Former University of Kentucky Cheerleader Charged With 1st Degree Manslaughter

This is an iHeart podcast.

Guaranteed Human

You know what I can really go for right now?

Literally anything that comes in a McDonald's carton,

wrapper, or bag, or a McDonald's cup.

Yes, any of those items you do it.

We've got your cravings covered.

Now, stop in for the flaky filet of fish.

The crispy snack wrap or a large fries for just $2.99.

Limited time only, price and participation may vary.

Cannot be combined with any other offer.

There's a difference between liking a house and actually getting it.

Redfin is built to make up that difference and close the gap between finding and owning the home for you.

Redfin agents close twice as many deals as other agents.

So when you find a home you love, you're not a step behind when it comes to making an offer.

That means less watching great homes disappear and more focus on the one you'll call home.

Redfin helps turn saved listings into real addresses.

Get started at redfin.com. Own the dream.

Do you want to find a stress-free way to buy your next car?

Start at CarMax and shop your way.

If you want to browse with confidence, get pre-qualified online

but no impact on your credit score and shop cars within your budget.

From luxury cars to family rides.

CarMax has options for almost every price range,

including more than $25,000 cars priced under $25,000.

So hey, want to get started?

Just head to CarMax.com for details and get pre-qualified today.

Want to drive? CarMax.

This is Sophia Bush from work in progress with Sophia Bush.

Bring the good with avocados from Mexico.

Upgrade your meals, your get-togethers, even your everyday life.

Give your moments a little glow up.

Either one everyone's glad showed up

because avocados from Mexico spark the joy with every bite.

And by the way, they're good for you too.

So elevate your everyday.

Bring the good flavor so rich and cravable.

Avocados from Mexico. Always good.

We all have different styles.

I may be into Levi's and you may be into Fendi or Mu Mu.

But we all should be into Poshmark.com, right?

Because we can all find exactly what we want to fit our style.

Poshmark has millions of new and pre-lived pieces.

Vintage, luxury, men's, women's, children's.

Everything from car heart to coach.

Download the Poshmark app and sign up with code podcast 10

and get $10 off your first purchase.

Hey there folks, it is Wednesday March 11th

and a grand jury.

Thanks a college cheerleader should face manslaughter charges

in the death of her newborn.

And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.

Robes, I don't think I've seen a headline

that didn't include the fact that she was a cheerleader

right or wrong she was.

And that's just the fact of the case that is getting a lot of attention.

Yes, we're talking about at the time she was 21 years old,

Lincoln, smelling a senior at the University of Kentucky.

And yes, her cheerleading picture is everywhere

because she looks like this.

All American girl at the University of Kentucky,

how could she be capable of doing what prosecutors claim she did?

You know what?

If you haven't been following this story at all just right now,

close your eyes and picture a University of Kentucky cheerleader,

she probably comes to mind.

Yes.

Right, she just fits that bill.

She looks like that.

So I guess Robes, that was a part, a lot of the intrigue,

but she is a senior, she was 21 years old,

I guess a lot of the details of this,

of this crime now are certainly horrific,

but the update we just got, Robes,

she was initially arrested, but she's been out

and we just got an update this week.

They presented evidence to a grand jury.

They gave the grand jury all of the evidence from the autopsy,

the medical examiner, interviews with her roommates

and even interviews with her.

Because initially she was charged with abuse of a corpse,

tampering with physical evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant.

I didn't even know that was a crime,

concealing the birth of an infant.

I was gonna ask you about that earlier.

That seems so sad to me.

I'm imagining, look, I am not excusing anything

that she is being charged with and certainly believed

that if you take a life for whatever reason,

you need to be able to have your day in court

and explain yourself and face charges.

But concealing the birth of an infant,

I see a scared young girl who didn't know what to do and panicked.

And I just, my heart breaks because this is just

an awful situation all around.

You think about this young girl who was living one life

as a cheerleader or a college student

and was probably just unwilling to accept

the reality for a situation and then panicked.

So I didn't know you could be charged

because you didn't let anyone know you gave birth.

I didn't realize I was a crime.

You know what?

Two things on this.

One is I didn't realize it needed to be a crime.

Quite frankly.

I think from a practical standpoint,

yes, as a society, we document when people

come into this world and we document when they leave.

That's true.

And this is part of it.

We can't just have some new human running around there

that we don't know about.

So yes, I meant to ask you about that earlier

because I've not heard of it.

It's the first time I've ever seen that,

actually written down and as I was reading it out loud,

I thought, wow, this is a crime.

But yes, as you point out, that does make sense.

Once you give birth to another human being,

that human being has to be acknowledged,

the birth needs to be recorded.

