Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
BEAUTY-QUEEN-CHEERLEADER'S BABY DEAD IN CLOSET, GRAND JURY SET: LAKEN SNELLING
11 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Beauty queen cheerleader Lakin Snelling's chilling words as a baby in a trash bag. found dead in her closet as we go to air. A grand jury date is set in the case of the former beauty queen accused of hiding a dead baby, her dead baby, in the closet before going out for fast food. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories.
I want to thank you for being with us. That's right, a grand jury date has been set in the case of a former beauty queen now charged with hiding a dead baby boy, her dead baby boy, in her own closet before going out for fast food. Also, as we go to air, medical records have been subpoenaed in the Lake and Snelling case.
Chapter 2: What are the details surrounding Laken Snelling's case?
Prosecutors requesting medical records that could be related to the case of the University of Kentucky Medical Center. according to new court records. A subpoena was delivered to the UK Medical Center requesting all records on Snelling created since August 2024 to January 2026.
Prosecutors will look at those records and find out every single person Lake and Snelling spoke to, what she said, what tests she received, everything that happened on that visit. This as a grand jury looms in the case of the beauty queen. Lake and Snelling's case is on its way to a grand jury.
The anonymous panel is expected to hear evidence in late January since Snelling waived her right to a preliminary hearing during a September 26th court appearance. The grand jury will likely be asked to indict Snelling on three charges she initially pleaded not guilty to. There's the possibility also of a count of murder or manslaughter depending on the newborn's autopsy results.
If another person, an adult, was found dead, wrapped in a blanket, body in a trash bag, hidden away, the alleged perp would not be walking free right now with a bedazzled ankle monitor. But that is what has just happened. But let's start at the beginning. Listen to this.
Good evening.
From Virginia, Jefferson County Mayor, I am...
Here comes Laken Snelling. Laken attends the University of Kentucky and she's 20 years of age.
Her parents are Terry and Michelle Snelling, of course. Making the Dean's list while also being a student athlete. Division 1 athlete on the STEM team at the University of Kentucky.
100 plus community service hours from the past year. Honored to be crowned a Jefferson County Fair Student Mayor and being able to represent our county.
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Chapter 3: What charges is Laken Snelling facing and what do they entail?
Snelling brings her beau home for Easter and over the summer posts professional photos with him. Why do I care about the boyfriend? I'm trying to figure out who is the biological father of this dead infant. And I'm completely intrigued, curious, about why so many dead babies are first wrapped
in a blanket a baby blanket very often remember top mom casey anthony wrapped according to the state baby kelly in her favorite blanket before putting her in a trash bag and throwing into a trashy litter ridden swamp area about 10 houses down from the anthony home gee i wonder who did that and i see it over and over and over the infant is wrapped in a baby blanket
and left to die or killed and put in a trash bag. There's got to be some sort of psychopathy to that. But, you know, I'm also very curious. Straight out to Dr. Bethany Marshall joining us, high-profile psychoanalyst, author of Deal Breaker on Amazon. You can see her now on Peacock and find her at drbethanymarshall.com. Dr. Bethany, I'm also intrigued. What does it mean, if anything, that you...
are a self-proclaimed real life Barbie. I'm talking about the Barbie doll. This woman's life, this young woman's life is wrapped in fantasy, not reality.
Chapter 4: What evidence has been gathered regarding the infant's death?
The fantasy of having a baby seems a lot more compelling to her than the reality of a baby. The fantasy of being Barbie is a lot more compelling to her than the reality of who she is as a mother and out in the world. Okay, Dr. Bethany, you got me drinking from the fire hydrant here. You gave me... So much, I've got to parse it. Number one, can we stick with Barbie?
You said, I was writing as fast as I could, the fantasy of being Barbie to her was better than being Lake and Snellings. Okay, now wait a minute. What does it mean to be Barbie? It's a plastic doll with fake breasts. Why do you want to be that? Because Barbie is beautiful. Barbie is desirable.
Barbie is sexually attractive in the world, and the idea that she would be that person, it's like she's wrapping herself in an image, an external image, rather than really focusing on who she is. Does she attend a church?
Is she kind?
Bethany, Bethany, Bethany. Wait, wait, wait. Can I see that video again of her in the faux? I guess that's... No, the faux, that, that. That was, that's very similar to a Barbie outfit my sister had. That's right. Okay. I was trying to dissect the Barbie dolls and I dissected all, well, dismembered all of my sister's Barbie dolls. That was a dark day. That said, I remember that outfit.
Barbie had an outfit like that with dolls.
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Chapter 5: How did Laken Snelling's roommates discover the baby?
You know, faux leopard spots. Okay. Just wanted to point that out, Dr. Bethany. I don't know what your Barbie lore is, but I distinctly recall an outfit like that with the matching stilettos. And this is when I was a little girl. The stilettos were in then as well, at least for Barbie. Now, I'm sorry. Back to who wants to be Barbie?
