Kentucky Cheerleader Horror: 21-Year-Old College Student Accused of Hiding Newborn In Her Closet

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Kentucky Cheerleader Horror - The Case of Lakin Snelling

Podcast: Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield
Host: Ashleigh Banfield
Episode: Kentucky Cheerleader Horror: 21-Year-Old College Student Accused of Hiding Newborn In Her Closet
Date: September 4, 2025

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Main Theme & Purpose

Ashleigh Banfield explores the unsettling phenomenon of young women concealing pregnancies, often resulting in tragic outcomes, centering on the high-profile case of Lakin Snelling—a University of Kentucky cheerleader accused of hiding the corpse of her newborn in her closet. Banfield draws from her decades of crime reporting, sharing insights, legal complexities, and parallels to other notorious cases, and examines the social, psychological, and legal factors underpinning these tragedies.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Lakin Snelling Case: A Kentucky Tragedy

• Background: Lakin Snelling, 21, senior cheerleader at the University of Kentucky, secretly gave birth and allegedly concealed her newborn’s corpse in a closet.
  • "You picture her smiling at pep rallies. You don’t picture someone like this standing in a courtroom accused of hiding the body of her dead baby." (02:18)
• Incident Details:
  • Police responded to a Lexington home (Aug 27) and found a black trash bag in a closet with the baby’s body and soiled cleaning supplies. (02:50)
  • Snelling admitted to giving birth and cleaning up the scene. (03:08)
  • Charges: abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant—but notably, no murder charge yet, pending autopsy and further investigation. (03:20)
    • "Investigators usually have to figure out a little bit more in the evidence column before they can lay a charge like that." (03:34)
• Legal Status:
  • Snelling posted $100,000 bond and was put under house arrest at her parents’ home in Tennessee. (04:19)
  • First court appearance (Sep 2): described as dressed in “a red cocktail dress, full makeup, full hair” and “barely looked up as her lawyer entered a not guilty plea.” (04:47–05:21)
• Medical Examiner's Update:
  • Preliminary autopsy completed but “the coroner could not determine the exact cause of death. Not yet anyway.” (05:30)
  • The investigation continues, focusing on whether the baby was born alive or stillborn—a critical legal distinction.
    • “They can tell in an autopsy if that baby had oxygen in his lungs. So…that would rule out any argument that Lakin Snelling could make that the baby was stillborn. Right?” (06:19)

2. Legal Complexities: When is it Murder?

• Mark Geragos, renowned defense attorney, explains the legal burden involved:
  • “If you can’t prove a live birth, you can’t get to murder. And…the charges they’ve got right now…I think this is about as much as they’re going to be able to charge her with.”
    – Mark Geragos, 08:34–09:22
• Banfield points out that in cases of concealed birth, the line between tragedy and criminality hinges on medical evidence (oxygen in the baby’s lungs, etc.).

3. The Pattern: Young Women, Secret Pregnancies, Concealment, and Death

• Banfield shares her personal reporting history, noting she’s covered “a dozen girls who’ve done this. Some of them got away with it and some of them did not.” (01:02)
• She recounts a story from early in her career:
  • A teenage girl in Canada secretly gave birth twice, concealing both pregnancies and outcomes from her family and community. (10:32–12:50)
• The pattern often involves girls “while living right there under their [family’s] noses.” (09:50)
  • “You think, how on earth could they not be in prison for life? Some people might say no, I don’t agree. But regarding evidence, there’s a lot you can tell in a death investigation after a birth.” (07:03)

4. Comparative Case Studies

Banfield references multiple high-profile cases to underscore patterns and legal outcomes:

• Brooke Skylar Richardson (Ohio, 2017):
  • Cheerleader acquitted of murder, convicted of corpse abuse after burying her newborn; claimed stillbirth—jury believed her. (13:26)
• Emily Weaver (Ohio, 2015):
  • College student, gave birth in a sorority house, put newborn in trash bag; convicted of aggravated murder, life without parole. (14:26)
• Alexis Avila (New Mexico, 2022):
  • Caught on surveillance throwing her newborn in a dumpster; baby survived, Avila sentenced to 16 years. (15:02)
• Alexi Treviso (New Mexico):
  • Gave birth in hospital bathroom, hid newborn in trash can, child died. Arrested for first-degree murder and tampering.
  • Legal twist: key statements and footage ruled inadmissible due to physician-patient privilege, complicating prosecution. (17:50–21:00; explained at 25:03–25:33)
• Melissa Drexler (New Jersey, 1997, “Prom Mom”):
  • Gave birth in the restroom during prom, left newborn in trash, resumed the dance; pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter, served three years. (25:36)
• Megan Huntsman (Utah):
  • Over a decade, secretly gave birth to six babies, killed them, and hid their bodies in her garage. Serving life in prison. (27:30)
    • “Let me repeat that. Megan did this six times. Different times. With six different babies that she had delivered.” (27:35)