It's your responsibility as a mom,

as a parent, to document that you have just brought a human

into the world.

I guess it makes sense.

I just never imagined that.

So yes, those were the initial charges.

She was arrested.

She had a hearing.

They again gave this case to a grand jury

while she was put on house arrest.

She was given a monitor.

She has a monitor on her and was staying with her father,

I believe.

But now a grand jury has indicted her

on first degree manslaughter charges

and so a new warrant for her arrest has been issued.

And she is now going to have to go through another

excuse me, another hearing next month

to face this new, much more serious charge.

And this all stems from story last year.

We did get into it and talk about it here on the podcast.

But this was last year, last summer,

that authorities were first alerted and got a call

about an unresponsive infant.

Now, this young lady at this apartment,

robes, they did not live on campus.

We need to make that clear.

So the apartment was not on campus.

But they got there and found,

yes, an unresponsive infant.

And I guess robes,

yeah, it was clear that the baby

wasn't just placed there.

People, somebody went through some effort

to conceal maybe.

Yes. And Lincoln's Nelling has officially talked to police.

But this all came to their,

they became aware of the situation

because of her own roommates, called 911.

They said they heard noises, strange noises coming

from her room.

Then she left and they found

this baby wrapped in a towel

and then placed in a black trash bag.

And Lincoln apparently had said

she wasn't feeling well,

that she was going to go to the school health center clinic.

She did go to class.

And then she stopped by a McDonald's.

I believe that's where they found her.

And she was outside of the health clinic,

but she never actually went in.

And she basically pretty quickly admitted to police

that she gave birth to the baby

and that she thought the baby was alive,

but that she fell asleep on top of the baby.

That is what her official statement is

as to what happened to the child that she was exhausted.

She fell asleep on top of him when she woke up.

He was blue.

This is what she's told police.

I mean, she gets to have her say in her day in court.

I mean, yeah, I reserve

until you hear from this young lady,

who's right now her life has just changed.

Oh, yes.

And so up to a jury,

someone going to hear,

I'm going to be sympathetic.

I'm going to hear, as you say,

a young lady who was scared,

she panicked and she did this thing,

or are they going to hear something else

about this young lady and how she behaved

that led up to this.

We don't know.

And also, where's the dad in this?

That's never once been talked about.

I've never seen one article

that at least even acknowledges

that if someone even knew they were the father,

that hasn't even been talked about.

In any article I've seen,

but certainly I imagine as this does

eventually make its way into court,

all of those questions will be asked.

The grand jury was actually given options.

I believe a four levels of homicide

and they decided that manslaughter

in the first degree was the charge

that should come out,

but they could have charged her with an array

of different types of homicide charges,

but based on the information they were given,

and they went through the whole process.

A grand jury, of course,

is done in secret,

but this is an opportunity for the prosecution

to put forth all of their evidence

in grand jury investigations.

The defense does not actually even have a say.

They're just trying to figure out

if there is enough evidence

to pursue further charges,

and this grand jury thought there were,

so this young lady,

I believe she is now 22 years old,

is now going to have to face

first degree manslaughter charges

in addition to the other charges

that were already brought against her

back in August when the baby was first found.

I don't know.

I haven't checked to see what the,

I guess, what the present time is.

First degree manslaughter.

I have to look that up.

This is just a tough, tough situation.

Something else that came out

that I thought was interesting,

police have said,

that obviously when they go to investigate

these sorts of things,

they look at all the evidence they could possibly

get, and a lot of evidence these days

is on our phone, correct?

I mean, that's where,

I feel like so many crimes are solved,

or at least litigated,

because of evidence that's on your phone.

And that is the case as well,

because they say she deleted labor photos

and evidence of the pregnancy

from her phone.

She deleted them.

So she was trying to basically make it seem

as though she was never pregnant

and a baby was never born.

And that is a part of the evidence

that the grand jury was looking at

when they came up with this determination

to go forward with this more serious charge.

Well, yeah.

That lends to a different theory

about someone who is just panicked.

That's a different theory.

It sounds like someone who obviously

knew she was pregnant.

Maybe she didn't know until late.

Even if you give her that,

I mean, Robes suggest someone

is trying to get away

and certainly hide

of crime.

Yes.

Yes.

And that is what police believe,

and that is what a grand jury has decided as well.

And look, I always just find these sorts of cases,

especially, we don't know when she knew she was pregnant.

How long she knew she was pregnant?

There are so many questions in this.

She was a cheerleader.

She was active.

She was a student athlete.

So to be able to hide a pregnancy like this

all the way up until the moment you give birth

is something that I always have a hard time imagining.

I haven't been pregnant twice in my life.

