← Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
Arrest Warrant for Kentucky Cheerleader, Laken Snelling, Newborn Found Dead in Closet: Court This Week
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- [00:00]
Nancy Grace
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
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- [01:57]
Nancy Grace
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
- [02:03]
Narrator/Reporter
An arrest warrant issued for Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling after her dead newborn baby boy found hidden in her closet. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us. That's right, a university Kentucky cheerleader charged with leaving her newborn baby boy dead. Kentucky law enforcement issued an arrest warrant for Lakin Snelling, 21 years old, less than 24 hours after a grand jury indicts her.
- [02:41]
Lakin Snelling, a former University of Kentucky student athlete accused of killing her newborn baby, pleaded not guilty to a first degree manslaughter charge. In a Kentucky courtroom, a grand jury indicted Snelling on the charge of first degree manslaughter after the Kentucky medical Examiner's office determined the infant was born alive and died of asphyxia by undetermined means. Snelling is accused of giving birth in her off campus apartment, placing the newborn in a trash bag and leaving the baby in a closet, then going to class. She previously told police she did not believe the baby was breathing. The former stunt team member at the University of Kentucky is not currently in jail, but she is under strict house arrest after being indicted for first degree manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence concealing the birth of an infant. Regarding the death of her newborn baby, Snelling has pleaded not guilty and has a pretrial conference scheduled for May 14, followed by a status hearing on June 12. If convicted, Snelling faces 10 to 20 years in prison.
- [03:42]
What do we know about the Lakin Snelling case?
- [03:47]
Nancy Grace
Chilling words after her baby, her newborn is found wrapped in a blanket, then a trash bag, dead in her closet.
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Narrator/Reporter
Laken Snelling, a radiant beauty pageant queen excelling in her final year of college. But is something dark hiding behind the pageant smile?
- [04:10]
Nancy Grace
Something dark? There's a dead baby in her closet now. If you want to call that dark, that's certainly putting perfume on the pig. Joining me, an all star panel to make sense of what we are learning. And I am still done.
- [04:22]
Lakin Snelling (recorded statement)
Listen to this Good evening representing Jefferson County Fair, I am lan Snelling,
- [04:36]
Mood.com Advertiser
Lan
- [04:37]
Narrator/Reporter
Attens, the University of Kentucky and she's 20 years of age. Her parents are Terry and Michelle Snelling of Morrison. Making a needs list while also being a Student Athlete. Division 1 Athlete on the stunt team at the University of Kentucky. 100 plus community service hours in the past year. Honored to be crowned at Jefferson County Fair Student Fair and being able to represent our county.
- [05:07]
Nancy Grace
That is from the Jefferson County Fairest of the Fair beauty pageant that she won. But can we get to right now and what leads up to the discovery of a dead infant baby boy in her closet? Listen.
- [05:24]
Narrator/Reporter
Laken Snelling is entering her senior year on the cheer stunt team at the University of Kentucky. Snelling grew up in the small town of White Pine, Tennessee where she was the Jefferson County High School varsity cheerleader and crowned Jefferson County's Fairest of the Fair. Snelling is a self proclaimed real life Barbie with an all pink apartment, Barbie G and fabulous clothes and pageant gowns to match. Snelling has an entire Instagram profile Dedicated to selling her old wardrobe, Snelling reveals that she is dating another student athlete with an impressive basketball career. Snelling brings her beau home for Easter and over the summer posts professional photos with him.
- [06:09]
Nancy Grace
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 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@Dr.bethany marshall.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.
- [07:31]
Dr. Bethany Marshall
This woman's life, this young woman's life is wrapped in fantasy, not reality. 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.
- [07:50]
Nancy Grace
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 being better, was better than being Lake and Snellings. Okay, now wait a minute.
- [08:10]
Dr. Bethany Marshall
Yes.
- [08:11]
Nancy Grace
What does it mean to be Barbie? It's a plastic doll with fake breasts. Why do you want to be that?
- [08:16]
Dr. Bethany Marshall
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?
- [08:38]
Nancy Grace
Wait, wait, wait. Who wants to be Barbie?
