November 29, 2025 • 48 mins
New details emerging after a 21-year-old college student and cheerleader from the University of Kentucky is accused of hiding her newborn inside her college apartment closet.
Laken Snelling is arrested after her infant is found dead in a trash bag inside the closet. An autopsy report only deepens the mystery surrounding the infant's death because the results are found to be inconclusive. Snelling posted baby bump pics before her infant was found dead.
Authorities allege Snelling gave birth in secret, wrapped her baby in a towel, placed him in a trash bag, and left him in her closet.
According to an arrest report, Lexington police were called to a home on Park Avenue for an unresponsive infant on Wednesday. Police said they found a baby's body in a closet, wrapped in a towel inside a black trash bag.
The UK cheerleader is now charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant. Court records show Snelling took selfies during birth.
Joining Nancy Grace today,
- Josh Kolsrud - Criminal Defense Attorney and Former Assistant U.S. Attorney, Founder of Kolsrud Law Offices, kolsrudlawoffices.com, Facebook and YouTube @KohlsrudLawOffices
- Dr. Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst, Author: "Deal Breaker,” featured in hit show: "Paris in Love" on Peacock, www.drbethanymarshall.com , Instagram & TikTok: drbethanymarshall, Twitter: @DrBethanyLive
- Dr. Kendall Crowns - Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth), Host of NEW Podcast "Mayhem in the Morgue”, Lecturer: Burnett School of Medicine at TCU (Texas Christian University)
- Chris Byers - Private investigator and owner of Byers Investigative Services, Former Police Chief Johns Creek Georgia, 25 years Police Officer, website: byersinvestigative.com
- Germania Rodriguez - Chief US Reporter, DailyMail.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Is this real? Am? I correct?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Did Kentucky cheerleader Lacin Snelling actually take selfies while she
is in labor while giving birth?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Leave the baby to die?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Who, by the way, we now learn what 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'srt ROW. I'm
Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories. I'm going to thank
(00:48):
you for being with us. We are learning from court
documents that the Kentucky stunt girl, cheerleader beauty queen lake
and Snelling took selfies while she's giving birth, just before
she secretly delivers her baby, then allegedly leaving it wrapped
(01:13):
up in blankets, towels in a trash bag in her closet,
and then dashes out to get McDonald's.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Okay, According to.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
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.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Then she.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
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 reported
stuffs the baby boy in a trash bag, then heads
(02:05):
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 child birth. Okay, you
(02:28):
can let your imagination run wild with that, joining me
and All Star panel to make sense of what we
are learning.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And I am stunned.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
If another person, an adult, was found dead wrapped in
a blanket, body in a trash bag hidden away, the
alleged purp would not be walking free right now with
a bedazzled ankle monitor.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
But that is what has just happened. But let's start
at the beginning. Listen to this.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Good riversity Joson County Bear. I am lady selling.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Her in is.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Nancy University of Kentucky, as she's twenty years of age.
Her heart criteria Jeff Selling of Morrison, Meg and eis
list while also being a student athelete do one athlete
on the stunty at a University of Kentucky one hundred
plus community service hours passed you honors to be ground
(03:38):
the Jefferson County Bear Student Bear and begun to represent
her CAUP.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
That is from the Jefferson County Fairest of the Fair
Beauty pagant 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?
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Listen Lincoln 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 a 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,
(04:22):
barbie jeep, and fabulous clothes and paget 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 bow
home for Easter and over this summer post professional photos
(04:45):
with him.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Why do I care.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
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 baby are first
wrapped in a blanket, a baby blanket very often, remember
top mom Casey Anthony wrapped, according to the state, baby
(05:11):
Kelly in her favorite blanket before putting her in a
trash bag and throwing into a trashy, litter ridden swamp
area about ten 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
(05:33):
in a trash bag. There's gotten to be some sort
of psychopathy to that. But you know, I'm also very curious.
Straight out to doctor Bethany Marshall, joining US high profile
psycho analyst, author of deal Breaker on Amazon. You can
see her now on peacock and find her a doctor
Bethany Marshall dot com.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Doctor Bethany, I'm also intrigued.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
What does it mean? If anything, that you are a
self proclaimed real life Barbie.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I'm talking about the Barbie doll.
Speaker 5 (06:07):
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 and out in the world.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Okay, doctor Bethany, you got me drinking for the fire
hids right here. You gave me so much I've got
to parse it.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Number one. Can we stit with Barbie? You said I
was writing as fast as I could.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
The fantasy of being Barbie to her was being better,
was better than being leg and Snellings.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
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?
Speaker 5 (06:52):
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 to trust.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
But wait, wait, wait, where can I see that video
again of her in the foe? I guess that's no
the foe that that that was. That's very similar to.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
A Barbie outfit my sister had. That's right, Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
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
Leverard spots. Okay, I just wanted to point that out.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Dr Bethany.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I don't know what your Barbie lore is, but I
distinctly recall an outfit like that with the matching stilettos.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
And this is when I was a little girl. The
sal stiletis We're in then as well, at least for Barbie. Now,
I'm sorry. Back to who wants to be Barbie?
Speaker 5 (08:06):
Who wants to be Barbie? As somebody who's more living
in fantasy than reality? Hey, Nancy, that sound you just
played the inside of her apartment was pink. She lived
in a Barbie place. This 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.
(08:29):
She does not live her life like a real person.
She's living'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 than
(08:50):
the reality of changing diapers holding a baby. Babies have needs,
you know.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
I don't want to clear one thing up, doctor Bethony Marshall.
You can be.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Anything and have played with Barbies as a little girl.
My sister that had the Barbies, she's a brainiac.
Speaker 6 (09:06):
You know.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
I tried to read something she published.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
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 barbiees
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. That's not going to
(09:30):
help anybody.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
A trial. I want to get to the facts and
what we know. Take a listen to this.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Ten thirty am Wednesday morning, Lexington PD responds to a
call about an unresponsive infant found in a student department
in one of the tenants closets 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
(10:00):
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.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
What I'm saying here to Josh Colsrude.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
He is a high profile criminal defense attorney, former felony prosecutor,
founder of Colsrude Law Offices.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Josh, Now, this is anecdotal.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
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 where they forgot
(10:43):
to feed the baby and it died, and it's often
pled down to volunteer 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 and justice system, well, you know.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
These cases are tough, Nancy.
Speaker 6 (11:03):
You know there's a very similar case that happened in
twenty seventeen 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 neo nanticide,
(11:27):
which is the intentional killing of a baby within twenty
four 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
(11:47):
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.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
You go on thinking you were going to come back
circle back to the question which you did not while
you stay that Brooks Schuyler 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?
