Elise Nelson (Stearns County Jail).
A 39-year-old mother in Minnesota will spend more than a decade behind bars for killing her disabled 13-year-old daughter, turning off the child’s oxygen monitoring device and allowing her to die while getting “blacked out” drunk on vodka.
Stearns County District Court Judge Heidi E. Schultz on Monday ordered Elise C. Nelson to serve a sentence of 22 years (261 months) in a state correctional facility in the 2020 slaying of young Kylie Larson, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show. She is also required to pay more than $12,000 in restitution.
Nelson last year pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder in her daughter’s death.
Under Minnesota state law, Nelson will likely serve two-thirds of the sentence — 14 1/2 years — in prison and one-third on supervised release. She was credited with eight days of time served.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Nelson was home alone with the victim from June 18 to June 21 while Nelson’s husband — the victim’s stepfather — went on a fishing trip and her other child was at the home of a family friend.
Authorities said that Larson’s oxygen and pulse levels were steady for two days before they dropped. An alarm went off, but according to police, the history of the oxygen-monitoring device showed that the alarm was silenced multiple times and the alarm parameters were manually changed to allow the victim’s oxygen levels to continue plummeting without sounding an alarm. Nelson also turned the machine off several times.
Police said that the family friend watching Nelson’s other child tried to get in touch with her several times on the morning of June 21, 2020. When she couldn’t get ahold of Nelson, she went to the home but the door was locked and the shades were drawn.
About an hour later, at 12:49 p.m., Nelson texted the family friend “stating she had just finished doing CPR for an hour and that she was waiting for the police. Nelson and the friend then spoke on the phone for about 17 minutes, until 1:07 p.m.
Nelson then called 911 for the first time at 1:09 p.m., the affidavit states.
Police and emergency medical personnel at about 1:13 p.m. on June 21, 2020, responded to a 911 call regarding an unresponsive child at Nelson’s home in the 1600 block of West Mill Street in Paynesville, which is about 85 miles northwest of Minneapolis.
Upon arriving, first responders said they found Larson lying on the living room floor and described her as “cold to the touch.” Medics said the child had blood pooling on her back as well as the backsides of her legs, which indicated that it had been several hours since her death. She was transported to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Nelson’s initial explanations as to what happened to her daughter did not comport with the clear evidence and timeline.
When asked the defendant what happened, Nelson said she “heard [the victim’s] alarm go off, she looked at the machine and saw [the victim’s] oxygen level had dropped to 86%” and that “at that moment [the victim] flatlined” and Nelson began CPR. Nelson claimed she performed CPR for an hour before calling 911.
However, data from the victim’s device showed that it “flatlined” at 6:43 a.m. on June 21, while police weren’t called until more than six hours later. Her phone also showed that it “was in active use” during the time she claimed to be performing CPR. Officers also observed that Nelson’s appearance was ” inconsistent with a person exerting herself for 60 minutes while performing CPR.”
Nelson later admitted that she was depressed and purchased a 1.75-liter bottle of vodka and “drank to the point that she blacked out and does not remember what happened for long time periods.”
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