- [08:40]
Dr. Bethany Marshall
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 just that. It's adult. 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 then the reality of changing diapers, holding a baby? Babies have needs, you know, And I
- [09:28]
Nancy Grace
want to clear one thing up. Dr. Bethany Marshall. You can be anything and have played with Barbies as a little girl. My sister that had the Barbies, she's a brainiac. You know, I tried to read something she published. It was just a bunch of formulas with, you know, like elements. And I'm like, okay, 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. Okay, you know what? I've gone down the Barbie trail way too long. Okay? That's not gonna help anybody at trial. I want to get to the facts and what we know. Take a listen to this.
- [10:10]
Narrator/Reporter
10:30am Wednesday morning, Lexington PD responds to a call about an unresponsive infant found in a student apartment in one of the tenants closets in 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.
- [10:42]
Nancy Grace
What I'm saying here to Josh Colesrud. He is a high profile criminal defense attorney, former felony prosecutor, founder of Colesrude 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 played 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.
- [11:35]
Josh Colesrud
Well, you know, these cases are tough, Nancy. You know, there's a very similar case that happened in 2017, Skyler Richardson, high profile case in Ohio. It was a cheerleader. And in that case, she was charged with murder, with second degree murder. And they went to trial and the prosecution lost. They lost because neonanticide, which is the intentional killing of a baby within 24 hours, is extremely difficult to prove because the scientific tests generally cannot say with any certainty that murder was the result. And so here we just don't have enough information yet. The coroner has stated that, you know, that it's inconclusive right now. They are doing additional tests. But I looked into this and the additional tests are all going to have innocent explanations. Number one, I think that the prosecution,
- [12:33]
Nancy Grace
you go on and on thinking you were going to come back, circle back to the question, which you did not, while you stay, that Brooks Skyler Richardson was found not guilty. Isn't it true that she was convicted of abuse of a corpse? She was not let go. She was actually found guilty, Isn't that correct?
- [12:57]
Josh Colesrud
Yes, it is.
- [12:58]
Nancy Grace
Okay, you know, I'm sorry I had to put your feet to the fire on that. But you were suggesting that she walked away scot free. What you did say that I find pertinent is that the forensics couldn't prove murder because very often, as you rightly pointed out, Josh Colesrood, it's very difficult to get a COD cause of death in a case like this. But isn't Skylar Richardson the one that buried the baby in the backyard after she tried to burn the baby's body?
- [13:26]
Josh Colesrud
Yes. And she also admitted that the baby was alive. She told the police that she heard a gurgle and that it was briefly alive. She said this to actually her parents who were in the interrogation room when they didn't believe that the recording was still going on.
- [13:44]
Nancy Grace
Josh, do you even remember the question I asked you? What you just said made Skylar look even worse. Skylar Richardson. Because the baby was alive. She said it was gurgling and alive when she gave birth. Now it's up to a jury to determine how the baby was born alive and ended up burned and buried in the backyard. That said, my question was to you. You know what? I'm going to go to Chris Byers. Chris Byers, private investigator, owner of Byers Investigative Services. For my purposes, he is the former police Chief of Johns Creek, 25 years in LA law enforcement. Byers Isn't it true that you guys work the case of the dead baby, but when it gets to court, somehow when the victim is a baby, an infant, it gets played down to involuntary or voluntary? You know, I don't get it.
- [14:40]
Chris Byers
In my experience with any of the cases that I've had like that, they have been pled down. And yeah, I can't explain it from the law enforcement side, that's for sure.
- [14:48]
Nancy Grace
Guys, how did the baby end up wrapped in a blanket in her closet? Do you think it wrapped itself up and went in the closet and died? Joining me now, hermania Rodriguez, Chief US Reporter, DailyMail.com Hermania, do we know if Snellings had roommates? Because I'm trying to figure out who would call 911.
- [15:13]
Hermania Rodriguez
Right. That's one of the questions that remains unanswered in this case. Police have refused to say whether Snelling had any roommates and who called the police that morning. So that remains open ended. However, there's a lot of online speculation that says it was a roommate that called the police that morning.