5. Societal and Psychological Commentary

• Banfield reflects on how fear, panic, and isolation can push young women to deadly choices—especially when pregnancies are concealed from loved ones.
• She expresses empathy for their fear and “not knowing what to do and not having help,” while noting how her perspective has changed since becoming a mother herself. (12:50–13:20)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Shock of the Pattern:
  “There are so many cases that look so awful… you think, how on earth could they not be in prison for life?” (07:03)
• On the Prom Mom Case:
  “Don’t get me started on…I couldn’t even move after I gave birth. But she pulled the dress back on and went back to celebrate.” (25:44)
• Mark Geragos (Defense Attorney):
  “If you can’t prove a live birth, you can’t get to murder.” (08:52)

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Timeline & Timestamps of Important Segments

• [01:19] – Introduction to Lakin Snelling’s case
• [03:08] – Lakin Snelling’s confession and arrest details
• [04:47] – Unusual court appearance of Snelling
• [05:30] – Coroner’s findings and ongoing investigation
• [08:34] – Attorney Mark Geragos explains evidentiary challenges
• [09:27] – Speculation about how the baby was found; unconfirmed reports about friends discovering the body
• [10:32]–[12:50] – Banfield recounts an early-career Canadian case with repeated pregnancies and infant abandonment
• [13:26] – Brooke Skylar Richardson case analysis
• [14:26] – Emily Weaver and Alexis Avila cases
• [15:22]–[22:08] – Deep dive: Alexi Treviso hospital incident (includes bodycam/nurse/police audio)
• [25:36] – Melissa Drexler (“Prom Mom”) and her sentence
• [27:30] – Megan Huntsman’s serial infanticide in Utah

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Conclusion

Banfield closes with a chilling reminder: These cases, though rare, force society to confront the darkest corners of fear, secrecy, and human behavior—especially among young mothers. The Lakin Snelling case remains under investigation, emblematic of a troubling pattern that calls for deeper understanding and vigilant reporting.

“From Megan Huntsman to Alexi Treviso, from the prom mom to Brooke Skyler Richardson. These cases are all different, but they all share that one chilling thread: Young women, secret pregnancies, and babies who never had a chance.” (28:11)

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Further Developments:
Lakin Snelling’s next court date is scheduled for September 26. Banfield promises continued coverage.

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[Podcast’s Final Word]:

“The truth isn't just serious—it's drop dead serious.” (29:05)

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Transcript

[Ashley Banfield]

Mmm.

[Police Officer]

Oh. Whatcha eating?

[Hospital Nurse]

The new banana split cookie from AM pm. All freshly baked with real butter with.

[Ashley Banfield]

Banana, chocolate and strawberry flavors.

[Police Officer]

Wow, that sounds amazing.

[Ashley Banfield]

Can I have a bite? I'm sorry, but no. But you can't split the banana split. Not even a little. Not even a crumb. What if. No, please.

[Police Officer]

Mine.

[Ashley Banfield]

When it's too legit to split. That's cravenience. Get a 3 pack for 99 cents with our app ampm. Too much good stuff. Plus tax where applicable. Prices and participation may vary. Terms and conditions apply. Hi, everyone. I'm Ashley Banfield and this is Drop Dead Serious. And in this episode, a college cheerleader hides a pregnancy until her newborn baby is discovered dead inside a closet. You might think I'm talking about Lakin Snelling, the most recent headline. And I am. But I am also talking about dozens of other teen moms who have done this very same thing.

[Police Officer]

Thing.