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (12:23):
It is 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 scott free. What you
did say that I find pertinent is that the forensics
couldn't prove murder because very often, as you rightly pointed out,
Josh Colsrude, it's very difficult.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
To get a cod cause of death in a case
like this.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
But isn't Skyler Richardson the one that buried the baby
in the backyard after she tried to burn the baby's body.
Speaker 6 (12:52):
Yes, and she also admitted that the baby 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.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Josh, do you even remember the question I asked you?
Speaker 2 (13:15):
What you just said, may scottle look even worse Scytle
Richardson because the baby was alive.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
She said, it was gurgling and alive when she gave birth.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Now it's up to a jury to determine how the
baby was born alive and ended.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
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.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Chris Byers, private investigator, owner of Buyer's Investigative Services for
my purposes. He is the former police chief of John's Creek,
twenty five years in LA law enforcement, Buyers. Isn't it
true that you guys work the case of the dead baby,
but when it gets to court, somehow, when the victim
(13:59):
is a baby an infant, it gets pled down to
voluntary or voluntary.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
You know, I don't get it 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.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
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.
Hermonia Rodriguez, chief US reporter dailymail dot Com. Hermonia, do
we know if Snelling's had roommates because I'm trying to
(14:37):
figure out who would call nine one one.
Speaker 7 (14:39):
Right, That's one of the questions that remains unanswered.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
In this case.
Speaker 7 (14:44):
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.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
That more, guys, you.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Were seeing shots of beauty queen cheerleader Lacan 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,
(15:26):
you know, I'm just thinking about who called nine to
one one? How did she keep the baby a secret?
Isn't it true, Harmonia Rodriguez, that she was, you know,
a fantastic athlete. She was a stunt person on the
college cheerleading team, and you can see that she's pregnant
(15:51):
during her stunts.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Let's take a look at video of Lac and Snellings.
Speaker 8 (15:57):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
That is a baby right there, the baby, 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, doctor Bethany Marshall,
denial and ain't just a river in Egypt?
Speaker 9 (16:17):
Come on?
Speaker 8 (16:18):
What is this?
Speaker 5 (16:19):
Bethany helped me out, Nancy. Not only is she in denial,
the whole team is denial. It's in denial. I mean,
who's gonna pull a stunt like that when you have
a baby in your tommy? 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
(16:39):
has a wanted baby and her tommy 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 track on her baby. It's so disturbing.
Speaker 10 (17:05):
A member of the University of Kentucky's stunt team, LACLN
Snelling is driven admired and hiding a secret that will
crack her dreams.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
And right now she is accused of a major felony
after her dead infant baby boy is found.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Wrapped in towels in a trash back in her closet.
Straight out to.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Harmonia Rodriguez joining us from Deally mail Harmonia.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
There are two lines.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Of inquiry right now as to who called nine one one,
And this is important. Okay, you may think who cares
to call nine one one they found a dead baby
in the closet, But does the person that call nine
one one have other facts and evidence that would be probative.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
So these are the two lines of inquiry.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
One report is that roommates became suspicious after Lincoln 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
(18:18):
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 Lincoln Snelling's room and outside of her closet,
and because of that, they looked in the closet. Both
(18:38):
reports indicate one of the roommates called nine to one one.
Do you know anything about either of those two reports, Harmonia, right,
I have.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Seen those reports.
Speaker 7 (18:49):
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 nine one one, and they still are
not ready to release that information.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Guys, you're seeing video of Laken Snellings 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.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I think a lot will ride on the cause of death, but.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Right now, that cood remains undetermined. Joining me right now,
renowned medical examiner, the chief medical Examiner of Terran County,
that's Fort Worth, Texas, esteemed lecturer at the Burnette School
of Medicine at TCU, and star of a hit new podcast,
(19:53):
Mayhem in the Morgue. Doctor Kimdall Crown's joining us. What
does that tell me, they don't have a cood yet
cause of death. Let me read between the lines. That
tells me there was no visible cod. You can just
look at the baby. It's a oh, the baby was
blood and dead, or the baby was shot, or the
(20:15):
baby was stab or ligature strangulation or manual strangulation. Maybe
even you might need a microscopic exam to determine if
there were particiar hemorrhage to the eyes. But that tells
me that the cod was none of those things. What's happening,
(20:38):
doctor Kendall Crowns.
Speaker 8 (20:39):
So typically with the babies that are found in trash bags,
you first have to determine if they were born alive.
There's certain things that you can look for. One of
them is gestational age. If they're under twenty two weeks,
they probably couldn't have survived being born. If they have
this thing called maceration, which is an overall kind of
(20:59):
reddish decoloration sloughing of the skin of the baby, you
know they died in utero. And then finally, do they
have any major birst effects, like they have no brain
or something of that nature. Then you go from there
and you have to figure out if they if you
determine that they could have been born alive, then you
have to determine if they actually took a breath, and
(21:20):
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.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Crime Stores with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
In the Last Days, a woman charge in a baby's
death pleads not guilty, as affidavits reveal claims by police
said they kent take a cheerleader like and snailing, actually
took selfies while giving birth. I don't really want to
think about that, but okay of the evidence I have
to then brazenly goes to eat McDonald's while the baby
(22:07):
is in her closet.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
I don't know by that time was it dead was
it alive?
Speaker 2 (22:11):
We know that.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
She also says the baby was whimpering.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
She heard whimpering sounds, which means the baby was alive.
Doctor Kimdall Crown's joining us, could you please dummy down, man?
Speaker 1 (22:27):
You said, oh, and let's say, did a flotation test?
Speaker 7 (22:30):
What not?
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Everybody works in the morgue. Not everybody knows what you're
talking about. You just rattled off about fifteen 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.
Speaker 8 (22:50):
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 they lungs float in water. The
problem with the.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Floatation test, doctor Kendall crowns right there. Right there, you
have to explain what that means, because that reminds me
of when we were first told the Idaho for students
that were murdered by Brian Coberger died in their sleep.
So it's like they drifted off to a lullaby and
they woke up in heaven.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
That's not what happened. They fought for their lives. It
was horrible. You're saying the lungs are tested.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
What I believe you mean is this infant is cut open,
its lungs are removed.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
And they're put in water to see if they float?
Is that what that means? That's correct?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
You just rattled off the tip of your tongue like
it's nothing. This is a baby, doctor 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 infants lungs?
Speaker 8 (24:03):
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.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Maybe have you done a water test on a baby?
Speaker 6 (24:15):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (24:15):
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?
Speaker 8 (24:30):
So when I'm doing an autopsy and a baby, it's
no different than doing an autopsy and adults. I have
to determine the cause and manner of death.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
It's just it is what it is.
Speaker 8 (24:39):
I have to figure out what happened to this child,
or happen to the adults, and that's the purpose of
my employment.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Okay, I understand that you have to have may detached
while you're performing all of this, But you know, when
you just rattle off, I'm not saying you're wrong.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
I know for a fact that you're right. But when
you say it so methodically, I mean, I got to
think this through. Doctor Kendall Crowns.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
You're saying, one of the first things you do to
determine COEOD, 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,
they're removed, and they're dunked in water.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
What what kind of water? What is that in a pan?
A sink?
Speaker 6 (25:19):
What?
Speaker 8 (25:20):
It's tap water? And it's basically a big cup.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
You know, we are talking on and on and on,
doctor Kendall Crowns about Blake and Snellings and she's a
real life Barbie and she's a stunk person, and she's
a cheerleader, and she's gorgeous.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
And she's Miss Fairest of the Fair.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Nobody is talking about the baby boy that's lying on
a more table getting its chest sliced open, it's.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Lungs removed and put in water.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Why does it have to be all about her? That's
why White Cases and Josh Colesrude.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Would not answer earlier.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
For more federal prosecutor. I mean, okay, back to you,
doctor Kimmel Crowns. So you do a lung test, and
if the lungs float, that means they had air in them.
That means that baby was born alive. Is that where
you're going with that?
Speaker 1 (26:16):
That's correct.
Speaker 8 (26:17):
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 floatation 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
(26:37):
not decomposition.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
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.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Okay, why would you do a float test on a liver?
Why would there be air in a liver?
Speaker 8 (26:51):
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 puts into question
of whether the lungs are floating because of decomposition or
because there's air in them. So then you have to
go to microscopic analysis.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
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.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Is that right correct?
Speaker 6 (27:27):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
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 coeod. If the baby
was dead when it was born, was still born, if
then there's not going to be a murder prosecution. As
Josh Coles really pointed out, a lot is riding on
(27:49):
the cause of death.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
What else will be done, doctor Kendall Crowns.
Speaker 8 (27:53):
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 the air
sacs or the alveoli and 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
(28:15):
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
(28:38):
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.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Romania Rodriguez dailymail dot com.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Thinking about and analyzing what doctor Kimil Krause just said
regarding was the baby's shoulder broken or prolapsed when it
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
(29:19):
she went to class.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
So obviously she did not have any injuries. That's right.
Speaker 7 (29:23):
And while we have not been able to confirm that
she told anyone about this pregnancy, as we saw the
images show that she has a visible bump that she
then did not have after given birth.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
However, so I think it's safe to say she.
Speaker 7 (29:36):
Was probably not injured, and the autopsy report did say
that the baby did not have any obvious injuries either.
Speaker 9 (29:45):
Good diversity jokes in County Beard.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
I am Lady Shine.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
University and she's twenty years of age. Her ears criterium
Joe Snelling the work may E's list while also being
a student athelete do one athlete on the sunteen.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
At a university of.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
One hundred plus community service hours in the past, you
honored to be aground the Joy cityar's student there and
be unit.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
To represent her.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Now, 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.
Speaker 10 (30:41):
A roommate's dog leads to a horrific discovery inside Lincoln
Snelling's closet. Inside a black trash bag the remains of
a baby boy, along with the evidence used to hide
the birth.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Lincoln Snelling's 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.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
To see some texts that we have uncovered.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Here is Lincoln Snellings and if you see her goals,
let's see a close up of her goals motherhood. Well,
then that baby is getting fed a bottle by a
loving mom with blonde hair like Lincoln Snellings. That is
not what happened to this baby. And also circled as
her goal is a family with two children, engagement, ring, money,
(31:31):
and a house.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
What more have we learned?
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Being twenty is so weird, Like I'm an adult, but
I still can't really 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
(31:58):
a whole child at my age, and I don't even
know how to drive on to the.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Tracks of a car wash.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
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?
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Okay, I need a shrink.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
And I need a shrink right now, Doctor 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.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
In other words, they're incendiary and they don't really prove anything.
Speaker 7 (32:46):
Right.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
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.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
And I don't have a girl. I don't have a
mini me. That means something, Doctor beth Andy.
Speaker 5 (33:00):
What 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 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 and fanticide usually are not attached to
(33:23):
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
were on the set of port TV. You were so excited.
You were attached to your babies. It's called maternal preoccupation.
When you're attached. She likely was not attached to the baby.
(33:44):
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.
(34:06):
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.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
And Doctor Bethany, here's something I don't understand. And I'm
not saying pro or con abortion. I'm not arguing about
abortion tonight.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
That's a whole other can of worms.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
But if you don't want the baby, why wait nine
months and give birth and then murder the baby? Why
do that as opposed to terminating the pregnancy in the
first three months.
Speaker 5 (34:51):
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
(35:14):
kind of medical procedure. I doubt she even went to
a doctor and got her vitamins or her being able
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
(35:36):
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.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
And again, I'm not going down the pro life or
pro abortion rabbit hole, but I want to get back
to the facts.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Listen to this lake and Snelling leads not guilty to
all three charges levied against her and posted her one
hundred thousand dollars 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 twenty sixth.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
That from our friends at w KYT and you heard
the judge there at the end, Judge John Tackett, Wait
a minute, Harmonia, She not only has.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Walked free, but she doesn't even have to wear an
ankle monitor. That's right, Nancy.
Speaker 7 (36:34):
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.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
Why, Josh Coles, rude, you're the former federal prosecutor. Why
not even wear an ankle monitor? Forget the ankle monitor
to hay with that?
Speaker 1 (36:55):
Why is she out on bond?
Speaker 6 (36:57):
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 substantial flight risk? And here you're dealing
(37:19):
with somebody who doesn't have any in me that.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
She's young and pretty and rich and white. What about that?
Does that factor into that bond decision?
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Because I think it does. Is she worked too pretty
for jail because that worked with debril Fay. Is that
what happens just too cute?
Speaker 6 (37:41):
Well, in this case, respectfully, she has not been accused
of murdering anybody yet. The only charges in this case
so far are abuse a corpse and some lower and
some lesser included charges as well. So until the time
that this state actually accuses her of murdering an infant child,
(38:04):
she's going to be treated as a low level Offenderful.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace cheerleader Lake and Snelling.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
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
(38:46):
it gave her a little comfort. What about the baby,
She says, she woke up seven thirty am, put the
baby in a trash bag.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Yeah, that's normal.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
Then shower, cleaned up blood, placed placenta in a zip
plot bag before skipping morning classes in going for McDonald's.