- [15:34]
Nancy Grace
Guys, you are seeing shots of beauty queen cheerleader Laken Snellings. We already know that systematically, cases involving victims that are infants or children, but especially infants, are typically pled down and treated as less important than adult victims. I don't get it. You know, I'm just thinking about who called 911. How did she keep the baby a secret? Isn't it true, Hermania Rodriguez, that she was a fantastic athlete? She was a stunt person on the college cheerleading team, and you can see that she's pregnant during her stunts. Let's take a look at video of Lake and Snellings. There you go. That is a baby right there. The bait. The baby is in there. I'm not a medical doctor, but I can see that much. She was still performing stunts as a cheerleader while pregnant. What? You know what, Dr. Bethany Marshall. Denial. It ain't just a river in Egypt. Come on, what is this? Bethany, help me out.
- [16:54]
Dr. Bethany Marshall
Nancy, not only is she in denial, the whole team is in denial. I mean, who's gonna pull a stunt like that when you have a baby in your tummy? Nancy, what this tells me is she was already disconnecting from the baby as she was pregnant. A mother who wants a baby or who has a wanted baby in her tummy is not going to pull a stunt like that because the maternal instinct is to protect your child. Nancy, did you hear what the reporter just said? When she put that baby in the plastic bag, she threw the cleaning Material. On top of it, she threw trash on her baby. It's. It's so disturbing.
- [17:39]
Narrator/Reporter
A member of the University of Kentucky stunt team, Lake and Snelling is driven, admired, and hiding a secret that will crack her dreams.
- [17:48]
Nancy Grace
And right now, she is accused of a major felony after her dead infant baby boy is found wrapped in towels and a trash bag in her closet. Straight out to Hermania Rodriguez, joining us from Daily Mail, Hermionia. There are two lines of inquiry right now as to who called 911, and this is important. Okay? You may think, who cares who called 911? They found a dead baby in the closet. But does the person that called 911 have other facts and evidence that would be probative? So these are the two lines of inquiry. One report is that roommates became suspicious after Lake and Snelling came back to school at the end of the summer. She didn't look the same as she did when spring semester ended. She looked pregnant. Then on that Wednesday morning, the pregnancy bump was gone. So when she went to class that day, they, the roommates, decided to go into her room and take a look. There are also reports that one of the roommates had a dog that was going berserk outside Lake and Snelling's room and outside of her closet. And because of that, they looked in the closet. Both reports indicate one of the roommates called 91 1. Do you know anything about either of those two reports, hermania?
- [19:21]
Hermania Rodriguez
Right. I have seen those reports. One is from a local, and the other one really comes from this Facebook page that is about the case. However, we have gone to police to ask about the circumstances of who called 911, and they still are not ready to release that information.
- [19:38]
Nancy Grace
Guys, you're seeing video of Lake and Snell, and it's kind of amazing how someone that seemingly has the world at their feet, you know, there's no question she's beautiful, she's vivacious, she's healthy, she's smart. And now she's charged with a felony. I think a lot will ride on the cause of death, but right now, that code remains undetermined. Joining me right now, renowned medical examiner, the chief medical examiner of Tarrant county, that's Fort Worth, Texas, esteemed lecturer at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU and star of a hit new podcast, Mayhem in the morgue. Dr. Kendall Crown's joining us. What does that tell me? They don't have a COD yet. Cause of death. Let me read between the lines. That tells me there was no visible COD like You could just look at the baby and say, oh, the baby was bludgeoned dead or the baby was shot or the baby was stabbed, or ligature strangulation or manual strangulation. Maybe even you might need a microscopic exam to determine if there were particular hemorrhage to the eyes. But that tells me that the COD was none of those things. What's happening, Dr. Kendall? Crowns.
- [21:13]
Dr. Kendall Crowns
So typically with the babies that are found in trash bags, you first have to determine if they were born alive. There are certain things that you can look for. One of them is gestational age. If they're under 22 weeks, they probably couldn't have survived being born. If they have this thing called maceration, which is a overall kind of reddish decoloration sloughing of the skin of the baby, you know, they died in utero. And then finally, do they have any major birth defects, like they have no brain or something of that nature? Then you go from there and you have to figure out, if you determine that they could have been born alive, then you have to determine if they actually took a breath. And that can be a number of tests that are actually not all that accurate. There's the float test with the lung, but that can be disrupted by decomposition.