[Ashley Banfield]

In fact, I myself, in 37 years of covering true crime, have reported on somewhere around a dozen girls who've done this. Some of them got away with it and some of them did not. And one girl did it six times. She got pregnant six times and discarded her babies. And I will get to her in just a hot minute. There's also the girl who went to her prom and gave birth in the bathroom and then went back in for a little bit more dancing. I know. I don't get that either. It is a lot to process. I've had two kids. Ain't no way I was going to be dancing. I could barely go to the bathroom. I'm sorry. That's a lot of information. But it does speak to how incredible that story is. And there are so many of these. But the most recent story involving a teenager facing charges after delivering a baby that was wrapped up and stashed away is Lakin Snelling. So here's the story of Lakin. She's a 21 year old cheerleader who secretly gave birth. And then police say she wrapped her baby's body in a towel and then stuffed it into a trash bag, hiding it away in her closet. Snelling isn't just some random college kid. She was a senior at the University of Kentucky, and as a cheerleader, she was on the stunt team. She was the kind of girl that, you know, you picture her smiling at pep rallies. You don't picture someone like this standing in a courtroom accused of hiding the body of her dead baby. But here's what police say happened on August 27, they got a call to a Lexington home and what they found was nothing short of grisly. Inside a closet in that home was a black trash bag. Inside the trash bag, actual trash, like used cleaning supplies, but also the body of a newborn infant, dead. According to an arrest citation, Lake and Snelling opened up to the police. They say she started talking and admitted that she had given birth, admitted that she tried to cover it up and clean it all up. Investigators say she told them she cleaned up the scene and put everything, the supplies, the blood and the baby into that same bag. One of the officers said, in so many words, she just treated this baby like no family's morals could ever, you know, endure. Those are my words, but I paraphrased it. Lake and Snelling was arrested and booked into the Fayette County Detention Center. The charges. This is interesting. Abuse of a corpse, I get that. Tampering with evidence, I get that, too. Concealing the birth of an infant, I get that. But no murder charge, Nothing that's not so unusual. Investigators usually have to figure out a little bit more in the evidence column before they can lay a charge like that. You know, lots of things can happen when you're giving birth, right? Moms lose their babies in the hospital stillborn or some disaster after the baby's born alive, and they can't save the baby. So these things can happen and they don't amount to murder. It's just that when no one's there, there's no witnesses. You don't know. You don't know how that baby died. Anyway, Lakin made bond. It was $100,000. She was sent to house arrest at her parents home in Jefferson City, Tennessee. It's about 200 miles away. And at a hearing on September 2nd, that is just six days after giving birth, Lake and Snelling showed up to court dressed to the nines. She was wearing a red cocktail dress, full makeup, full hair. This is an unusual choice given the situation. I don't know if anyone advised this college student to dress this way to come to court this way. I don't know if she even, you know, had enough meetings with her lawyer to know what was going to happen. I don't know that anybody told her, hey, this is a headline. Cameras are going to be there. I don't know if she chose a strategy. I'm just not sure I can tell you this, though. Lakin barely looked up as her lawyer entered a not guilty plea on her behalf. And as of this recording, which is Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025, Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn confirmed that a preliminary autopsy has been completed on this little infant. The coroner said the baby was a boy. But, and here's a big but. The coroner could not determine the exact cause of death. Not yet anyway. But that doesn't mean that Lake and Snelling is getting off scot free from a murder charge. The coroner also said that they are continuing with the death investigation. Let me read you a statement. He said this, and I quote, I recognize how deeply this case impacts the community. We, we are taking a careful step by step approach to this investigation to ensure every fact is examined. End quote. So the coroner might not have been able to determine the exact cause of this newborn baby's death, but they can still determine if the baby was alive when he was born. They can still determine often if the baby took his first breath. You know, when babies are in utero, they're not breathing, but when they are born, they aspirate for the first time and that's in the lungs. And they can tell in an autopsy if that baby had oxygen in his lungs. So if that's the case, that would rule out any argument that Lake and Snelling could make that the baby was stillborn. Right. Because if the baby's stillborn, that's not a murder. Yeah, she should have called the authorities. Yeah, all that, but it's not a murder. So it's important to know this because there are so many cases that look so awful. You know, the behavior on the part of the, of the postpartum mother is so terrible. You think, how on earth could they not be in prison for life? Some people might say no, I don't agree. But regarding evidence, there's a lot you can tell in a death investigation after a birth. And I actually spoke with Mark Garagos about a case that he actually represented where the mother gave birth twice, she did it twice, and ultimately concealed the, the body of her, of her newborns, plural. It's just amazing. It's amazing that it can happen once, imagine twice. And Mark Ergos told me on my News Nation show called Banfield, Shout out to News Nation 10 o' clock Eastern watch Banfield. He told me during the show that there are very specific reasons that play into the litigation and the charging. Have a listen.