That's what we are learning. But here is the critical moment.
Here's the critical statement. She admitted to medical staff the
(39:18):
baby had shown quote a little bit of fetal movement and.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Made a whimper after he was born.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
Then she deletes the photos 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.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
What more do we know?
Speaker 10 (39:48):
Hey, I'm gonna need just sent a deputy over here
at one twenty five Lakeside.
Speaker 5 (39:52):
We got a newborn baby's fun distarted.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Okayy too, yep, thanksful mus Gingham University dealt again.
Speaker 4 (40:02):
The Theta Sisters fine a suspicious trash bag just outside
the front door. Tearing it open, they make a gruesome discovery.
Next to an instant macancheese box lies a dead baby girl.
Emily Weaver admits she birth the baby in the downstairs
bathroom of the Theta house.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
Okay, in that case, sorority's sisters find a dead infant
and a trash bag right outside their front door, and
they immediately suspect and Emil Weaver listen, Paul, I just.
Speaker 11 (40:34):
Want to be able to tell, yeah, the cause of
death from the child. And did you do anything physically too?
Speaker 9 (40:47):
No, physically, I really obviously didn't much at all of this.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
More concern.
Speaker 11 (40:55):
Would be intentionally get a billet.
Speaker 9 (40:59):
I mean I would have like not put its head up.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Would you just sort of dropt, you know?
Speaker 10 (41:04):
I mean that's it was my potentially.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
You did.
Speaker 11 (41:13):
Did you try and keep her alive?
Speaker 12 (41:17):
I didn't do anything to.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Pure 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 births as a text no
more baby taken care of the baby was asphyxiated, suffocated dead.
(41:44):
Prosecutors argue she intentionally killed the baby by putting the
baby in the trash where it suffocated, and she was
sentenced to life.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
That's what happened there.
Speaker 7 (41:56):
So I'm just.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
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.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
In a towel as in this case.
Speaker 2 (42:13):
Could that have been the cause of asphyxiation in the
case in chief.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
Now, that case was about Emily Weaver. But then there's
Alexei Chiviso.
Speaker 12 (42:25):
We had the lady come to clean the bathroom. She
put the baby in the trash can and then she
put another clean winer over the top of it, so
they looked. When they looked in there, it looked there
was no trash in that, but it's underneath the clean bag.
Speaker 13 (42:40):
The baby's dead.
Speaker 12 (42:42):
Okay, we have them in Toronto too, But she killed
a kid.
Speaker 5 (42:46):
Yea, how old was held to be, I don't know.
Speaker 12 (42:48):
It's full time. She just had it.
Speaker 1 (42:50):
She had it in the bathroom was what happened.
Speaker 13 (42:52):
And then she whatever she did, I don't know.
Speaker 12 (42:54):
She's gonna lie. She wouldn't tell us she's pregnant. She's
been lying the whole time.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
So she goes in the bathroom pregnant and then selling
the baby's gone and it's underneath the clean bag near.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
The trash can. There's more. We discovered a dead baby
in the bathroom.
Speaker 9 (43:11):
Oh my gosh, sorry, Lexie, I told you about this.
I just asked your babies tell me the truth.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
It's not cry and nothing was crying. Do you guys
have I'm the charge nurser.
Speaker 12 (43:34):
Do you guys have any questions for me?
Speaker 1 (43:36):
How big is.
Speaker 5 (43:38):
What?
Speaker 1 (43:40):
Nine months?
Speaker 10 (43:41):
Something was?
Speaker 9 (43:42):
Cort Let's have you watched the news of being the
girls and what they do to their babies.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
And what they go to jail? Was cry? Doctor Bethony Marshall,
what's with that? Mom?
Speaker 5 (44:00):
Mom seems more concerned about her daughter than her grand baby.
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
sends to be some more of overt physical violence. So
this is just a soft kill. And the mother never says,
(44:20):
oh my god, my grandbaby. Those words do not come
out of the mother's mouth.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
I don't like anything you just said, soft kilm Those
words don't go together. Imagine how awful it would be
to be murdered my let's just say asphyxiation.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
Then, imagine if you're a baby, you can't speak, you
can't move, you can't run away, you can't.
Speaker 2 (44:44):
Fight back, you have to just lay there and die
with something held down over your nose and mouth.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
And to doctor Kendall Crown's soft kill my rear end.
Speaker 2 (44:54):
Could this baby have died by asphyxiation simply by the
baby putting being wrapped in towels and put in a
trash bag?
Speaker 1 (45:03):
Could that have asphyxiated suffocated the baby.
Speaker 8 (45:06):
Yes, we see that occasionally with full term infance or
babies that are beyond the twenty three 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 an a plastic bag,
just as if you put a plastic bag over your head,
(45:27):
it would suffocate you.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
And then to Chris Buyer's private investigator at Buyer's Investigative Services,
I want you to hear this case.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
Similar and it's one brought up by Josh Cole Road
Skyler Richardson.
Speaker 13 (45:41):
Is your bedroom upstairs or bathroom upstairs? Okay, so you
had the wall downstairs. Are you carrying her? Did you
go into the garage or do you have an outdoor
shed like where you have a.
Speaker 4 (45:53):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (45:54):
When?
Speaker 2 (45:54):
What did you find her?
Speaker 12 (45:55):
What did you use?
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Put a little old my god?
Speaker 13 (46:00):
Okay, Underston, what did you do?
Speaker 1 (46:03):
Did you have it and you didn't have any help?
Speaker 2 (46:05):
Right?
Speaker 5 (46:05):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (46:06):
What did you do with her while you were digging
the hole?
Speaker 2 (46:10):
And Chris Buyers in that particular case, Skyler Richardson, dad asks,
tell us what's going on, and she says, I tried
to cremate the baby just a little. She tried to
burn the baby.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
Chris. Yeah, that is absolutely mind blowing.
Speaker 7 (46:32):
That level of evil.
Speaker 1 (46:34):
I just can't even imagine, just.
Speaker 4 (46:35):
Just all of these cases we see just the level
of selfishness and self absorbedness in these in these girls,
and just treating.
Speaker 11 (46:44):
These babies just like garbage just absolutely blows my mind.
Speaker 1 (46:47):
Like garbage in every way putting it, putting babies in trash,
throwing them in dumpsters.
Speaker 2 (46:53):
I want you to hear it from the horse's mouth
Chris Here's Skyler Richardson stating that she tried to cremate
the baby.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
Just a little.
Speaker 4 (47:04):
Kind tells the too, says, you have to tell your
reasons to hear better.
Speaker 3 (47:10):
A little behind.
Speaker 2 (47:14):
I want to be very clear at this juncture, Lincoln
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
(47:36):
find the baby stuffed in her closet hours later, Snelling
reportedly tells the roommates the noise they heard was when
she quote fell over, passing out from a routine illness.
Speaker 1 (47:51):
When the roommates find the.
Speaker 2 (47:53):
Baby in the closet, they till the dispatcher at nine
one one. 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. Lincoln Snelling
(48:15):
needs to consider life behind bars and what.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
That will be like. We wait as justice, of course.
Speaker 3 (48:23):
Goodbye friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Is this real? Am? I correct?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Did Kentucky cheerleader Lacin Snelling actually take selfies while she
is in labor while giving birth?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Leave the baby to die?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Who, by the way, we now learn what 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'srt ROW. I'm
Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories. I'm going to thank
(00:48):
you for being with us. We are learning from court
documents that the Kentucky stunt girl, cheerleader beauty queen lake
and Snelling took selfies while she's giving birth, just before
she secretly delivers her baby, then allegedly leaving it wrapped
(01:13):
up in blankets, towels in a trash bag in her closet,
and then dashes out to get McDonald's.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Okay, According to.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
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.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Then she.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
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 reported
stuffs the baby boy in a trash bag, then heads
(02:05):
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 child birth. Okay, you
(02:28):
can let your imagination run wild with that, joining me
and All Star panel to make sense of what we
are learning.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And I am stunned.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
If another person, an adult, was found dead wrapped in
a blanket, body in a trash bag hidden away, the
alleged purp would not be walking free right now with
a bedazzled ankle monitor.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
But that is what has just happened. But let's start
at the beginning. Listen to this.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Good riversity Joson County Bear. I am lady selling.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Her in is.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Nancy University of Kentucky, as she's twenty years of age.
Her heart criteria Jeff Selling of Morrison, Meg and eis
list while also being a student athelete do one athlete
on the stunty at a University of Kentucky one hundred
plus community service hours passed you honors to be ground
(03:38):
the Jefferson County Bear Student Bear and begun to represent
her CAUP.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
That is from the Jefferson County Fairest of the Fair
Beauty pagant 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?
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Listen Lincoln 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 a 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,
(04:22):
barbie jeep, and fabulous clothes and paget 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 bow
home for Easter and over this summer post professional photos
(04:45):
with him.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Why do I care.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
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 baby are first
wrapped in a blanket, a baby blanket very often, remember
top mom Casey Anthony wrapped, according to the state, baby
(05:11):
Kelly in her favorite blanket before putting her in a
trash bag and throwing into a trashy, litter ridden swamp
area about ten 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
(05:33):
in a trash bag. There's gotten to be some sort
of psychopathy to that. But you know, I'm also very curious.
Straight out to doctor Bethany Marshall, joining US high profile
psycho analyst, author of deal Breaker on Amazon. You can
see her now on peacock and find her a doctor
Bethany Marshall dot com.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Doctor Bethany, I'm also intrigued.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
What does it mean? If anything, that you are a
self proclaimed real life Barbie.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I'm talking about the Barbie doll.
Speaker 5 (06:07):
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 and out in the world.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Okay, doctor Bethany, you got me drinking for the fire
hids right here. You gave me so much I've got
to parse it.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Number one. Can we stit with Barbie? You said I
was writing as fast as I could.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
The fantasy of being Barbie to her was being better,
was better than being leg and Snellings.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
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?
Speaker 5 (06:52):
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 to trust.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
But wait, wait, wait, where can I see that video
again of her in the foe? I guess that's no
the foe that that that was. That's very similar to.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
A Barbie outfit my sister had. That's right, Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
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
Leverard spots. Okay, I just wanted to point that out.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Dr Bethany.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I don't know what your Barbie lore is, but I
distinctly recall an outfit like that with the matching stilettos.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
And this is when I was a little girl. The
sal stiletis We're in then as well, at least for Barbie. Now,
I'm sorry. Back to who wants to be Barbie?
Speaker 5 (08:06):
Who wants to be Barbie? As somebody who's more living
in fantasy than reality? Hey, Nancy, that sound you just
played the inside of her apartment was pink. She lived
in a Barbie place. This 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.
(08:29):
She does not live her life like a real person.
She's living'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 than
(08:50):
the reality of changing diapers holding a baby. Babies have needs,
you know.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
I don't want to clear one thing up, doctor Bethony Marshall.
You can be.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Anything and have played with Barbies as a little girl.
My sister that had the Barbies, she's a brainiac.
Speaker 6 (09:06):
You know.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
I tried to read something she published.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
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 barbiees
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. That's not going to
(09:30):
help anybody.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
A trial. I want to get to the facts and
what we know. Take a listen to this.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Ten thirty am Wednesday morning, Lexington PD responds to a
call about an unresponsive infant found in a student department
in one of the tenants closets 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
(10:00):
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.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
What I'm saying here to Josh Colsrude.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
He is a high profile criminal defense attorney, former felony prosecutor,
founder of Colsrude Law Offices.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Josh, Now, this is anecdotal.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
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 where they forgot
(10:43):
to feed the baby and it died, and it's often
pled down to volunteer 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 and justice system, well, you know.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
These cases are tough, Nancy.
Speaker 6 (11:03):
You know there's a very similar case that happened in
twenty seventeen 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 neo nanticide,
(11:27):
which is the intentional killing of a baby within twenty
four 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
(11:47):
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.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
You go on thinking you were going to come back
circle back to the question which you did not while
you stay that Brooks Schuyler 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?
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (12:23):
It is 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 scott free. What you
did say that I find pertinent is that the forensics
couldn't prove murder because very often, as you rightly pointed out,
Josh Colsrude, it's very difficult.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
To get a cod cause of death in a case
like this.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
But isn't Skyler Richardson the one that buried the baby
in the backyard after she tried to burn the baby's body.
Speaker 6 (12:52):
Yes, and she also admitted that the baby 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.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Josh, do you even remember the question I asked you?
