AURORA, Colo. — A woman pleaded not guilty after she was charged with multiple felonies when charred remains of a child were found in her apartment amid a search for her missing daughter in 2023.
Alexus Tanielle Nelson, 28, was arrested on May 30, 2023 on a charge of attempting to influence a public servant, but additional charges of child abuse resulting in death, tampering with a deceased human body and tampering with physical evidence were added on June 1 after burned human remains were found in a patio closet at her apartment.
During a brief hearing Friday in an Arapahoe County County courtroom, Nelson entered a not guilty plea on all charges and the judge set a preliminary trial date for June 3, 2024.
The case began on May 30 after Nelson’s mother — the child’s grandmother — called police to request a welfare check on her 5-year-old granddaughter, who was reported missing, according to an arrest affidavit.
When police contacted Nelson, she said she had given the child up for adoption and she did not want the grandmother to know where the child was. However, police could not connect Nelson or her daughter to the agency that she claimed to have used for the adoption. She allowed investigators to look through her phone and they did not find any emails to an adoption agency and did not have any photos of the missing child, the affidavit reads. Nelson said she couldn’t provide the name of the adoption agency and had either deleted or thrown away all the paperwork, according to the affidavit.