[Mark Garagos]

My guess is, and it's a wild speculation, they cannot prove that this wasn't a stillborn. And if that's the case, if they can't prove that, then they can't get to murder. That was in the case I had was dismissed. Not once, not twice, not three times. But four times. Because every single time we went to a hearing, prosecution was unable to prove that there was a live birth. If you can't prove a live birth, you can't get to murder. And the charges they've got right now, I won't venture a guess, but it generally concedes that. And unless they've got something or that she is hiding or they don't know about yet, I think this is about as much as they're going to be able to charge her with.

[Ashley Banfield]

Authorities have not yet revealed who called the police or how the baby was found. But there are whispers out there, and I want to be super clear about this. These are not verified reports, but there is some reporting out there that some of Lake and Snelling's friends thought that something was off with Lakin. They supposedly noticed a bump, a baby bump, and then suddenly it was gone. No more baby bump. And as the story goes, after Lake and Snelling went to class, reportedly a few of those friends went into her room and that's when they found the baby. Again, I can't stress enough, this has not been confirmed. These are just reports out there. Sometimes they're true, sometimes they are not. What is confirmed, though, is that Lake and Snelling is due back in court on September 26 for her next hearing. And here's the thing. As shocking as the allegations against her are, this is not the first time that we've seen a story like this. Cases of young women somehow hiding their pregnancies from their parents, from their families, from their friends, often while living right there under their noses. Those stories happen. And those newborns also found dead, also wrapped in a towel or a blanket and then stuffed into a trash bag. Some of these stories have become infamous, in fact, across the country. And I want to tell you, I've been at this game a long time. I'm into my 38th year, and when I was sort of a cub reporter maybe, you know, I guess two or three years into my job, I ended up covering a story in Edmonton where a newborn body was found in a dumpster wrapped in some very unique towels. The patterns on the towels were very unique. So the police, police released the. The towels to the public and showed everybody, and the tips came in and they found the teenager. And I was dispatched to then, having covered this part of the story then to go to court and cover the appearance of this young woman that they brought in on this baby in the dumpster. And through her lawyer and through her, they told the story in court that she had given birth in either a hotel or an apartment. I can't remember which it was, but that the baby was dead when the baby was born. And they panicked and they wrapped the baby up in these towels and they threw the baby in the dumpster. But they had come prepared. That's the thing. They had come to this hotel or this apartment. I think it was an apartment of a friend that they were borrowing. They had come prepared with the towels. Now maybe the towels were so, you know, they could clean up the birth mess. Maybe it wasn't planned that they were going to wrap a baby's body in towels. In any case, during this hearing, it came out that she had done it before. This girl had concealed this pregnancy from her family while going to school and living in their home and then gave birth in this apartment and with her boyfriend and threw the baby in the trash. And she had done it just a few years before. Secretly had a nine month pregnancy in her parents home. Wore big sweatshirts, went to school every day, was able to conceal it. And then when it came time to give birth, this young teenager went out of the house and into a vacant lot adjacent to her home and gave birth in the field by herself. Then she said she wrapped the baby up, put it in a basket and put it on the front door, the doorstep, the stoop of someone in the neighborhood. And sure enough, it panned out. We checked the headlines and there was this abandoned baby in that neighborhood. It blew me away way. And I remember as a young reporter, I might have been like 23 or so feeling for her. I was bewildered that, that she could hide these pregnancies from her family, her parents for so long. But I understood the panic and the fear of not knowing what to do and not having help. Anyway, I'm a little different now because I've been through it. I've got my own children. I feel differently. But there are a couple of other cases I wanted to tell you about as well. Do you remember Brooke Schuyler Richardson? Ohio? Yeah. This grabbed national headlines because she was also a high school cheerleader. And she delivered a baby girl in Secret back in 2017. And hours later, she buried the infant in her backyard. Skylar Richardson claimed that the baby was stillborn and a jury let her walk. They acquitted her of murder, but they did convict her of abuse of a corpse. She avoided prison time instead serving probation. But I will never forget the picture of her in her prom dress because she is so clearly pregnant. She told everybody she had just put on weight, but come on, she wore A form fitting prom dress and went to prom pregnant. Also in Ohio, Emily Weaver, a college student who gave birth in a sorority house. This happened in 2015. They said she put her newborn in a trash bag and then left the child to die. A jury convicted her of aggravated murder, and she was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. In New Mexico, 18 year old Alexis Avila was caught on surveillance video throwing her newborn into a dumpster in Hobbs. This was back in 2022. And miraculously, that baby boy survived after being found hours later by people who were rummaging through the trash, Alexis was sent. Alexis. Okay. Alexis was sentenced to 16 years in prison. And then there's Alexi Treviso. And then there's Alexi Treviso, also in New Mexico. She was just 19 years old when she walked into a hospital in Artesia, New Mexico. She was complaining of back pain. But doctors, as smart as they are, quickly realized this girl was in labor. Police say Alexei locked herself in a bathroom. Oh, okay. So they asked her if there was any chance she might be pregnant and her mom was with her and like, chimed in right away, absolutely not. She's a virgin. She's not pregnant.