- [22:08]
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- [23:39]
Nancy Grace
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A Kentucky cheerleader sought on an arrest
- [23:44]
Narrator/Reporter
warrant after she's indicted by a secret grand jury for the death of her baby boy found dead in her closet. Snelling, 22, indicted on first degree manslaughter after the death of her baby boy newborn. She allegedly wrapped him in a towel and left him in a trash bag after she gave birth. Now Snelling has been under house arrest. She was initially charged with abuse of a corpse only and tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant. Those were the original charges. She pled not guilty. Now she's being sought on manslaughter charges, facing a maximum of 20 years behind bars. What do we know about the case?
- [24:30]
Nancy Grace
Dr. Kendall crowns, I appreciate your vast knowledge. I also appreciate all of your episodes on Mayhem in the Morgue. I do. I've listened to them. They're amazing. But could you please dummy down, man? You said, oh. Unless they did a flotation test. What? Not everybody works in the morgue. Not everybody knows what you're talking about. You just rattled off about 15 medical phrases. I'm surprised you didn't throw Latin at me. Could you just start over and speak regular people talk, please? If not for the listener, for me. Please start over, if you don't mind.
- [25:08]
Dr. Kendall Crowns
So the main thing like I was talking about is they're going to be looking for any signs that the child was living when it was born. So did it take a breath? And if it took a breath, the lungs will fill up with air and they could potentially float if you put them in water. So you could say, oh, that they breathe if the lungs float in water. The problem with the flotation test, Dr.
- [25:30]
Nancy Grace
Kendall Crown's right there. Right there. You have to extend Explain what that means because that reminds me of when we were first told the Idaho four students that were murdered by Brian Kohberger died in their sleep. It's almost like they drifted off to a lullaby and they woke up in heaven. That's not what happened. They fought for their lives. It was horrible. You're saying the lungs are tested? What I believe you mean is this infant is cut open, its lungs are removed and they're put in water to see if they float. Is that what that means?
- [26:03]
Dr. Kendall Crowns
That's correct.
- [26:04]
Nancy Grace
You just rattle it off the tip of Your tongue? Like it's nothing. This is a baby. Dr. Kendall crowns. That now has to be cut open and its lungs removed from its little body. How big are baby lungs? How big are they? And then dunked in water. How big is an infant's lungs?
- [26:21]
Dr. Kendall Crowns
Well, it depends on how old the baby is gestationally, if they are newborn. If they are a newborn, their lungs are about. Well, a couple inches, maybe.
- [26:31]
Nancy Grace
Have you done a water test on a baby?
- [26:33]
Dr. Kendall Crowns
Yes.
- [26:33]
Nancy Grace
I mean, what went through your mind when you're cutting out a baby's lungs that are this big? About the size of a good cup, a kitchen measuring cup. I mean, do you look at it in your hands and think, my stars. What happened?
- [26:49]
Dr. Kendall Crowns
So when I'm doing an autopsy on a baby, it's no different than doing an autopsy in adults. I have to determine the cause and manner of death. And it's just. It is what it is. I have to figure out what happened to this child or happened to the adult, and that's the purpose of my employment.
- [27:03]
Nancy Grace
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?
- [27:38]
Dr. Kendall Crowns
It's tap water, and it's in a. Basically a big cup.
- [27:42]
Nancy Grace
You know, we are talking on and on and on, Dr. Kendall crowns about Lakins 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 in. Josh Colesrood would not answer earlier. Former federal prosecutor. I mean. Okay, back to you, Dr. Kimmel 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?
- [28:34]
Dr. Kendall Crowns
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.
- [28:57]
Nancy Grace
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?
- [29:10]
Dr. Kendall Crowns
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.
- [29:27]
Nancy Grace
Okay, so you compare the float test of the liver to the float test of the lungs. And if the liver goes down and the lungs go up, that indicates the lungs are floating because the baby breathed, not because of decompositional gases. Is that right?
- [29:44]
Dr. Kendall Crowns
Correct. Yes.
