John Jefferson
Alexus Nelson, left, and 5-year-old Maha Li Hobbs (Colorado Bureau of Investigation)
A 28-year-old woman in Colorado will likely spend the rest of her life behind bars after admitting to killing her 5-year-old daughter whose “charred” remains were found stuffed inside a shopping bag in a closet inside of their family home last year.
Arapahoe County District Court Judge Joseph Whitfield on Wednesday ordered Alexus Nelson to serve 84 years in a state correctional facility for the horrific slaying of young Maha Li Hobbs, authorities confirmed to Law&Crime.
Nelson’s attorneys reached a deal with prosecutors and she pleaded guilty to one count each of second-degree murder, tampering with a deceased body, and attempting to influence a public servant.
Specifically, Whitfield sentenced Nelson to 48 years on the murder charge, 24 years on the tampering charge, and 12 years on the attempt to influence charge, with all of the sentences to be served consecutively, meaning one after another.
“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,” Senior Deputy DA Kathleen Tierney said in a statement following the proceedings.
The investigation into Nelson began on May 30, 2023, when her mother — Maha Li’s grandmother — called the Aurora Police Department to request a welfare check on Maha Li after Nelson told the grandmother she had given up Maha Li for adoption. The grandmother told police she had not “heard or seen Maha Li in approximately three weeks,” according to a news release from the Arapahoe County District Attorney’s Office.
Investigators contacted Nelson, who claimed that she had indeed given Maha Li up for adoption through an adoption agency. However, when officers contacted the agency, they explained that they had no case file on either Nelson or her daughter.
Police on May 31, 2023, obtained and executed a search warrant for Nelson’s home at an apartment complex in the 1000 block of South Elkhart Street.
Upon arriving at the residence, a detective said he immediately knew a dead body was in the area. When officers opened a “utility closet door” on the patio of the apartment, they found “the charred human remains of Nelson’s daughter.”
“Upon opening the door to the closet, (a detective) immediately noticed what he recognized to be the distinct odor of decomposing flesh,” a probable cause affidavit stated. “The closet was filed with various children’s items that appeared to belong to (Maha Li),” the affidavit said. “After removing boxes from the closet, he found a large shopping bag that contained a plastic bag inside. It was at this point that (the detective) came outside and also noticed the strong odor of decomposition. As (the detective) opened the bag, the odor became overpowering. Inside the bag, (the detective) observed what appeared to be charred human remains.”
When authorities searched the bag they said they found “what looked to be a rib cage” that was a size “consistent” with a 5-year-old child.
“This mother knew about available adoption programs that could have cared for this 5-year-old but instead, she chose murder,” District Attorney John Kellner said. “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.”
Matt Naham contributed to this report.
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