Speaker 2 (13:15):
What you just said, may scottle look even worse Scytle
Richardson because the baby was alive.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
She said, it was gurgling and alive when she gave birth.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Now it's up to a jury to determine how the
baby was born alive and ended.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
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.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Chris Byers, private investigator, owner of Buyer's Investigative Services for
my purposes. He is the former police chief of John's Creek,
twenty five years in LA law enforcement, Buyers. Isn't it
true that you guys work the case of the dead baby,
but when it gets to court, somehow, when the victim
(13:59):
is a baby an infant, it gets pled down to
voluntary or voluntary.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
You know, I don't get it 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.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
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.
Hermonia Rodriguez, chief US reporter dailymail dot Com. Hermonia, do
we know if Snelling's had roommates because I'm trying to
(14:37):
figure out who would call nine one one.
Speaker 7 (14:39):
Right, That's one of the questions that remains unanswered.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
In this case.
Speaker 7 (14:44):
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.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
That more, guys, you.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Were seeing shots of beauty queen cheerleader Lacan 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,
(15:26):
you know, I'm just thinking about who called nine to
one one? How did she keep the baby a secret?
Isn't it true, Harmonia Rodriguez, that she was, you know,
a fantastic athlete. She was a stunt person on the
college cheerleading team, and you can see that she's pregnant
(15:51):
during her stunts.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Let's take a look at video of Lac and Snellings.
Speaker 8 (15:57):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
That is a baby right there, the baby, 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, doctor Bethany Marshall,
denial and ain't just a river in Egypt?
Speaker 9 (16:17):
Come on?
Speaker 8 (16:18):
What is this?
Speaker 5 (16:19):
Bethany helped me out, Nancy. Not only is she in denial,
the whole team is denial. It's in denial. I mean,
who's gonna pull a stunt like that when you have
a baby in your tommy? 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
(16:39):
has a wanted baby and her tommy 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 track on her baby. It's so disturbing.
Speaker 10 (17:05):
A member of the University of Kentucky's stunt team, LACLN
Snelling is driven admired and hiding a secret that will
crack her dreams.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
And right now she is accused of a major felony
after her dead infant baby boy is found.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Wrapped in towels in a trash back in her closet.
Straight out to.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Harmonia Rodriguez joining us from Deally mail Harmonia.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
There are two lines.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Of inquiry right now as to who called nine one one,
And this is important. Okay, you may think who cares
to call nine one one they found a dead baby
in the closet, But does the person that call nine
one one have other facts and evidence that would be probative.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
So these are the two lines of inquiry.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
One report is that roommates became suspicious after Lincoln 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
(18:18):
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 Lincoln Snelling's room and outside of her closet,
and because of that, they looked in the closet. Both
(18:38):
reports indicate one of the roommates called nine to one one.
Do you know anything about either of those two reports, Harmonia, right,
I have.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Seen those reports.
Speaker 7 (18:49):
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 nine one one, and they still are
not ready to release that information.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Guys, you're seeing video of Laken Snellings 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.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I think a lot will ride on the cause of death, but.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Right now, that cood remains undetermined. Joining me right now,
renowned medical examiner, the chief medical Examiner of Terran County,
that's Fort Worth, Texas, esteemed lecturer at the Burnette School
of Medicine at TCU, and star of a hit new podcast,
(19:53):
Mayhem in the Morgue. Doctor Kimdall Crown's joining us. What
does that tell me, they don't have a cood yet
cause of death. Let me read between the lines. That
tells me there was no visible cod. You can just
look at the baby. It's a oh, the baby was
blood and dead, or the baby was shot, or the
(20:15):
baby was stab or ligature strangulation or manual strangulation. Maybe
even you might need a microscopic exam to determine if
there were particiar hemorrhage to the eyes. But that tells
me that the cod was none of those things. What's happening,
(20:38):
doctor Kendall Crowns.
Speaker 8 (20:39):
So typically with the babies that are found in trash bags,
you first have to determine if they were born alive.
There's certain things that you can look for. One of
them is gestational age. If they're under twenty two weeks,
they probably couldn't have survived being born. If they have
this thing called maceration, which is an overall kind of
(20:59):
reddish decoloration sloughing of the skin of the baby, you
know they died in utero. And then finally, do they
have any major birst effects, like they have no brain
or something of that nature. Then you go from there
and you have to figure out if they if you
determine that they could have been born alive, then you
have to determine if they actually took a breath, and
(21:20):
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.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Crime Stores with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
In the Last Days, a woman charge in a baby's
death pleads not guilty, as affidavits reveal claims by police
said they kent take a cheerleader like and snailing, actually
took selfies while giving birth. I don't really want to
think about that, but okay of the evidence I have
to then brazenly goes to eat McDonald's while the baby
(22:07):
is in her closet.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
I don't know by that time was it dead was
it alive?
Speaker 2 (22:11):
We know that.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
She also says the baby was whimpering.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
She heard whimpering sounds, which means the baby was alive.
Doctor Kimdall Crown's joining us, could you please dummy down, man?
Speaker 1 (22:27):
You said, oh, and let's say, did a flotation test?
Speaker 7 (22:30):
What not?
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Everybody works in the morgue. Not everybody knows what you're
talking about. You just rattled off about fifteen 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.
Speaker 8 (22:50):
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 they lungs float in water. The
problem with the.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Floatation test, doctor Kendall crowns right there. Right there, you
have to explain what that means, because that reminds me
of when we were first told the Idaho for students
that were murdered by Brian Coberger died in their sleep.
So it's like they drifted off to a lullaby and
they woke up in heaven.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
That's not what happened. They fought for their lives. It
was horrible. You're saying the lungs are tested.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
What I believe you mean is this infant is cut open,
its lungs are removed.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
And they're put in water to see if they float?
Is that what that means? That's correct?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
You just rattled off the tip of your tongue like
it's nothing. This is a baby, doctor 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 infants lungs?
Speaker 8 (24:03):
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.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Maybe have you done a water test on a baby?
Speaker 6 (24:15):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (24:15):
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?
Speaker 8 (24:30):
So when I'm doing an autopsy and a baby, it's
no different than doing an autopsy and adults. I have
to determine the cause and manner of death.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
It's just it is what it is.
Speaker 8 (24:39):
I have to figure out what happened to this child,
or happen to the adults, and that's the purpose of
my employment.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Okay, I understand that you have to have may detached
while you're performing all of this, But you know, when
you just rattle off, I'm not saying you're wrong.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
I know for a fact that you're right. But when
you say it so methodically, I mean, I got to
think this through. Doctor Kendall Crowns.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
You're saying, one of the first things you do to
determine COEOD, 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,
they're removed, and they're dunked in water.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
What what kind of water? What is that in a pan?
A sink?
Speaker 6 (25:19):
What?