[Police Officer]

Eek.

[Ashley Banfield]

Police say Alexei then locked herself in a bathroom in the hospital and gave birth to that baby boy and then placed that boy in a trash bag in the bathroom. That bag was hidden in a hospital garbage can. And unfortunately, by the time the baby was found, it was too late. The child had died. And one of the craziest parts of this case was the amount of surveillance video and police body cam that essentially captured just about everything that Alexi did. Take a look.

[Police Officer]

Lexi, I told you about this.

[Detective]

You are detained. You are not free to leave at this point. Do you understand that?

[Police Officer]

How big is the baby?

[Hospital Nurse]

It's full term.

[Police Officer]

What?

[Hospital Nurse]

So we started working her up. We did a pregnancy test on it showed positive she was a nine. That she had sex. Then she said she had to go to the bathroom. She went to the bathroom. She was in there for quite a while. We kept knocking on the door. Finally, we got her to open the door, and there was blood everywhere. She was cleaning it up. So we took her back to the room. And I was afraid that she knew she was pregnant, she had done something to herself. So the doctor started doing a exam on her. 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.

[Detective]

Yeah. How old was the. How old was the baby?

[Hospital Nurse]

I don't know. It's full term. 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 if she's pregnant. She's been lying the whole time. Okay, so that's what's going on. I just pulled the doctor out of the room. So nothing's been said of the patient or the mother that's in there yet.

[Detective]

Okay.

[Hospital Nurse]

I have Leela, the housekeeper, if you want to interview her. Yeah, she's the one that kind of found.

[Detective]

Yeah, because I wanted to get with you guys first and then get with her to get her statement before I even do anything.

[Hospital Nurse]

Well, I'm the charge, and this is what has happened.

[Detective]

Okay?

[Hospital Nurse]

You can interview the nurse that had her.

[Detective]

Okay?

[Hospital Nurse]

The two nurses that were taking care of her. You can talk to the tech, which is Lori. She's the one that went in there and actually found it. Because Lila's like, this is really heavy.

[Detective]

Okay.

[Hospital Nurse]

So then Lori went in there, and of course, the baby was underneath the rig, the clean liner.

[Detective]

Okay. Yeah, we can. If we can speak with Lori.

[Police Officer]

So, Officer. So the first thing, though, is I need to make sure that the. The mother. The woman who delivered the baby is medically stable. I don't know if she told me. Lived at placenta. She's bleeding a lot. I just got her accepted to Loveless, so I need to get her up there as soon as possible.

[Detective]

Okay.

[Police Officer]

Okay, so how. I need to tell her what's going on, and I need to tell the mother what's going. The mother. They're both in there together. Do. Would. Is one of you willing to be. Be present for that conversation? Are you guys going? Okay, let's go in right now.

[Detective]

And we're doing that.

[Hospital Nurse]

And then I'll. I'll make sure Lea comes down. All the other nurses and stuff are here, and I'll get Lea.

[Police Officer]

Okay.