- [29:46]
Nancy Grace
Okay. So that's what's happening to the baby. What else will be examined to determine the COD of this baby? Because this all hinges on the cod. If the baby was dead when it was born, was stillborn, if the. Then there's not going to be a murder prosecution. As Josh Colesrug pointed out, a lot is riding on the cause of death. What else will be done? Dr. Kendallkrowns.
- [30:11]
Dr. Kendall Crowns
So what else will be done is microscopic analysis or looking at sections of the tissue under a microscope, looking for any disease processes. Also, you'll be looking at the lungs there as well, looking to see if the air sacs or the alveoli in the lungs have filled up with air. The other thing you'll be looking at is the placenta, if it's available, looking at the placenta, looking for any evidence of hemorrhage or loss of oxygen or infarction or infection of the membranes. You'll be looking at the umbilical cord to see if it's normally formed, if it was wrapped around the child's neck, or if it has inflammation as well. And then you'll also be looking for any evidence of trauma, birth trauma, where, like, the shoulder got stuck and they had to pull the child very hard, fracturing the shoulder or separating the neck. You'll also be looking for inflicted trauma like crushing of the ribs, breaking of the extremities or the long bones of the extremities or crushing of the skull.
- [31:11]
Nancy Grace
Hermania Rodriguez, DailyMail.com Thinking about and analyzing what Dr. Kendall Krause just said regarding was the baby's shoulder broken or prolapsed when it was delivered, other injuries to the baby during delivery, it's my understanding that she had the pregnancy bump one day and the next day Wednesday it was gone and she went to class. So obviously she did not have any injuries.
- [31:40]
Hermania Rodriguez
That's right. And while we have not been able to confirm that she told anyone about this pregnancy, as we saw, the images show that she has a visible bump that she then did not have after giving birth. So I think it's safe to say she was probably not injured. And the autopsy report did say that the baby did not have any obvious injuries either.
- [32:03]
Lakin Snelling (recorded statement)
Good evening. Representing Jefferson County Fair, I am Lakin Snelling.
- [32:15]
Narrator/Reporter
Laken attends the University of Kentucky as she's 20 years of age. Her parents are Terry and Michelle Snelling of Morrison, making the needs list while also being a student athlete, Division 1 athlete on the stunt team at the University of Kentucky, 100 plus community service hours in the past year, honored to be crowned at Jefferson County Ferry Student Fair and being able to represent our county.
- [32:45]
A roommate's dog leads to a horrific discovery inside Lake and Snelling's closet. Inside a black trash bag, the remains of a baby boy along with the evidence used to hide the birth.
- [32:58]
Nancy Grace
Lake and Snelling's caught on video stating how grateful she is for, quote, family. I don't know if that includes the baby boy found wrapped in towels in a trash bag in her closet, but I want you to see some text that we've uncovered. Here is Laken Snellings and if you see her goals, let's see a close up of her goals and motherhood. Well then that baby is getting fed a bottle by a loving mom with blonde hair like Lake and Snellings. That is not what happened to this baby. And also circled as her goal is a family with two children, an engagement ring, money and a house. What more have we learned? Being 20 is so weird. Like I'm an adult but I still can't really do anything. But people my age have kids. Well, I think she knows the answer to that. I actually start tweaking at the fact I may only birth boys and never get a girl. That would be a little small miniature me. My parents had a whole child at my Age. And I don't even know how to drive onto the tracks of a car wash. Okay, this and watching the kids play in the yard. She seems like she'd be a great mom. How I sleep at night knowing I'm dating the person I'm going to marry. Marriage is scary. What if he doesn't want to put our daughter in cheer the second she can walk? Okay, I need a shrink and I need a shrink right now. Dr. Bethany Marshall. The. Well, they all are significant. Okay, yes, none of this will likely ever come before a jury because they will be deemed not probative. In other words, they're incendiary and they don't really prove anything. Right, but what about the part about I want to have a mini me? What if I only birth boys? Which this was a baby boy and I don't have a girl. I don't have a mini me. That means something. Dr. Bethany what?
