AURORA | An Aurora woman convicted of murdering her 5-year-old daughter and burning her body in the fireplace was sentenced Wednesday to 84 years in prison.
“While there is no way to fully comprehend what turned this mother into a monster, she deserves to spend several decades behind bars for the unspeakable crime she committed,” said District Attorney John Kellner.
Alexus Nelson, 28, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, tampering with a deceased body and attempting to influence a public servant. The 84-year sentence was part of a plea deal.
Nelson was arrested a year ago in connection with her missing daughter, Maha Li Hobbs, 5.
On May 29, 2023, Aurora 911 dispatchers received a call from Nelson’s mother, who said her daughter had made concerning statements recently by text.
“The caller also raised concerns about the safety of their granddaughter,” the release said.
Officers visited Nelson at her apartment in the 1000 block of South Elkhart Way, where according to the release she told them she had given her daughter up for adoption but did not provide any documentation.
Nelson told police she had given up her daughter in a legal adoption about a month earlier and did not want her mother to know where she was, according to an arrest affidavit.
She said she had worked with the agency Adoptions with Love but did not provide any records, and the agency director told police that she had not had any contact with Nelson.
The Internet Crimes Against Children unit then contacted Nelson.
According to the affidavit, Nelson told detectives that she did not feel like she had the resources to provide for her daughter, which is why she had placed her for adoption.
After being told that Adoptions of Love had no record of her, Nelson allowed police to search her phone for emails, the affidavit said. Detectives could not find any evidence of a transaction.
The girl’s father lives out of state and told police that he had not seen his daughter in about two years, the affidavit said.
Police interviewed a maintenance worker in the complex who had entered the apartment and noticed that the second bedroom was locked and a piece of rope was connected from the door to the door of the bathroom across the hall.
“It appears that someone was trying to keep someone else locked in the bedroom door,” the affidavit said. “He noticed children’s toys in the apartment but did not hear anyone inside that bedroom.”
“Police obtained a search warrant for Nelson’s apartment,” 18th Judicial District officials said in a statement after the conviction Wednesday. “Upon opening a utility closet door on the apartment’s patio, a detective recognized the odor of decomposing flesh. Inside a bag, detectives found the charred human remains of Nelson’s daughter. Bone fragments in ashes were also located inside Nelson’s fireplace.”
Prosecutors did not release details about how the girl was killed.
“While we were fully prepared to take this case to trial, this plea protects Maha Li’s family from having to listen to painful, horrific and gruesome testimony,” Chief Deputy DA Chris Gallo saidin a statement. “Detectives with the Aurora Police Department were able to quickly punch holes in the defendant’s story which ultimately helped us quickly solve this case and bring justice to Maha Li’s family.”
Now us taxpayers will be paying much money to feed and shelter her.
Execute her and give that moneyvhich would be wa$ted on her to charities whichelp children.
Anyone that commits murder should face the death penalty…
This is why the state should have kept the death penalty on the books. Crimes like this call for it.