Speaker 8 (25:20):
It's tap water? And it's basically a big cup.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
You know, we are talking on and on and on,
doctor Kendall Crowns about Blake and Snellings and she's a
real life Barbie and she's a stunk person, and she's
a cheerleader, and she's gorgeous.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
And she's Miss Fairest of the Fair.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Nobody is talking about the baby boy that's lying on
a more table getting its chest sliced open, it's.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Lungs removed and put in water.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Why does it have to be all about her? That's
why White Cases and Josh Colesrude.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Would not answer earlier.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
For more federal prosecutor. I mean, okay, back to you,
doctor Kimmel Crowns. So you do a lung test, and
if the lungs float, that means they had air in them.
That means that baby was born alive. Is that where
you're going with that?
Speaker 1 (26:16):
That's correct.
Speaker 8 (26:17):
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 floatation 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
(26:37):
not decomposition.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
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.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Okay, why would you do a float test on a liver?
Why would there be air in a liver?
Speaker 8 (26:51):
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 puts into question
of whether the lungs are floating because of decomposition or
because there's air in them. So then you have to
go to microscopic analysis.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
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.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Is that right correct?
Speaker 6 (27:27):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
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 coeod. If the baby
was dead when it was born, was still born, if
then there's not going to be a murder prosecution. As
Josh Coles really pointed out, a lot is riding on
(27:49):
the cause of death.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
What else will be done, doctor Kendall Crowns.
Speaker 8 (27:53):
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 the air
sacs or the alveoli and 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
(28:15):
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
(28:38):
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.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Romania Rodriguez dailymail dot com.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Thinking about and analyzing what doctor Kimil Krause just said
regarding was the baby's shoulder broken or prolapsed when it
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
(29:19):
she went to class.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
So obviously she did not have any injuries. That's right.
Speaker 7 (29:23):
And while we have not been able to confirm that
she told anyone about this pregnancy, as we saw the
images show that she has a visible bump that she
then did not have after given birth.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
However, so I think it's safe to say she.
Speaker 7 (29:36):
Was probably not injured, and the autopsy report did say
that the baby did not have any obvious injuries either.
Speaker 9 (29:45):
Good diversity jokes in County Beard.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
I am Lady Shine.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
University and she's twenty years of age. Her ears criterium
Joe Snelling the work may E's list while also being
a student athelete do one athlete on the sunteen.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
At a university of.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
One hundred plus community service hours in the past, you
honored to be aground the Joy cityar's student there and
be unit.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
To represent her.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Now, 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.
Speaker 10 (30:41):
A roommate's dog leads to a horrific discovery inside Lincoln
Snelling's closet. Inside a black trash bag the remains of
a baby boy, along with the evidence used to hide
the birth.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Lincoln Snelling's 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.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
To see some texts that we have uncovered.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Here is Lincoln Snellings and if you see her goals,
let's see a close up of her goals motherhood. Well,
then that baby is getting fed a bottle by a
loving mom with blonde hair like Lincoln Snellings. That is
not what happened to this baby. And also circled as
her goal is a family with two children, engagement, ring, money,
(31:31):
and a house.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
What more have we learned?
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Being twenty is so weird, Like I'm an adult, but
I still can't really 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
(31:58):
a whole child at my age, and I don't even
know how to drive on to the.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Tracks of a car wash.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
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?
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Okay, I need a shrink.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
And I need a shrink right now, Doctor 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.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
In other words, they're incendiary and they don't really prove anything.
Speaker 7 (32:46):
Right.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
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.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
And I don't have a girl. I don't have a
mini me. That means something, Doctor beth Andy.
Speaker 5 (33:00):
What 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 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 and fanticide usually are not attached to
(33:23):
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
were on the set of port TV. You were so excited.
You were attached to your babies. It's called maternal preoccupation.
When you're attached. She likely was not attached to the baby.
(33:44):
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.
(34:06):
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.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
And Doctor Bethany, here's something I don't understand. And I'm
not saying pro or con abortion. I'm not arguing about
abortion tonight.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
That's a whole other can of worms.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
But if you don't want the baby, why wait nine
months and give birth and then murder the baby? Why
do that as opposed to terminating the pregnancy in the
first three months.
Speaker 5 (34:51):
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
(35:14):
kind of medical procedure. I doubt she even went to
a doctor and got her vitamins or her being able
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
(35:36):
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.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
And again, I'm not going down the pro life or
pro abortion rabbit hole, but I want to get back
to the facts.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Listen to this lake and Snelling leads not guilty to
all three charges levied against her and posted her one
hundred thousand dollars 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 twenty sixth.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
That from our friends at w KYT and you heard
the judge there at the end, Judge John Tackett, Wait
a minute, Harmonia, She not only has.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Walked free, but she doesn't even have to wear an
ankle monitor. That's right, Nancy.
Speaker 7 (36:34):
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.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
Why, Josh Coles, rude, you're the former federal prosecutor. Why
not even wear an ankle monitor? Forget the ankle monitor
to hay with that?
Speaker 1 (36:55):
Why is she out on bond?
Speaker 6 (36:57):
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 substantial flight risk? And here you're dealing
(37:19):
with somebody who doesn't have any in me that.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
She's young and pretty and rich and white. What about that?
Does that factor into that bond decision?
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Because I think it does. Is she worked too pretty
for jail because that worked with debril Fay. Is that
what happens just too cute?
Speaker 6 (37:41):
Well, in this case, respectfully, she has not been accused
of murdering anybody yet. The only charges in this case
so far are abuse a corpse and some lower and
some lesser included charges as well. So until the time
that this state actually accuses her of murdering an infant child,
(38:04):
she's going to be treated as a low level Offenderful.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace cheerleader Lake and Snelling.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
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
(38:46):
it gave her a little comfort. What about the baby,
She says, she woke up seven thirty am, put the
baby in a trash bag.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Yeah, that's normal.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
Then shower, cleaned up blood, placed placenta in a zip
plot bag before skipping morning classes in going for McDonald's.
That's what we are learning. But here is the critical moment.
Here's the critical statement. She admitted to medical staff the
(39:18):
baby had shown quote a little bit of fetal movement and.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Made a whimper after he was born.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
Then she deletes the photos 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.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
What more do we know?
Speaker 10 (39:48):
Hey, I'm gonna need just sent a deputy over here
at one twenty five Lakeside.
Speaker 5 (39:52):
We got a newborn baby's fun distarted.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Okayy too, yep, thanksful mus Gingham University dealt again.
Speaker 4 (40:02):
The Theta Sisters fine a suspicious trash bag just outside
the front door. Tearing it open, they make a gruesome discovery.