- [35:06]
Dr. Bethany Marshall
It tells me that she's preoccupied with having an idealized life with a little girl who's just like her. That she's very self centered. Nancy, she's wrapped up in her own little world. These texts are not to another person. These texts are to herself. She is preoccupied with herself. Now, women who commit infanticide usually are not attached to the baby when they are pregnant. The baby is like an it a thing. It does not have a personality. Nancy, when you were first pregnant, I remember you told me we're on the set of Court tv. You were so excited. You were attached to your babies. Is called maternal preoccupation when you're attached. She likely was not attached to the baby. She was attached to herself. And she was attached to the idea of an idealized life. There's the ring, then there's the baby, then there's the cash, then there's the house. Oh, there's the family. So this baby probably was getting in the way of some scheme or plan that she already had. Maybe she was getting ready for a prom. Maybe she wanted to wear a wedding dress. Maybe she wanted to find a really rich guy. Or she wanted the perfect wedding and this baby was just inconvenient because the little baby didn't come around at the right time in her whatever her plan was for her life.
- [36:29]
Nancy Grace
You know, Dr. Bethany, here's something I don't understand. And I'm not saying pro or conversation. Abortion. I'm not arguing about abortion tonight. That's a whole nother can of worms. But if you don't want the baby, why wait nine months and give birth and then murder the baby. Why do that? You know, as opposed to terminating the pregnancy in the first three months?
- [36:56]
Dr. Bethany Marshall
Nancy, in order to plan for an abortion, you have to be tethered to reality. Reality is that there is a baby inside of you. That baby is growing. That baby will be a person in the real world with real needs. A need for food, a need for love, a need for care. I would doubt that she would even be attached enough to this baby to plan any kind of medical procedure. I doubt she even went to a doctor and got her vitamins or her prenatal care or anything like that. That's one of the more fascinating parts of this story was did anybody recognize she was pregnant? Did her own mother recognize? What about the other people on the cheer team? Or was this sort of a pipe dream about having a baby at some point in her life, but at that point, she didn't imagine herself to be pregnant. She was just dissociated from the reality of it all.
- [37:48]
Nancy Grace
And again, I'm not going down the pro life or pro abortion rabbit hole, but I want to get back to the facts. Listen to this.
- [37:58]
Narrator/Reporter
Lake and Snelling pleads not guilty to all three charges levied against her and posted her $100,000 bond.
- [38:06]
Law Enforcement/Investigator
You got terms as far as your picture of release? Just make sure you divide by those
- [38:10]
Nancy Grace
terms that from our friends at wkyt. And you heard the judge there at the end, Judge John Tackett. Wait a minute. Hermionia. She not only has walked free, but she doesn't even have to wear an ankle monitor.
- [38:25]
Hermania Rodriguez
That's right, Nancy. The judge ordered her to await trial at her parents home in Tennessee and specified that she would not have to wear an ankle monitor while she awaits her trial.
- [38:36]
Nancy Grace
Why? Josh Coles, Rude. You're the former federal prosecutor. Why not even wear an ankle monitor? Forget the ankle monitor. To hay with that, why is she out on bond?
- [38:49]
Josh Colesrud
Well, typically judges have to look at two different prongs when evaluating whether or not to give somebody a bond and if so, how much? The first is, is the person a substantial danger to the community? And the second is, are they a substantial flight risk?
- [39:16]
Nancy Grace
Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
- [39:23]
Narrator/Reporter
I mentioned the Kentucky cheerleader lakin snelling, facing 20 years if convicted on manslaughter. There's also an additional 11 years behind bars for the remaining counts of tampering with evidence concealing a corpse. Her indictment was close on the heels of a Kentucky medical examiner's report that said the baby was born alive but died of asphyxia, smothering suffocation Strangulation. That's what asphyxia means. What do we know about the facts surrounding the case?
- [39:54]
Tim, University PD Dispatcher
Hey, it's Tim. University PD yeah, I'm going to need you to send a deputy over here to 125 Lakeside. We got a newborn baby. It's been discarded. Looks like it's dead.
- [40:05]
Dr. Kendall Crowns
Okay.
- [40:05]
Tim, University PD Dispatcher
This car's on the way, too. Yep. Thanks. Bye.