The idea of being able to hide it.

The idea of not knowing.

And we see cases like this all the time

of women literally not knowing their pregnant,

having pain and thinking what's going on

and suddenly a baby is there.

We don't know at what point she realized she was pregnant.

We don't have any of that information.

But stay here.

We'll explain what she told police,

according to police documents,

about the death of her child and why she laid next to him.

Stay here.

There's so much noise around weight loss right now.

Trends, opinions, medications.

It could be hard to know what's actually right for you.

That's where weight loss by hers comes in.

Hers offers access to Dr.

developed weight loss treatment plans

that are personalized to you.

Hers goes beyond medication with ongoing care,

nutrition and lifestyle tips,

tools to track movement, hydration and sleep,

plus 24-7 support.

And everything is done online with providers

who learn your story and help create a plan

designed around your goals.

Feel like you're best self again.

Visit for hers dot com slash Amy

to get a personalized affordable plan that gets you.

That's for hers dot com slash Amy.

That's F-O-R-H-E-R-S dot com slash Amy.

For hers dot com slash Amy.

Weight loss by hers is not available everywhere,

prescription required.

See website for full details,

important safety information and restrictions.

You know what I could really go for right now?

Literally anything that comes

in a McDonald's carton,

wrapper or bag,

or a McDonald's cup.

Yes, any of those items you do it.

We've got your cravings covered.

Now stop in for the flaky filet of fish,

the crispy snack wrap,

or a large fries for just $2.99.

Limited time only,

price and participation may vary,

cannot be combined with any other offer.

This is Sophia Bush from work in progress,

with Sophia Bush.

Bring the good with avocados for Mexico.

Upgrade your meals,

your get-togethers,

even your everyday life.

Give your moments a little glow up.

Either one,

everyone's glad showed up.

Because avocados for Mexico spark the joy with every bite.

And by the way,

they're good for you too.

So elevate your everyday.

Bring the good flavor.

So rich and craveable.

Avocado for Mexico.

Always good.

We all have different styles.

I may be into Levi's,

and you may be into Fendi or Mu Mu.

But we all should be into Poshmark.com.

Right?

Because we can all find exactly what we want to fit our style.

Poshmark has millions of new and pre-lived pieces.

Vintage, luxury, men's, women's, children's.

Everything from car heart to coach.

Download the Poshmark app,

and sign up with code podcast10

and get $10 off your first purchase.

This is David Eagleman from the Inner Cosmos Podcast.

As a neuroscientist,

I think a lot about how our brains shape our experience of reality,

and how easily we get pulled into mental habits,

that we don't even notice.

This plays out every day

in how we respond to stress and information overload

and the constant demands of our attention.

That's why I use the Waking Up app from Sam Harris.

It brings together meditation and neuroscience and philosophy

to help you see what your mind is doing in real time.

We can't escape our thoughts,

but we can understand them to respond with more patience and clarity.

The practices in the app are easy to fit into a busy routine

and they support a steadier, healthier mind.

If you're ready to train,

the mind that's behind everything you do,

you can unlock Waking Up free for 30 days

at WakingUp.com slash Inner Cosmos.

Welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and DJ.

We're updating a story we first told you about last summer

in August.

Upcoming incoming college senior at the University of Kentucky,

a cheerleader, a stunt squad member,

Laken Snelling,

had been found with a newborn child in her closet,

hidden, wrapped, the child had died,

but upon further investigation,

the autopsy show that the child was born alive,

police had initially charged.

Laken Snelling with some lesser degrees, lesser charges,

but a grand jury this week has handed down

a much more serious indictment against Snelling.

They are charging her now with first degree manslaughter

in the death of her newborn.

Her roommates were the folks who first alerted police.

They called 911 and the investigation has been going on now

for months and now this young woman is going to be facing

a much more serious charge.

You asked before the break just what the punishment is.

If you're found guilty of first degree manslaughter

and it's actually much more serious than I imagined,

it's considered a class A felony.

Basically you are being charged for recklessly causing

the death of another person and you can face a sentence

of up to life in prison.

Yeah, I don't know man.

I don't know.

What do you do here?

The child was born alive and the one person

who had a decision to make about that child's life failed it.

I don't know what the reasons were.

I will be open minded to hear, but my goodness.

It's devastating and this is a tough, tough, tough case.

The medical examiner in Kentucky, they're determined,

yes, that the baby was in fact born alive

and the cause of death was listed as as fixia by undetermined means.

And I think this will be a big deal when and if this does go to court.

Who knows, she could make a plea deal with prosecutors.

That would possibly be a way forward in this case.

