Kentucky Cheerleader Laken Snelling Charged After Newborn Found Dead in Closet

Case Overview: Newborn's Death

• ⚠️ Laken Snelling, a cheerleader, is charged after her newborn infant was found dead in a closet, wrapped in a baby blanket and plastic bag with cleaning materials/trash.
• 🔍 The central questions involve how she kept the pregnancy a secret and the circumstances surrounding the baby's death.

Psychological Analysis: Fantasy vs. Reality

• 🧠 Psychoanalyst Dr. Bethany Marshall suggests Snelling lives in a fantasy world, contrasting with the reality of having a baby.
• 💡 Marshall interprets wrapping the infant as a selfish act to cover tracks, not an act of care or attachment.

The "Barbie" Persona

• 🎭 Snelling's self-proclaimed "real life Barbie" identity is seen as a desire for beauty and desirability, an external image over internal reality.
• 🏠 Her pink apartment further suggests a life immersed in fantasy rather than real-world responsibilities like motherhood.

Medical Examiner's Role: Determining Cause of Death

• 🔬 Dr. Kendall Crowns, a medical examiner, explains the process to determine if a newborn was born alive and its cause of death (COD).
• ✅ Initial checks include gestational age (viability), signs of maceration (died in utero), or major birth defects.

Forensic Examination Techniques

• 🌬️ A lung float test determines if the baby took a breath, with floating lungs indicating air presence.
• ⚖️ A liver float test is crucial to distinguish between air from breathing and decompositional gases; a sinking liver with floating lungs suggests the baby breathed.
• 🔎 Further analysis includes microscopic examination of tissues for disease or air in lung sacs, and inspecting the placenta and umbilical cord for abnormalities or trauma.
• 🦴 Examiners also look for birth trauma (e.g., shoulder dystocia) or inflicted trauma like crushed ribs or broken bones.