Who wants to be Barbie as somebody who's more living in fantasy than reality? Hey, Nancy, that sound you just played, the inside of her apartment was pink. She lived in a Barbie place. This is a woman who lives in a fantasy world, not a reality world, okay? Barbie is pink. just that. It's a doll. It's not a real person. She does not live her life like a real person.
She's living, she's like, it's like cosplay of being Barbie. I'm wondering, would she go to a church? Does she have friends? Is she kind to people? Does she like children in real life? Or was the fantasy of being pregnant and the fantasy of being a mom much more compelling than the reality of changing diapers, holding a baby? Babies have needs, you know.
And I want to clear one thing up, Dr. Bethany Marshall. You can be anything and have played with Barbies as a little girl. My sister had the Barbies. She's a brainiac. I tried to read something she published. It was just a bunch of formulas with elements. I'm like, OK, that was great. So I'm not saying there's anything wrong with playing with Barbies when you're a child. I mean, it can be fun.
But this is a grown woman that says she's a real life Barbie. OK, you know what? I've gone down the Barbie trail way too long. That's not going to help anybody at trial. I want to get to the facts and what we know. Take a listen to this. 10.30 a.m.
Wednesday morning, Lexington PD responds to a call about an unresponsive infant found in a student apartment in one of the tenant's closets inside a trash bag wrapped in towels. The baby was deceased at the time officers received the report. Snelling returns to her apartment to find police swarming the unit.
Snelling says she cleaned up after delivering the baby to conceal that she had given birth. and put all of the cleaning materials in the trash bag with the baby. What I'm saying here to Josh Colesrood, he is a high-profile criminal defense attorney, former felony prosecutor, founder of Colesrood Law Offices. Josh. Now, this is anecdotal.
I don't have a statistic on this, but I noticed it over and over and over in the over a decade that I prosecuted felonies. When the victim is a baby, very often you see that case pled down. Like, oh, you know, they were tired of the baby screaming and they bashed its head on the dresser. Or they got tired of taking care of the baby or they forgot to feed the baby and it died.
And it's often pled down to voluntary or involuntary manslaughter. Now, I don't know if you're going to admit to that on the air, but it's true. When the victim is a baby, somehow it's treated as less important in our justice system.
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Chapter 6: What psychological insights can be drawn from Laken Snelling's behavior?
I have to figure out what happened to this child or happened to the adult. And that's the purpose of my employment.
Okay, I understand that. You have to remain detached while you're performing all of this. But, you know, when you just rattle off, and I'm not saying you're wrong. I know for a fact that you're right. But when you say it so methodically, I mean, I got to think this through, Dr. Kendall Crowns.
You're saying one of the first things you do to determine COD, if it's not immediately visible with the naked eye, is you do a float test on the lungs. What that means is the baby is sliced open, its lungs are removed, and they're dunked in water. What? What kind of water? What is that in? A pan? A sink? What?
It's tap water and it's basically a big cup.
You know, we are talking on and on and on, Dr. Kendall Crowns, about Blake and the Snellings. And she's a real life Barbie and she's a stunt person and she's a cheerleader and she's gorgeous and she's Miss Fairest of the Fair. Nobody is talking about the baby boy that's lying on a morgue table getting its chest sliced open, its lungs removed, and put in water.
Why does it have to be all about her? That's why cases, and Josh Colesrud would not answer earlier, former federal prosecutor, I mean... Okay, back to you, Dr. Kendall Crowns. So you do a lung test, and if the lungs float, that means they had air in them. That means the baby was born alive. Is that where you're going with that?
That's correct. I mean, if they've taken a breath, the lungs will float, but it could also mean they were given CPR, but it could also mean there's decompositional gas formation. So one of the other things you'll do with the flotation test is take the liver, take a section of the liver and place it in the water as well to see if it will float to show that there is or is not decomposition.
Okay, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. I've never heard this before. A float test on the baby's liver, so now the abdomen is cut out as well. Okay. Why would you do a float test on a liver? Why would there be air in the liver?
There would be no air in the liver. So if the liver doesn't float, you know that there is no decomposition. But if it does float, then it puts into question whether the lungs are floating because of decomposition or because there's air in them. So then you have to go to microscopic analysis.
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Chapter 7: How does the legal system treat cases involving infant victims?
Yeah, I did that to the horse.
I want to be very clear at this juncture. Lakin Snelling is not charged with murder. We are also learning that her roommates could hear her giving birth. and then snuck in when she left to go to McDonald's to find the baby stuffed in her closet. Hours later, Snelling reportedly tells the roommates the noise they heard was when she, quote, fell over, passing out from a routine illness.
When the roommates find the baby in the closet, they tell the dispatcher at 911 the infant was, quote, cold to the touch. After her arrest, Snelling withdraws from school and is no longer a member of the stunt team. Hey, she's got bigger problems than that. What will the grand jury be deciding? Likely, they will be asked to indict Lake and Snelling on multiple charges.
For instance, the charges to which he has already pled not guilty, but possibly a count of murder or manslaughter, depending on what we learn about the baby's autopsy results. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye.