Overview

• Newly filed affidavits say roommates heard loud noises around 4 a.m., later entered Laken Snelling’s room, and found a blood-soaked towel and a plastic bag before an infant was discovered in a closet and pronounced dead at the scene.
• Snelling told medical staff she heard a whimper and guessed the baby was alive, while telling police she stayed awake about 30 minutes after delivery, passed out on top of the newborn, and later believed he had died.
• Investigators say the infant was wrapped in a towel and placed inside a black trash bag, and that Snelling left the residence, skipped class, picked up McDonald’s, drove to a student clinic without going in, and returned to find police waiting.
• A search of Snelling’s phone found pregnancy-related queries, images of her in labor, and deleted photos that led police to infer additional deletions intended to conceal the pregnancy, birth, and newborn.
• The Fayette County coroner reported an inconclusive preliminary autopsy and called for extensive microscopic analyses, as the not-guilty defendant remains on $100,000 bond under house arrest after waiving a preliminary hearing to send the case to a grand jury.