The mother of a 5-year-girl whose charred remains were found in an Aurora home last May was sentenced Wednesday in Arapahoe County Court to 84 years in prison.
Alexus Nelson, 28, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, tampering with a dead body and attempting to influence a public servant — all felony charges — in a disposition hearing on June 12.
The plea deal dropped additional felony charges of first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death.
Arapahoe County District Court Judge Joseph Whitfield sentenced Nelson to 48 years in prison for second-degree murder, 24 years for tampering with her child’s remains and 12 years for attempting to influence a public servant. The sentences will run concurrently for a total of 84 years in the Department of Corrections.
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Maha Li Hobbs, a 5-year-old girl from Aurora, was reported missing on Tuesday, May 31, 2023, as police searched for her and her mother, Nelson.
Maha Li was reported missing in Aurora on May 31, 2023. (Photo courtesy of the Aurora Police Department)
Just two days later, Nelson was arrested after Aurora detectives found the child’s charred remains in a plastic bag hidden in a utility closet at Nelson’s apartment, according to the arrest affidavit.
During the disposition hearing, Nelson’s lawyers pointed toward the mother’s significant childhood trauma as a factor in Hobb’s death.
“Nelson had the irrational fear that anybody else caring for, interacting with, or helping Maha Li was more dangerous … and traumatizing in a lifelong way than Maha Li being home alone for extended periods of time,” the defense said in Wednesday’s hearing. “That belief so tragically led to the opposite of what Nelson thought she was achieving, it led to the death of Maha Li.”
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