- [40:08]
Narrator/Reporter
Muskingum University Delta Gamma Theta sisters find a suspicious trash bag just outside the front door. Tearing it open, they make a gruesome discovery. Next to an instant Mac and cheese box lies a dead baby girl. Emily Weaver admits she birthed the baby in the downstairs bathroom of the Theta house.
- [40:29]
Nancy Grace
Okay, in that case, sorority sisters find a dead infant in a trash bag right outside their front door, and they immediately suspect Emma Emil Weaver.
- [40:40]
Emily Weaver (recorded statement)
Listen, that the pathologist is going to
- [40:43]
Nancy Grace
be able to tell.
- [40:44]
Emily Weaver (recorded statement)
Yeah. The cause of death on the child. And did you do anything physically to. No, I didn't do anything physically. I really obviously didn't do much at all. I was more concerned about being. If I was my intention, like, look at it. I feel like. I mean, I would have, like, not put its head up and just let it drop. You know what I mean? But it wasn't like I intentionally inflicted harm on my kids.
- [41:18]
Dish Network Advertiser
You did.
- [41:21]
Emily Weaver (recorded statement)
Did you try and keep her alive? I didn't do anything to keep her.
- [41:30]
Nancy Grace
And then you add on Emily Weaver's text that she had been arguing with the BF boyfriend for about a month about the quote situation. And then after, just a few hours after giving birth, sends a text, no more baby taken care of. The baby was asphyxiated. Suffocated, dead. Prosecutors argued she intentionally killed the baby by putting the baby in the trash where it suffocated. And she was sentenced to life. That's what happened there. So I'm just thinking through the having the baby and doing nothing to keep the baby alive. Not just that. Putting the baby in a trash bag wrapped in a towel, as in this case. Could that have been the cause of asphyxiation in the case in Chief? Now, that case was about Emily Weaver. But then there is Alexi Chavizo.
- [42:33]
Law Enforcement/Investigator
We had the lady come to clean the bathroom. She put the baby in the trash can, and then she put another clean liner over the top of it. So they look. When they looked in there, it looked. There was no trash in there, but it was underneath the clean bag. The baby's dead. Okay, we have him in trauma, too. But she killed the kid.
- [42:54]
Emily Weaver (recorded statement)
Yeah.
- [42:55]
Law Enforcement/Investigator
How old was the.
- [42:55]
Dr. Kendall Crowns
How Old was the baby?
- [42:56]
Law Enforcement/Investigator
I don't know. It's full time. She just had it. She had it in the bathroom. Was what happened? And then she. Whatever she did. I don't know. She's gonna lie. She wouldn't tell us she's pregnant. She's been lying the whole time.
- [43:06]
Nancy Grace
So she goes in the bathroom, pregnant, and then suddenly the baby's gone. And it's underneath the clean bag near the trash can. There's more.
- [43:17]
Narrator/Reporter
We discovered a dead baby in the bathroom.
- [43:19]
Nancy Grace
Oh my gosh. The first.
- [43:22]
Weight Watchers Med Plus Advertiser
Sorry.
- [43:22]
Interviewer/Reporter
He came up at me and I didn't know what to do.
- [43:24]
Nancy Grace
Lexi, I told you about this.
- [43:28]
Interviewer/Reporter
I just asked you baby to tell me the truth.
- [43:31]
Weight Watchers Med Plus Advertiser
Scary.
- [43:32]
Interviewer/Reporter
It was not crying or knocking. And nothing was crying. It came out with nothing.
- [43:41]
Law Enforcement/Investigator
Do you guys have. I'm the charge nurse here. Do you guys have any questions for me?
- [43:44]
Interviewer/Reporter
Like how big is the baby?
- [43:45]
Nancy Grace
It's full term, what,
- [43:49]
Interviewer/Reporter
nine months? Something was crying. Let's see. Have you watched the news of feed the girls that what they do to their babies and when they go to jail. I was crying.
- [44:06]
Nancy Grace
Doctor Bethany Marshall. What's with that mom?
