MOFFAT COUNTY, Colo — A woman who was convicted of two counts of child abuse after her 18-month-old daughter died and her 3-year-old daughter sustained cold exposure-related injuries last year will spend 26 years behind bars.
Kaylee Messerly of Craig was convicted in June in Moffat County District Court of one count of child abuse resulting in death and one count of child abuse resulting in serious injury.
She was sentenced Wednesday to 16 years for count one and 10 years for count two. Those two sentences will be served consecutively for a total of 26 years, according to the court clerk.
The Moffat County Sheriff's Office said on March 11, 2021, they were notified about a suspicious vehicle near County Road 54 in unincorporated Moffat County, which is not frequently traveled in the winter months. The initial caller said he spotted an empty stroller not far from the vehicle, an arrest affidavit says.
Rescue crews found Messerly about a mile from the vehicle with her 3-year-old daughter. They were both alive and suffering from environmental exposure injuries, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Messerly's 1-year-old daughter was found dead nearby. According to the affidavit, the child was wearing a coat but did not have socks, shoes or any type of head covering. According to the autopsy report, the child's death was ruled an accident and the cause of death was determined to be hypothermia.
Messerly and one of her daughters tested positive for meth, according to the affidavit. Messerly told investigators that she had tested positive because of eating snow around an oil rig tank that had methane gas written on the side of it. She said one of her children also ate the snow, the affidavit says.
Messerly's surviving daughter had one of the worst, "if not the worst," cases of frostbite ever seen at Children's Hospital, according to the affidavit. The child had both of her feet amputated shortly after the incident.
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