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Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
FRIDAY NIGHT SPECIAL: BEAUTY-QUEEN-CHEERLEADER'S BABY DEAD IN CLOSET, CASE HEADS TO GRAND JURY
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This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
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It'S gotta be tied Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. It's Friday night and it's time for a Friday night special. And boy, is this special. Did Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling actually take selfies while she is in labor while giving birth? Leave the baby to die. Who, by the way, we now learn, was whimpering. Translation was alive. Leave the baby wrapped up in a blanket and a trash bag in her closet, either dead or dying, and then pop out for McDonald's Rut Roe, I'm Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us. We are learning from court documents that the Kentucky stunt girl cheerleader beauty queen Laken Snelling took selfies while she's giving birth just before she secretly delivers her baby, then allegedly leaving it wrapped up in blankets, towels in a trash bag in her closet and then dashes out to get McDonald's. Take a listen to this.
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According to an affidavit, Snelling reportedly gave birth to a baby boy around 4am on Aug. 27, with the infant falling onto the floor of her bedroom. She says she heard the baby make a noise. She stated to investigators that she remained conscious for about 30 minutes before losing consciousness. Upon waking, she noticed the baby was turning blue and purple, which led her to believe he was no longer alive. In a moment of distress, she says, she wrapped the baby in a towel and placed him on the floor beside her for comfort. Snelling subsequently fell asleep and woke again around 7:30am when her alarm went off. Following this, she allegedly placed the baby and the placenta in a black trash bag and hid it in her closet. Roommates reported hearing a loud noise around 4am more than four hours later. Snelling informed them that she had fainted, which caused the commotion and the loud noise. After the incident, she reportedly left her apartment, skipped her 9:30am class and ordered food from McDonald's on her app and then picked it up. Although she visited the student clinic, she said she did not enter the facility. During Snelling's absence, her roommates entered the room and discovered a blood soaked towel on the floor and a plastic bag containing evidence of a childbirth. An incident report noted that the baby was, quote, cold to the touch. Snelling returned to her apartment around 10:30am where she was met with law enforcement. She was subsequently taken by local police and later transported to a local hospital for medical evaluation after requesting to be checked out.
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Okay, according to what we are learning right now, Snelling's phone was full of images of her during labor. Photos of her doing things ordinary pregnant women should not be doing. Now that's according to court documents. Then she deletes, tries to delete the photos in an apparent attempt to hide the birth of the baby. These affidavits are chock full of evidence. Okay, wait a minute. Let's back it up. After giving birth, the beauty queen cheerleader reportedly stuffs the baby boy in a trash bag, then heads to McDonald's for a tiny bite. Okay, we still don't know a COD cause of death on the baby, but we do know that roommates sneak into her room to find a blood soaked towel on the floor and a plastic bag, quote, containing evidence of childbirth. Take a listen to this, Lake.
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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 Sept. 26 court appearance, the grand jury will likely be asked to indict Snelling on three charges and 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.
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How did we get here? 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. Representing Jefferson County Fair, I am Lakin Snelling.
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Laken attends the University of Kentucky and she's 20 years of age. Her parents are Terry and Michelle Snelling 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 the Jefferson County Fair Student Fair and being able to.
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Represent her county, 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?
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Listen 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.
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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 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.
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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.
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And out in the 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. What does it mean to be Barbie? It's a plastic doll with fake breasts. Why do you want to be that?
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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? Does she.
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Wait, wait, wait. Can I see that video again of her in the Foe? I guess that's. No, the faux. That. That. That was. That's very similar to a Barbie outfit my sister had.
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That's right.
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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, 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?
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Who wants to be Barbie as somebody who's more living in fantasy than reality? Hey, Nancy, you. That sound you just played, the inside of her apartment was pink. She lived in a. Barbie 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?
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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 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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Yes, it is.
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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 that murder because very often, as you rightly pointed out, Josh Colesrude, 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?
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Yes. And she also admitted that he 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.
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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? Involuntary. You know, I don't get it.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Guys, you are seeing shots of beauty queen Cheerleader Lake and 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. What is this? Bethany, Help me out.
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Nancy. Not only is she in denial, the whole team is denial. Is in denial. I mean, who's going to 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.
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A member of the University of Kentucky stunt team, Lake and Snelling, is driven, admired, and hired a secret that will crack her dreams.