But if it does go to trial, certainly that undetermined means will be in question

because from what we hear from Lincoln snelling by all accounts,

she didn't intend to kill her baby.

She says she felt asleep on top of him that she was awake for about 30 minutes.

She did say she heard the baby he, she said he so it was a little boy,

makes them whimper.

So she did acknowledge that the baby was born alive.

That's of note and the medical examiner also agreed with that.

So she never has tried to say that the baby was still born and she didn't know what to do.

She has admitted that the baby was born alive.

It's what happened next that is a fight about in court.

Yes.

She says she accidentally killed her child.

Okay.

If a jury determines that's the case, then it's a matter of her mistreating a corpse.

But that is the case.

Did she kill this baby or not?

And the problem is the only person who knows is Lincoln snelling.

No one else was in the room.

Her roommates, by all accounts, no one even knew she was pregnant.

She, no one has come forward saying they knew she was pregnant

that she talked about her pregnancy, that she talked about being nervous,

about not knowing what to do.

This came as a surprise to the girls who lived with her.

And look, you live with a bunch of girls off campus, been there, done that.

It's hard to imagine that no one knew she had, she was nine months pregnant.

That's a remarkable thing to me to even get my head around.

And then to only have reported hearing noises.

Obviously they thought something strange was going on and they went into her room

and they investigated and they found the baby wrapped up like a burrito

as how the baby was described in a trash bag in her closet.

Now she did say that she laid next to this baby to comfort the baby, correct?

That was what she told police that this was giving her comfort

and that the death was purely accidental.

So look, we will have to wait and see what happens next.

Again, she has a court hearing next month in April.

Perhaps she'll say something.

Perhaps she won't, but her next arrangement is on April 10th.

We will continue to follow this story.

This story, but it certainly is a sad one.

And we certainly, you know, it's hard to say if this was an accident,

if this was a panicked moment, certainly the cover-up after the fact,

she's admitted to panicking and not knowing what to do.

But this is just a heartbreaking story all around.

And we just appreciate you listening to us.

Update you on this latest information.

Come in out of Kentucky.

I'm Amy Robot.

Alongside my partner, TJ Holmes, we will talk to you soon.

This is Julian Edelman from Games with Names.

I want to take a second to talk about something that's personal to me.

I've had the privilege of working closely with Robert Kraft for a long time.

And one thing I've always respected is how seriously he takes up standing up to hate.

As a Jewish athlete, my identity is something I am proud of.

But I also know what it feels like to be singled out for it.

That's why this new commercial for the Blue Square Alliance against hate

that aired during the big game really hit home.

It's about showing up for someone when they're targeted,

even if you don't have the perfect words.

And sometimes standing next to someone is enough.

And you can show support by sharing the Blue Square.

This is Sophia Bush from Work in Progress with Sophia Bush.

Bring the good with avocados from Mexico.

Upgrade your meals, your get togethers, even your everyday life.

Give your moments a little glow up.

Either one, everyone's glad showed up

because avocados from Mexico spark the joy with every bite.

And by the way, they're good for you too.

So elevate your everyday.

Bring the good flavor, so rich and cravable.

Avocados from Mexico.

Always good.

We all have different styles.

I may be into Levi's and you may be into Fendi or Mu Mu.

But we all should be into Poshmark.com.

Right? Because we can all find exactly what we want to fit our style.

Poshmark has millions of new and pre-lived pieces.

Vintage, luxury, men's, women's, children's.

Everything from car heart to coach.

Download the Poshmark app and sign up with code podcast10

and get $10 off your first purchase.

This is David Eagleman from the Inner Cosmos Podcast.

As a neuroscientist, I think a lot about how our brains shape our experience of reality

and how easily we get pulled into mental habits that we don't even notice.

This plays out every day and how we respond to stress and information overload

and the constant demands of our attention.

That's why I use the Waking Up app from Sam Harris.

It brings together meditation and neuroscience and philosophy

to help you see what your mind is doing in real time.

We can't escape our thoughts, but we can understand them

to respond with more patience and clarity.

The practices in the app are easy to fit into a busy routine

and they support a steadier, healthier mind.

If you're ready to train the mind that's behind everything you do,

you can unlock waking up free for 30 days

at wakingup.com slash Inner Cosmos.

It's tax season, and by now we're all a bit tired of numbers.

But here's an important one you need to hear.

$16 billion. That's how much money and refunds the IRS

flanked for possible identity fraud.

But it's not all grim news.

LifeLock monitors millions of data points per second

and alerts you to threats you could easily miss on your own.

If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it.

Guaranteed. Save up to 40% your first year.

Visit lifelock.com slash iHeart.

Terms apply.

This is an iHeart podcast.

Guaranteed Human.