[Hospital Nurse]

Hey, Marina, will you get Lea back down here?

[Detective]

Marina.

[Police Officer]

I'm sorry. We discovered a dead baby in the bathroom.

[Ashley Banfield]

Oh, my gosh.

[Detective]

Sorry.

[Police Officer]

He came out at me, and I didn't know what to do. Lexi, I told you about this. I just asked you baby to tell me the truth.

[Detective]

Was not crying or meding.

[Ashley Banfield]

What did you do to it?

[Police Officer]

Okay, stop right here. Stop, Stop. Number one priority, guys. Number one Priority is she just had a baby. I don't know if she's delivered the placenta, she's bleeding significantly. Yeah, I've spoken to the obstetrician at Loveless. They want her up there as soon as possible. We need. I need your. Obviously need your permission to transfer her from medical. She needs to.

[Hospital Nurse]

She's 19.

[Police Officer]

Oh, you're right.

[Ashley Banfield]

But she is a student, too.

[Police Officer]

You're right, you're right. She needs to. I'm sorry, I forgot.

[Detective]

She's 19.

[Police Officer]

You need to. For. To make sure that you're safe. I need to send you to. Left Loveless to labor delivery. Will you please agree to that? Yes, yes, yes, I'll agree. I'm gonna work on that. In terms. I'm sorry about this, but in terms of delivering a baby and it looked like you tried to hide it. We do have to have the police involved. And that thing was crying. It came out with that thing. I know, I know, but the baby's gonna have to be taken for autopsy and, you know, be an investigator and everything. I'm really sorry, guys. Sorry. I'm so sorry that we need to do this correctly. And I want to be transparent with you about what our steps are going to be. Okay? Officer, do you need to. Do you guys need to talk to her before we get her transferred?

[Detective]

How long is it going to be before you have to transfer?

[Police Officer]

I don't know. Are you working on. Okay, Maria, do you think, 20, 30 minutes?

[Ashley Banfield]

Yeah, hopefully, yes.

[Police Officer]

Okay.

[Detective]

I got. I got detectives on the way, so they're gonna be talking for.

[Police Officer]

Okay.

[Hospital Nurse]

Do you guys have. I'm the charge nurse here. Do you guys have any questions for me?

[Ashley Banfield]

Like, how big is the baby?

[Police Officer]

It's full term, what, nine months? Something was crying. Let's see. Have you watched the news of the girls that.

[Ashley Banfield]

What they do to their babies and what they go to jail?

[Hospital Nurse]

Any, Any, any. Any other questions?

[Ashley Banfield]

Okay.

[Detective]

So as of right now, like, what I said is we're gonna have the detectives come over here and they're going to talk to you, okay? We have to gather some more information about what's been. What's going on. They'll get your statement, they're gonna get the doctor statements, they're gonna get everybody's statements. Okay? So I don't know everything yet. Okay, so I'm not gonna tell you. I can't tell you nothing, honestly. Okay.

[Police Officer]

Couldn't go to jail.

[Ashley Banfield]

No.

[Detective]

Well, right now she's being detained, so she. She's not going to leave from here at all, period. Okay, so one of us will be in your custody. Yeah, she's detained. Yeah, she's not under arrest, but she is detained, okay? She's not free to leave. So while this whole thing is coming up is you're not free to leave, okay? One of us will be in here the whole time with you because you're not going to try to leave or nothing like that. The detectives will be here, they're going to talk to you. I mean, your care is of the utmost right now, okay? They're going to do what they need to do to take care of you, to make sure you get stable, they get you transferred out or whatever. Like I said, the detectives already been notified. They're already on the way, so they're going to come talk to you, all right? So don't leave. Don't try to do nothing. One of us is always going to be in here in this room with you, okay? Unless we have to step out for doctor's orders, something like that. Because if they need to examine you or do something with you other than that, like I said, you are detained. You are not free to leave at this point. Do you understand that?

[Police Officer]

Yes, sir.

[Detective]

Okay.

[Ashley Banfield]

Where was the baby at?

[Detective]

I don't know. I have no clue yet. Like I said, I just talked to the charge nurse. We're still getting all the information right now.

[Ashley Banfield]

Okay.

[Detective]

Okay. Once we get that information, like I said, the detectives, they can clue you in on everything and talk to you more about it.