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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?
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Right.
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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.
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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 crowns 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?
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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.
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Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
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In the.
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Last days, a woman charged and a baby's Death pleads not guilty as affidavits reveal claims by police that the Kentucky cheerleader Lake and Snelling giving birth, then brazenly goes to eat McDonald's while the baby is in her closet. I don't know. By that time, was it dead, was it alive? We know that. She also says the baby was whimpering. She heard whimpering sounds, which means the baby was alive. Listen.
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A new subpoena filed last month in December, ordering the University of Kentucky Medical center to provide Snelling's medical records from August 2024 to present. The hospital has until January 20th to comply. That is the facility which treated Snelling hours after she allegedly gave birth to a baby which she says fell onto the floor of her bedroom. That statement about the birth was allegedly made at the school's medical facility during one of Snelling's interviews with members of the Lexington Police Department.
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Back to the case. Dr. Kendall Crown's joining us. 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.
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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.
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Kendall Crown's right there. Right there. You have to 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?
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That's correct.
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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?
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Well, it depends on how old the baby is gestationally, if they are newborn. If they are a newborn, their lungs are about a couple inches, maybe.
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Have you done a water test on a baby?
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Yes.
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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?
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F
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.
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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?
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F
It's tap water, and it's in basically a big cup.
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You know, we are talking on and on and on. Dr. Kendall crowns about Lake and 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 Colesrude 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?
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F
That's correct. I mean, if they've taken a breath, the lungs will float, but it could also mean they were given cpr. 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.
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A
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?
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F
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. 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.
- [30:25]
A
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?
- [30:42]
F
Correct. Yes.
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A
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 code. If the baby was dead when it was born, was stillborn, then there's not going to be a murder prosecution. As Josh Colesride pointed out, a lot is riding on the cause of death. What else will be done? Dr. KendallKrans.
- [31:09]
F
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 they, 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.
- [32:09]
A
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 gave, 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.
- [32:38]
G
That's right. And while we have not been able to confirm that she told anyone about this pregnancy, as we spoke 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.
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Good evening.
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F
Representing Jefferson County Fair.
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I am lan Styling.
- [33:14]
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Lake attends the University of Kentucky as 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 Ferry Student affair and being able to represent her camp.
- [33:44]
A
I want to be very clear at this juncture, Lake and Snellings is not charged with murder. We are waiting on a full and complete autopsy report. A roommate's dog leads to a horrific.
- [33:59]
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Discovery inside Laken Snelling's closet. Inside a box, black trash bag, the remains of a baby boy, along with the evidence used to hide the birth.
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Lake and Snellings 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, 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?
- [36:17]
D
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. 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.
- [37:41]
A
You know, Dr. Bethany, here's something I don't understand. And I'm not saying pro or con. 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.
- [38:07]
D
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, 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.
- [39:00]
A
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.
- [39:09]
B
Lake and Snelling pleads not guilty to all three charges levied her and posted her $100,000 bond. Snelling has been placed on house arrest at her parents Jefferson City home. She will not be required to wear an ankle monitor. Her next scheduled appearance in a Fayette county court is September 26th.
- [39:29]
F
I understand you've got terms as far as your release. Just make sure you divide by the.
- [39:34]
A
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.
- [39:49]
G
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.
- [40:00]
D
Why?
- [40:01]
A
Josh Colesrude, 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?
- [40:13]
E
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? And here you're dealing with somebody who doesn't have any problem.
- [40:37]
A
Could it be that she's young and pretty and rich and white? What about that? Does that factor into that bond decision? Because I think it does. Is she pretty for Jail because that worked with Deborah Lefebvre. Is that what happens? She's just too cute?
- [40:57]
E
Well, in this case, respectfully, she has not been accused of murdering anybody yet. The only charges in this case so far are abuse of a corpse and some lower and some lesser included charges as well. So until the time that the state actually accuses her of murdering an infant child, she's going to be treated as a low level offender.
