PAYNESVILLE, MN – A Minnesota mother was sentenced to 22 years in prison for the murder of her 13-year-old disabled daughter, whose life depended on an oxygen-monitoring device. Elise C. Nelson, 39, admitted to disabling the device and allowing her daughter’s condition to worsen while she became highly intoxicated.

Judge Heidi E. Schultz handed down the sentence on Monday, following Nelson’s earlier guilty plea to second-degree murder for the 2020 death of her daughter, Kylie Larson. In addition to prison time, Nelson must also pay over $12,000 in restitution.

Nelson is expected to serve about 14 and a half years of her sentence behind bars, with the remaining years on supervised release. She has been credited with eight days already served.

The tragic incident occurred while Nelson was alone with Kylie from June 18 to June 21, 2020. During this period, Nelson’s husband was away on a fishing trip, and her other child was with a family friend.

Court documents reveal that for two days, Kylie’s pulse and oxygen levels were stable. However, on the morning of June 21, alarms from her oxygen-monitoring device began to sound. Investigators discovered that the alarms were repeatedly silenced and the settings adjusted to prevent alerts from going off when oxygen levels dropped dangerously low.

Nelson’s actions included turning off the device multiple times, allowing Kylie’s condition to deteriorate unnoticed. On June 21, a family friend, unable to reach Nelson, arrived at the home to check on Kylie but found the doors locked and windows covered.

Nelson eventually texted the friend, claiming she had just finished performing CPR for an hour and was waiting for emergency responders. This contradicts evidence showing that Nelson did not call 911 until approximately 1:09 p.m., despite the device indicating that her daughter showed no signs of life since 6:43 a.m.

When first responders arrived, they found Kylie on the living room floor, her body cold and showing signs of having been deceased for several hours. She was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Nelson’s initial account of events was inconsistent with the evidence, including records from the monitoring device and her cell phone usage during the period she claimed to be performing CPR. Investigators further noted that Nelson’s physical appearance did not match someone who had exerted themselves as she described.

Nelson later confessed to having bought a large bottle of vodka and drinking heavily to the point of blacking out, stating she could not recall significant parts of the morning when her daughter passed away.