Banner

FBI nabs ‘Most Wanted’ fugitive accused of killing 2 women in record 73 minutes

Seventy-three minutes – that’s all it took from the moment the FBI added a man accused of killing two Washington state bar employees to its “Ten Most Wanted” list to when agents arrested him in Mexico. It’s the fastest capture in agency history.

FBI Director Kash Patel announced Thursday that 33-year-old Samuel Ramirez Jr. was arrested in Mexico after nearly three years on the run. The suspect has been returned to Seattle to face charges in a 2023 shooting outside the Stars Bar and Grill in Federal Way, Washington.

Laken Snelling, 22, was indicted on charges of first-degree manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant. An arrest warrant was issued for Snelling’s arrest after the March 10 indictment was handed down. Snelling had been living with her parents in Tennessee while out on bond.

The indictment, reviewed by Court TV, accuses Snelling of causing the death of the infant “under circumstances which do not consтιтute murder because she acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance, or through circumstances not otherwise consтιтuting the offense of murder, she intentionally abused the infant and thereby caused death.”

Investigators say on Aug. 27, 2025, Snelling’s roommates heard loud noises for approximately an hour — noises so loud, they said, that they knocked a picture off a wall. Snelling told her roommates that she pᴀssed out from not eating and would be seen by a doctor. The roommates went into Snelling’s room after she left, looking for the source of the noises, and “found a blood-soaked towel on the floor and a plastic bag containing evidence of childbirth. They looked in Ms. Snelling’s closet and located the deceased newborn baby placed in bags.”

When Snelling spoke to the police, she allegedly admitted to giving birth to the child, which she said fell to the floor of her bedroom; describing what happened to officers, she suggested the infant wasn’t breathing or alive. Snelling said she was awake for approximately 30 minutes after giving birth, “before falling on top of the baby.” When she woke up, she “observed the baby turning blue and purple.” Believing the child to be ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, Snelling allegedly told investigators that she “wrapped the baby up like a burrito and laid next to it (on) the floor because it gave her a little comfort in the moment.”

Snelling’s arraignment is scheduled for April 10. Snelling was a member of the cheer STUNT team at the University of Kentucky at the time of the incident.