University of Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling’s newborn had been dead for hours when someone found the tiny body in a closet at her off-campus home, according to newly released information from authorities.
On Aug. 27, at 10:34 a.m., a Lexington police dispatcher received a 911 call about a newborn wrapped in a towel inside a trash bag in the closet of an off-campus home on Park Ave., according to Lexington Police Department call dispatch records.
“Complainant just found a dead baby in a closet,” the dispatcher said, according to the incident report obtained by Fox56 and the Lexington Herald Leader. “It is cold to the touch.”
The body’s temperature showed that the newborn had likely been dead for at least three to four hours. According to the NIH, a body usually starts cooling one to one-and-a-half degrees per hour after the first hour of death, according to the American Military University.
Information about the caller and their phone number was redacted from the dispatch records, per the Lexington Herald Leader.
The newborn was “wrapped in a towel inside of a black trash bag,” according to the arrest citation reviewed by PEOPLE, and authorities identified Snelling as the baby boy’s biological mother.
Snelling, who was part of the STUNT competitive cheer team at the University of Kentucky, wasn’t home when the 911 call was made. Police, EMTs, and fire personnel arrived at the scene, according to the report.
Officers found her about five minutes away from the home shortly after. She was taken to police headquarters and asked to be medically checked, per the report.
Snelling admitted to giving birth when interviewed by officers and said she cleaned up all evidence and placed the infant in the trash bag, according to the report.
On Sunday, Aug. 31, 21-year-old Laken Snelling was arrested and charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant, the Lexington Police Department said in a news release.
After her arrest, Snelling was held at the Fayette County Detention Center but was released on Sept. 2 on a $100,000 bond, according to court documents reviewed by PEOPLE.
She appeared in court on Tuesday, Sept. 2, where she pleaded not guilty, KBTX reports.
On Wednesday, Sept. 3, Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn said that preliminary autopsy results did not determine the cause of the baby’s death.
The death investigation continues “pending the results of these studies,” he said.
Questions remain about when she gave birth, whether the baby was born alive or stillborn, and whether she knew she was pregnant.
Snelling was placed on house arrest at her parents’ home in Jefferson City, Tennessee, where she remains.
