A 39-year-old Minnesota mother will serve more than a decade in prison for killing her disabled 13-year-old daughter, turning off the child’s oxygen monitoring device, and allowing her to die while “blacked out” drunk on vodka.
According to court records, Stearns County District Court Judge Heidi E. Schultz on Monday sentenced Elise C. Nelson to 22 years (261 months) in a state correctional facility for the 2020 murder of young Kylie Larson. She also has to pay more than $12,000 in restitution.
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Nelson pleaded guilty last year to one count of second-degree murder in her daughter’s death.
Under Minnesota state law, Nelson will most likely serve two-thirds of his sentence — 14 1/2 years — in prison and one-third on supervised release. She was given credit for 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 fishing and her other child stayed with a family friend.
According to authorities, Larson’s oxygen and pulse levels remained stable for two days before dropping.
An alarm sounded, but according to police, the history of the oxygen-monitoring device revealed that the alarm was silenced several times and the alarm parameters were manually changed to allow the victim’s oxygen levels to continue dropping without sounding an alarm. Nelson also turned off the machine multiple times.
According to police, the family friend who was watching Nelson’s other child attempted to contact her several times on the morning of June 21, 2020. When she couldn’t reach Nelson, she went to his home, but the door was locked and the shades were drawn.
Nelson texted the family friend around an hour later, at 12:49 p.m., “stating she had just finished doing CPR for an hour and was waiting for the police.” Nelson and his friend then spoke on the phone for approximately 17 minutes, until 1:07 p.m.
Nelson called 911 for the first time at 1:09 p.m., according to the affidavit.
On June 21, 2020, around 1:13 p.m., police and emergency medical personnel responded to a 911 call reporting 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 arrival, first responders discovered Larson lying on the living room floor and described her as “cold to the touch.” Medics reported that the child had blood pooling on her back and the backsides of her legs, indicating that she had died several hours earlier. She was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead.
Nelson’s initial explanations for what happened to her daughter were inconsistent with the clear evidence and timeline.
When asked what happened, Nelson stated that 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 did CPR for an hour before dialing 911.
However, data from the victim’s device showed that it “flatlined” at 6:43 a.m. on June 21, and police were not 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 stated 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 bought a 1.75-liter bottle of vodka, “drink to the point that she blacked out and does not remember what happened for long periods of time.”