Next to an instant macancheese box lies a dead baby girl.
Emily Weaver admits she birth the baby in the downstairs
bathroom of the Theta house.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
Okay, in that case, sorority's sisters find a dead infant
and a trash bag right outside their front door, and
they immediately suspect and Emil Weaver listen, Paul, I just.
Speaker 11 (40:34):
Want to be able to tell, yeah, the cause of
death from the child. And did you do anything physically too?
Speaker 9 (40:47):
No, physically, I really obviously didn't much at all of this.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
More concern.
Speaker 11 (40:55):
Would be intentionally get a billet.
Speaker 9 (40:59):
I mean I would have like not put its head up.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Would you just sort of dropt, you know?
Speaker 10 (41:04):
I mean that's it was my potentially.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
You did.
Speaker 11 (41:13):
Did you try and keep her alive?
Speaker 12 (41:17):
I didn't do anything to.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Pure 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 births as a text no
more baby taken care of the baby was asphyxiated, suffocated dead.
(41:44):
Prosecutors argue she intentionally killed the baby by putting the
baby in the trash where it suffocated, and she was
sentenced to life.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
That's what happened there.
Speaker 7 (41:56):
So I'm just.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
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.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
In a towel as in this case.
Speaker 2 (42:13):
Could that have been the cause of asphyxiation in the
case in chief.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
Now, that case was about Emily Weaver. But then there's
Alexei Chiviso.
Speaker 12 (42:25):
We had the lady come to clean the bathroom. She
put the baby in the trash can and then she
put another clean winer over the top of it, so
they looked. When they looked in there, it looked there
was no trash in that, but it's underneath the clean bag.
Speaker 13 (42:40):
The baby's dead.
Speaker 12 (42:42):
Okay, we have them in Toronto too, But she killed
a kid.
Speaker 5 (42:46):
Yea, how old was held to be, I don't know.
Speaker 12 (42:48):
It's full time. She just had it.
Speaker 1 (42:50):
She had it in the bathroom was what happened.
Speaker 13 (42:52):
And then she whatever she did, I don't know.
Speaker 12 (42:54):
She's gonna lie. She wouldn't tell us she's pregnant. She's
been lying the whole time.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
So she goes in the bathroom pregnant and then selling
the baby's gone and it's underneath the clean bag near.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
The trash can. There's more. We discovered a dead baby
in the bathroom.
Speaker 9 (43:11):
Oh my gosh, sorry, Lexie, I told you about this.
I just asked your babies tell me the truth.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
It's not cry and nothing was crying. Do you guys
have I'm the charge nurser.
Speaker 12 (43:34):
Do you guys have any questions for me?
Speaker 1 (43:36):
How big is.
Speaker 5 (43:38):
What?
Speaker 1 (43:40):
Nine months?
Speaker 10 (43:41):
Something was?
Speaker 9 (43:42):
Cort Let's have you watched the news of being the
girls and what they do to their babies.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
And what they go to jail? Was cry? Doctor Bethony Marshall,
what's with that? Mom?
Speaker 5 (44:00):
Mom seems more concerned about her daughter than her grand baby.
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
sends to be some more of overt physical violence. So
this is just a soft kill. And the mother never says,
(44:20):
oh my god, my grandbaby. Those words do not come
out of the mother's mouth.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
I don't like anything you just said, soft kilm Those
words don't go together. Imagine how awful it would be
to be murdered my let's just say asphyxiation.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
Then, imagine if you're a baby, you can't speak, you
can't move, you can't run away, you can't.
Speaker 2 (44:44):
Fight back, you have to just lay there and die
with something held down over your nose and mouth.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
And to doctor Kendall Crown's soft kill my rear end.
Speaker 2 (44:54):
Could this baby have died by asphyxiation simply by the
baby putting being wrapped in towels and put in a
trash bag?
Speaker 1 (45:03):
Could that have asphyxiated suffocated the baby.
Speaker 8 (45:06):
Yes, we see that occasionally with full term infance or
babies that are beyond the twenty three 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 an a plastic bag,
just as if you put a plastic bag over your head,
(45:27):
it would suffocate you.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
And then to Chris Buyer's private investigator at Buyer's Investigative Services,
I want you to hear this case.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
Similar and it's one brought up by Josh Cole Road
Skyler Richardson.
Speaker 13 (45:41):
Is your bedroom upstairs or bathroom upstairs? Okay, so you
had the wall downstairs. Are you carrying her? Did you
go into the garage or do you have an outdoor
shed like where you have a.
Speaker 4 (45:53):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (45:54):
When?
Speaker 2 (45:54):
What did you find her?
Speaker 12 (45:55):
What did you use?
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Put a little old my god?
Speaker 13 (46:00):
Okay, Underston, what did you do?
Speaker 1 (46:03):
Did you have it and you didn't have any help?
Speaker 2 (46:05):
Right?
Speaker 5 (46:05):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (46:06):
What did you do with her while you were digging
the hole?
Speaker 2 (46:10):
And Chris Buyers in that particular case, Skyler Richardson, dad asks,
tell us what's going on, and she says, I tried
to cremate the baby just a little. She tried to
burn the baby.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
Chris. Yeah, that is absolutely mind blowing.
Speaker 7 (46:32):
That level of evil.
Speaker 1 (46:34):
I just can't even imagine, just.
Speaker 4 (46:35):
Just all of these cases we see just the level
of selfishness and self absorbedness in these in these girls,
and just treating.
Speaker 11 (46:44):
These babies just like garbage just absolutely blows my mind.
Speaker 1 (46:47):
Like garbage in every way putting it, putting babies in trash,
throwing them in dumpsters.
Speaker 2 (46:53):
I want you to hear it from the horse's mouth
Chris Here's Skyler Richardson stating that she tried to cremate
the baby.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
Just a little.
Speaker 4 (47:04):
Kind tells the too, says, you have to tell your
reasons to hear better.
Speaker 3 (47:10):
A little behind.
Speaker 2 (47:14):
I want to be very clear at this juncture, Lincoln
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
(47:36):
find the baby stuffed in her closet hours later, Snelling
reportedly tells the roommates the noise they heard was when
she quote fell over, passing out from a routine illness.
Speaker 1 (47:51):
When the roommates find the.
Speaker 2 (47:53):
Baby in the closet, they till the dispatcher at nine
one one. 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. Lincoln Snelling
(48:15):
needs to consider life behind bars and what.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
That will be like. We wait as justice, of course.
Speaker 3 (48:23):
Goodbye friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.