- [41:30]
A
Crime stories with Nancy Grace. Cheerleader Laken Snelling originally tells cops the baby fell to the floor, fell on the floor after she gave birth, but she didn't think the baby was breathing or alive. According to the affidavit that we have obtained. She says that she thought the baby was dead and wrapped it like a, quote, burrito and laid next to it on the floor because it gave her a little comfort. What about the baby? She says she woke up 7:30am Put the baby in a trash bag. Yeah, that's normal. Then showered, cleaned up blood, placed placenta in a Ziploc bag before skipping morning classes and going for McDonald's. That's what we are learning. But here is the critical moment. Here is the critical statement. She admitted to medical staff the baby had shown, quote, a little bit of fetal movement and made a whimper after he was born. Then she deletes the photo she took while she was giving birth. Investigators believe there could be more images removed from her phone before her arrest. They will have to get that forensically after a search warrant is obtained for her phone. What more do we know?
- [43:04]
F
I'm going to need you to send a deputy over here to 125 Lakeside. We got a newborn baby's been discarded. Looks like it's dead. Okay. This call's annoyed, too.
- [43:14]
C
Yep.
- [43:15]
F
Thanks. Bye.
- [43:16]
B
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.
- [43:37]
A
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.
- [43:48]
F
Listen, the pathologist is going to be able to tell. Yeah. The cause of death on the child. And did you do anything physically? No, I didn't do anything physically. I really obviously didn't do much at all. I was more concerned about me than I'm. If I was my intention, like, look at it.
- [44:15]
A
I feel like. I mean, I would have, like, not put Its head up and just let it drown.
- [44:20]
F
You know what I mean? But it wasn't like I intentionally inflicted her. More kids did. Did you try and keep her alive? I didn't do anything to keep her.
- [44:38]
A
And then you add on Emily Weaver's texts 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 Alexei Chavizo.
- [45:41]
F
We had the lady come to clean the bathroom. She put. 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? Yeah. How old was the. How was the baby? I don't know. It's full time. She just had it. She had it in the bathroom was. What happened.
- [46:09]
A
And then she.
- [46:09]
F
Whatever she did.
- [46:10]
C
I know.
- [46:10]
B
Don't.
- [46:10]
F
I don't know if she's gonna lie. She wouldn't even tell us she's pregnant. She's been lying the whole time.
- [46:14]
A
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. We discovered a dead baby in the bathroom. Oh, my gosh. I'm sorry. I came up at me, and I didn't know what to do. Lexi, I told you about this. I. I just asked you baby to.
- [46:37]
D
Tell me the truth.
- [46:40]
A
It was not crying or napping.
- [46:44]
D
And nothing was crying.
- [46:46]
A
It came out with nothing.
- [46:49]
F
Do you guys have. I'm the charge nurser. Do you guys have any questions for me?
- [46:52]
A
Like, how big is it? It's full term, what, nine months? Nothing was crying. Let's see. Have you watched the news of the girls that. What they do to their babies and what they go to jail? I was crying. Doctor Bethany Marshall. What's with that, Mom?
- [47:16]
D
The mom seems more concerned about her daughter than her grandbaby. It's. 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 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.
- [47:41]
A
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?
- [48:22]
F
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.
- [48:45]
A
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.
- [48:57]
F
Is your bedroom upstairs or bathroom upstairs. Okay. So you had to walk downstairs?
- [49:01]
A
I had to clean myself up a little.
- [49:02]
F
Are you carrying her?
- [49:03]
A
Yes. Did you go into the garage or.
- [49:07]
F
Do you have an outdoor shed?
- [49:08]
A
Like where you have a shovel? Oh, my gosh.
- [49:10]
B
Okay.
- [49:10]
F
And what did you find her? What did you use?
- [49:12]
A
Just kind of shovel. I just put a little hole in my backyard and put her in it.
- [49:17]
F
Okay, I understand. What did you do?
- [49:19]
A
Did you have. And you didn't have any help?
- [49:21]
B
Right.
- [49:22]
F
Okay. What did you do with her while you were digging the hole?
- [49:25]
A
I set her down. 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?
- [49:46]
F
Yeah, 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.
- [50:04]
A
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.
- [50:20]
F
Tommy, tell us what's going on. He said you have to tell us.
- [50:23]
B
You're 18.
- [50:23]
F
You can't tell us.
- [50:25]
A
I tried to cremate the baby just a little. You tried to cremate the baby? Yes, I know I did it. I want to be very clear at this juncture. Lake and 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 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. Leaving the stunt team, Lake and Snelling needs to consider life behind bars and what that will be like. We wait as justice unfolds. Goodbye. Hi, friends. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.