[Police Officer]

Okay?

[Detective]

All right. So do you happen to have an ID on.

[Police Officer]

Yes, she does.

[Detective]

Okay. Can we get that? Ma', am? Could we get your idea also?

[Police Officer]

Can I step out? I'm gonna call my husband.

[Detective]

Yes. Yeah, you'll be fine.

[Police Officer]

I'll be.

[Detective]

Exactly the same. Baby, could you do me a favor? Run these two and add to the record call, okay?

[Hospital Nurse]

It'll be New Mexico, D.L.

[Ashley Banfield]

Both of them.

[Detective]

Whenever you're ready.

[Police Officer]

Where did you put the baby at? Tell me the truth. Got in there.

[Hospital Nurse]

517.

[Ashley Banfield]

That came out in the toilet.

[Police Officer]

You put it in the bag? Yes. In what bag? Why did you say anything to us? Do you want to get in trouble for this now? You could get in trouble for this baby, Mom.

[Detective]

All right, Just give it time, okay? I'm going to speak to detectives. Whenever she's ready. Okay? You ready for the second one?

[Ashley Banfield]

Alexi Treviso was arrested and charged with first degree murder and tampering with evidence. To be clear, this story is far from resolved. Alexi Treviso's scheduled trial was canceled, and then Vacated. And the court scrapped her August 2024 trial date after a judge ruled that key statements that she made, plus key video footage that you just saw from inside the hospital, those were inadmissible in court. They were ruled protected under physician patient privilege. And that makes perfect sense, right? You have privilege with your doctor when you're talking to your doctor. But here's what I don't understand. Usually when it's a lawyer, you've got privilege. Anything you say to your lawyer. But if there's a third party there, privilege is waived because you're yammering in front of a third party. And with Alexei's mother, that's a third party. So I'm a little surprised that they determined that she hadn't waived privilege with her doctor by speaking in front of a third party. So that's just kind of strange. She's 19, right? So it's not as though she's a child with her mother. Therefore, maybe the privilege would hold because she's a minor. No, she's an adult. And she says things in front of the hospital staff and the mother. And then there's Melissa Drexler, forever branded the prom mom. I remember this one back in 1997. So she goes to her high school prom in New Jersey, and she goes into the bathroom in the middle of the prom and gives birth. And then, like so many other girls before her and after her, she leaves the baby in a trash can. But then this is where it goes sideways. Melissa Drexler went back to the prom. She went back to the dance floor to have a little more dance. And she even ate. I mean, the party continued. Don't get me started on how, like, just physiologically, how I couldn't even move after I gave birth. But she pulled the dress back on and went back to celebrate. And I think that's why so many people were so angry with her. She ended up pleading guilty to aggravated manslaughter, but she only served three years behind bars. Again, plea deal. Now, let me tell you about another case, because this one is perhaps the most incredible story of a young mom killing her baby and covering it up. It's the case of Megan Huntsman, because Megan didn't just do it once or even twice like some of the cases that we've covered. Megan did it six times. Let me repeat that. Megan did this six times. Different times. With six different babies that she had delivered. I know. Get a drink. I thought it was a typo, but the investigators in Utah say that Megan Huntsman carried out one of the most shocking crimes in the state's history. They say that over the span of a decade, she secretly gave birth to six babies and then killed them. Their tiny bodies were hidden away in her garage. This is bizarre. They were stuffed inside cardboard boxes. It was her estranged husband who finally stumbled upon the bodies of these babies. Megan Huntsman admitted what she'd done and is now serving life in prison. And there it is. From Megan Huntsman to Alexi Treviso, from the prom mom to Brooke Skyler Richardson. These cases are all different, but they all share that one chilling thread. Young women, secret pregnancies, and babies who never had a chance. What happened in that Lexington closet with Lake and Snelling may still be under a deep death investigation, but one thing is crystal clear. The story has rattled a community. It's raised impossible questions, and it's forced us to look at the darker corners of human behavior, especially for teenage moms. I'm going to keep following every development in this case. And I encourage you. I always say it. Make sure that you subscribe, because if something happens, sometimes I drop these little extras and I don't want you to miss them. I'm Ashley Banfield. Thank you so much for watching. And remember, the truth isn't just serious, it's drop dead serious.