Mom Dropped Infant Down 8 Foot Tunnel on Industrial Research Campus, Now Learns Fate for Murder By Samira Asma-Sadeque

A woman has been sentenced by a New York judge months after she was convicted of killing her 11-year-old child at an industrial research facility.

Halo Nelson was found “inside a utility tunnel structure” on the General Electric campus in Schenectady, N.Y. on March 11, 2024. She died after being taken to a hospital.

Her mother Persia Nelson was convicted in October of murder, manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child, WNYT, News 10 and the Times Union reported.

A Schenectady County judge sentenced Persia to 25 years to life in prison for her daughter’s killing on Monday, Feb. 2, according to News 10, The Daily Gazette and the Times Union.

Halo’s disappearance initially triggered an AMBER alert, but soon thereafter her body was found at the bottom of an industrial pipe, half-submerged in the water below it.

“The baby was dropped into this utility tunnel from the height of about eight feet to the bottom of the tunnel, where there was standing water,” Schenectady County District Attorney Robert M. Carney said at the time.

Persia was located at a building on the same campus and arrested.

“Unfortunately for Halo, the reality is that she suffered. She spent her final moments in a dark hole …when her mother was right there above her, right there, hearing her suffer, hearing her cry — cries for help that she never answered,” Judge Matthew Sypniewski said at Monday’s sentencing, per the Times Union.

In a moving obituary posted soon after her death, Halo was remembered for the joy she brought to others.

“Even though Halo was with us for a short period of time, she brought so much love and joy to her family and a host of others, who loved and adored every moment she spent with them,” read part of the obituary.

“Halo’s eyes and smile would light up every room she ever entered and would melt anybody’s heart whoever laid eyes on her,” the family said.

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At her sentencing, Persia appeared overcome with guilt, News 10 reported.

Through tears, she apologized to her family, including her son, Halo’s father and her daughter.

She added that she was taking responsibility for her actions and will carry the weight of the killing for the rest of her life.

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