the Fayette County Coroner’s Office, the Independent.

Laken Snelling (pictured) was taken into custody on Saturday and charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant

Laken Snelling (pictured) admitted to officers that she gave gave birth after being read her rights

Snelling is being held at the Fayette County Detention Center and the department’s Special Victims Section is continuing to investigate.

A near-total abortion ban has been in effect in Kentucky since 2022, with no exceptions for rape or incest.

The ban only permits abortion to prevent the ‘substantial risk of death’ or to prevent the ‘serious, permanent impairment of a life-sustaining organ’ of the pregnant person.

Snelling is a member of the University of Kentucky ‘stunt team,’ a competitive cheer program, according to the school’s athletics website.

Snelling (pictured in her stunt uniform) is a member of the University of Kentucky ‘stunt team,’ a competitive cheer program, according to the school’s athletics website

According to a social media account, Snelling is from White Pine, Tennessee , and was studying Interdisciplinary Disability Studies at the University of Kentucky

Snelling (pictured) has used her account to share news of upcoming beauty pageants, captioning her latest post on June 11: ‘There is a pageant for EVERYONE!’

‘We can confirm that she has been a member of the STUNT team for the last three seasons,’ the university said in a statement to LEX 18. ‘All other questions should be directed to the Lexington Police.’

According to a social media account, Snelling is from White Pine, Tennessee, and was studying Interdisciplinary Disability Studies at the University of Kentucky.

She has used her account to share news of upcoming beauty pageants, captioning her latest post on June 11: ‘There is a pageant for EVERYONE!’

Also in June, she uploaded a video saying that her goals in life were to be a mother and have a family.