- [44:08]
Dr. Bethany Marshall
The mom seems more concerned about her daughter than her grandbaby. It's really concerning. And you know, this is what we call Nancy, a soft kill. When women kill their babies, usually it's suffocating, suffocating them, poisoning them. Whereas with men it tends to be some more of overt physical violence. So this is just a soft kill. And the mother never says, oh my God, my grandbaby. Those words do not come out of the mother's mouth.
- [44:33]
Nancy Grace
I don't like anything you just said. Soft kill. Those words don't go together. Imagine how awful it would be to be murdered by, let's just say asphyxiation. Then imagine if you're a baby, you can't speak, you can't move, you can't run away, you can't fight back. You have to just lay there and die with something held down over your nose and mouth. And to Dr. Kendall, Crown's soft kill. My rear end. Could this baby have died by asphyxiation? Simply by the baby being wrapped in towels and put in a trash bag. Could that have asphyxiated, suffocated the baby?
- [45:14]
Dr. Kendall Crowns
Yes, we see that occasionally with full term infants or babies that are beyond the 23 week gestation. The mother places it in the trash bag and seals the trash bag, throwing it in the trash. There's not enough oxygen in there for the child to survive. And so they eventually will suffocate by being in a plastic bag. Just as if you put a plastic bag over your head, it would suffocate you.
- [45:37]
Nancy Grace
And then to Chris Byers, private investigator at Byers Investigative Services, I want you to hear this case similar and it's one brought up by Josh Colrud. It's Skyler Richardson.
- [45:49]
Interviewer/Reporter
Is your bedroom upstairs or bathroom? Upstairs. Okay. So you had to walk downstairs?
- [45:53]
I had to clean myself up a little.
- [45:54]
Are you carrying her?
- [45:56]
Yes.
- [45:57]
Did you go into the garage or do you have an outdoor shed like where you have a shovel?
- [46:01]
Oh my gosh.
- [46:02]
Okay. When. What did you find or what did you use?
- [46:04]
I just found a shuffle. I just put a little hole in my backyard and put her in it.
- [46:09]
Okay, I understand. What did you do?
- [46:11]
Emily Weaver (recorded statement)
Did you have.
- [46:12]
Interviewer/Reporter
And you didn't have any help? Right. Okay. What did you do with her while you were digging the hole?
- [46:19]
Nancy Grace
And Chris Byers, in that particular case, Skylar Richardson, dad asked tell us what's going on. And she says, I tried to cremate the baby just a little. She tried to burn the baby, Chris?
- [46:37]
Dr. Kendall Crowns
Yeah.
- [46:37]
Chris Byers
That is absolutely mind blowing. That level of evil, I just can't even imagine. Just, just all of these cases we see just the level of selfishness and self absorbedness in these, in these girls. And just treating these babies just like garbage just absolutely blows my mind.
- [46:54]
Nancy Grace
Like garbage in every way. Putting it, putting babies in trash, throwing them in dumpsters. I want you to hear it from the horse's mouth, Chris. Here's Skylar Richardson stating that she tried to cremate the baby just a little.
- [47:12]
Interviewer/Reporter
He says, you have to tell us. You're 18, you can't tell us.
- [47:16]
I tried to cremate the baby just a little.
- [47:18]
Nancy Grace
You tried to cremate the baby?
- [47:20]
Interviewer/Reporter
Yeah.
- [47:24]
Narrator/Reporter
Kentucky cheerleader Lakin Snelling hit the headlines when a body, a body of a newborn baby boy was found hidden in a her closet in the off campus apartment she shared with roommates. The beauty queen turned cheerleader charged three days after she gave birth, but only with minor felonies. Now that charge upgraded by a grand jury to manslaughter. Kentucky cheerleader beauty queen Lake and Snelling's roommates told cops they thought she was concealing a pregnancy for some time. Then they said they heard strange noises coming from her room. Authorities believe that was her during childbirth. After giving birth, she allegedly cleaned up the room and left her home to go to McDonald's.
- [48:16]
Nancy Grace
Okay.
- [48:17]
Narrator/Reporter
Roommates said they found the newborn baby boy dead in a blood soaked towel left on the floor of her closet wrapped in a plastic bag. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend.
- [48:45]
Nancy Grace
This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.