Former University of Kentucky student sentenced for baby’s death

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT/Gray News) - The former University of Kentucky student who pleaded guilty to killing her newborn baby was sentenced to 10 years in prison.Laken Snelling, 22, pleaded guilty in August to manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant. In court, she told the judge, “Instead of helping him, I ended his life.”Fayette County Circuit Court Judge Diane Minnifield told Snelling that she made a decision and that comes with consequences.“And sometimes those choices and consequences affect our future for the rest of our lives, and you’ve made a decision that has affected not only your future but the future of all of [the baby’s] biological paternal side,” Minnifield said.Baby found in closetThe charges stem from an August 2025 discovery by Lexington police. Officers were called to a home on Park Avenue for an unresponsive infant. Inside a closet, police say they found a baby boy wrapped in a towel, inside a trash bag. He was pr