Aurora mother gets 84 years in prison after 5-year-old daughter’s death

ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — An Aurora mother who pleaded guilty in her 5-year-old daughter’s death was sentenced to 84 years in prison.

Alexus Tanielle Nelson, 28, pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder in connection with the death of Maha Li Hobbs, her 5-year-old daughter whose charred remains were found in her apartment amid a 2023 search for the reported missing child. Nelson was arrested in May 2023.

Aurora mother gets 84 years in prison after 5-year-old daughter’s death

The 28-year-old mother pleaded guilty Wednesday to two other charges of tampering with a deceased body and attempting to influence a public servant.

The case began May 30, 2023, after Nelson's mother — the child's grandmother — called the police to request a welfare check on Hobbs because she had not heard or seen her granddaughter in approximately three weeks.

When police contacted Nelson, she said she had given the child up for adoption, and she did not want the grandmother to know where the child was. However, police could not connect Nelson or her daughter to the agency that she claimed to have used for the adoption, nor were any Colorado courts able to produce records of the supposed adoption.

Previous coverage :

Aurora woman accused of killing her 5-year-old daughter pleads not guilty

A search warrant served at Nelson’s apartment in the 1000 block of S. Elkhart Street confirmed what authorities suspected. Detectives found the charred human remains of Nelson’s daughter. Bone fragments in ashes were also located inside Nelson’s fireplace.

“There are many resources and legal ways for parents to surrender their children in the event they are unable to care for them,” said Senior Deputy DA Kathleen Tierney in a statement. “It’s both heartbreaking and appalling that a mother would kill her own child and then make up a bogus adoption story so family would believe the child is alive and well.”

Hobbs’ official cause of death could not be determined because of the condition of the body.

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