Nearly a year after police found her newborn son dead inside a trash bag hidden in her bedroom closet, former University of Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling stood before a judge and admitted responsibility for the baby’s death.

Snelling, 22, pleaded guilty on Friday, Aug. 21, 2026, to first-degree manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant.

The plea marked a dramatic change in the case. Snelling had previously denied the charges after being indicted earlier this year.

This time, speaking through tears in court, she acknowledged what happened after she unexpectedly gave birth alone inside her off-campus home in Lexington, Kentucky.

“I was under a lot of emotional stress and my baby came unexpectedly,” Snelling said, according to video of the hearing. She then acknowledged that rather than getting help for the infant, she cleaned up afterward and told no one.

She went further.

“I ended his life,” Snelling told the court, adding that she had deprived the baby of oxygen.

The admission brought one of the case’s central questions to a devastating conclusion — and now leaves Snelling awaiting sentencing this fall.

Prosecutors Are Recommending a 13-Year Sentence

Under the plea agreement, prosecutors are recommending that Snelling receive 10 years in prison for first-degree manslaughter and another three years for the remaining charges.

That would bring her total sentence to 13 years.

Her sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 16, 2026.

The agreement comes almost one year after the discovery that first brought police to Snelling’s home.

On Aug. 27, 2025, her roommates became concerned after noticing blood in her room and hearing unusual noises. They contacted authorities.

When police searched the residence, investigators found the newborn wrapped in a towel and placed inside a trash bag that had been hidden in Snelling’s closet.

Snelling was not there when officers initially arrived.

Police later located her, and she spoke with investigators while receiving treatment at the University of Kentucky Hospital.

What she allegedly told detectives provided a disturbing timeline of the hours surrounding the birth.

Snelling Said She Gave Birth Alone on Her Bedroom Floor

According to an affidavit previously cited by PEOPLE, Snelling told investigators that she gave birth at approximately 4 a.m. on Aug. 27.

She said the baby fell onto the floor of her bedroom during the delivery.

Afterward, according to the affidavit, Snelling remained awake for about 30 minutes before falling asleep on top of the newborn.

When she awoke again, she said the baby’s skin had begun turning blue and purple.

Investigators said Snelling then wrapped the infant tightly in a towel and lay next to him on the bedroom floor.

She told authorities that doing so gave her some comfort in the moment.

Eventually, Snelling went back to sleep.

Her alarm went off around 7:30 that morning.

According to investigators, she then began cleaning the room, including blood and other evidence of the delivery.

Authorities said she placed the baby, still wrapped in the towel, along with the placenta inside a resealable bag and then put those items into a trash bag.

The bag was later placed in her closet.

She Left the House Afterward

After cleaning the bedroom, Snelling reportedly left the residence intending to attend class.

Instead, according to the affidavit, she sat in her car in a parking lot.

She was not feeling well and ordered food from McDonald’s.

She eventually returned home, where police took her into custody.

The Lexington Police Department later said the medical examiner determined the baby’s cause of death was “asphyxia by undetermined means.”

That finding became particularly significant because prosecutors would later accuse Snelling of intentionally causing the newborn’s death.

Her guilty plea now includes a direct acknowledgment that her actions deprived the infant of oxygen.

Investigators Also Examined Her Phone

As the investigation continued, authorities examined Snelling’s digital activity before the birth.

According to a court filing previously obtained by PEOPLE, investigators found that she had searched for multiple pregnancy-related subjects on her phone.

Authorities also said Snelling took photographs of herself while she was in labor.

Those images were later deleted, which investigators alleged was part of an effort to conceal the fact that she had given birth.

The evidence contributed to a case that eventually moved before a Fayette County grand jury.

In March 2026, Snelling was formally indicted.

At that stage, she pleaded not guilty.

Five months later, she returned to court and changed her plea.

From College Cheerleader and Pageant Competitor to Criminal Defendant

Before her arrest, Snelling was known publicly through college athletics and beauty pageants.

She had participated for three years on the University of Kentucky’s competitive cheer STUNT team and had also competed in pageants.

But within days of her arrest, she withdrew from the university, a school spokesperson previously told PEOPLE.

She had initially been arrested on Aug. 31, 2025 — four days after the newborn was found.

After posting a $100,000 surety bond, Snelling was released and stayed with her parents in Tennessee while the criminal case proceeded.

For months, the circumstances surrounding the newborn’s final moments remained part of the prosecution’s allegations.

That changed during Friday’s hearing.

Snelling was no longer simply listening while prosecutors described what they believed happened.

She admitted it herself.

A Case That Now Moves Toward Sentencing

The guilty plea does not erase the questions surrounding how Snelling reached that moment in August 2025.

But legally, it represents a major turning point.

There will be no trial requiring prosecutors to convince a jury that she was responsible for her newborn son’s death.

Instead, attention now turns to the sentence the judge will impose.

Prosecutors have recommended 13 years behind bars under the negotiated agreement, though Snelling’s final punishment will be determined at her October sentencing hearing.

The most striking moment in court, however, was not a legal argument or a discussion of sentencing guidelines.

It was Snelling’s own description of what she had done.

A year earlier, roommates had discovered signs that something was terribly wrong and called police.

That call led officers to a newborn concealed inside a closet, investigators to a complicated timeline and prosecutors to a manslaughter case.

On Aug. 21, 2026, Snelling finally gave the court her own stark summary.

She had ended her baby’s life.

Now, she is preparing to learn how many years of her own life she will spend in prison because of it.