The 18-month-old loved music, books and mashed potatoes before her mother intentionally poisoned her bottle following a custody hearing.
CHAMPLIN, Minn. — De’Ali Blia Delgado loved books, musical instruments, mashed potatoes and horchata. Her family remembered her as a toddler who danced, bounced with excitement and filled rooms with noise. She was 18 months old when her mother killed her.
Maige Elizabeth Yang, 24, has been sentenced to 380 months in prison after pleading guilty to intentional second-degree murder in De’Ali’s death. The term equals 31 years and eight months, and reports based on court records said Yang received 196 days of credit for time already served. Her June guilty plea established her responsibility for a killing that occurred Jan. 9, the same day a court granted De’Ali’s father temporary custody.
The criminal case generated attention because of its timing and Yang’s admission that she deliberately put a large amount of children’s sleeping medication into De’Ali’s bottle. But the toddler’s obituary records details that never appeared in the murder charge. Born July 25, 2024, in Minneapolis, De’Ali was described as bubbly, expressive and constantly on the move. She especially enjoyed food and would make her displeasure known if someone tried to take away her horchata.
She also loved things that made sound. Her obituary mentions books, musical instruments and noisy objects among her interests and says she was always talking in her own way. Relatives remembered her smiling and wanting to remain near the people she loved. The memorial described an especially close bond with her father, Erick Delgado, who used affectionate nicknames for her and frequently told her she was beautiful.
That relationship became entwined with a court dispute over De’Ali’s custody. Delgado had sought permanent custody in 2025 and submitted an emergency petition for temporary sole custody on Jan. 2, according to Minnesota reporting on the family court record. He alleged that Yang was behaving erratically and raised concern about possible untreated mental health problems. The allegation reflected Delgado’s position in the custody case and should not be treated as an independently established medical diagnosis.
The following day, Champlin police issued an endangered-person alert for Yang and De’Ali because relatives had reported not seeing them for nearly a week. The alert was canceled later that day when both were located safe. The family court did not immediately grant Delgado’s emergency request. Instead, it scheduled a hearing for Jan. 9. At that hearing, a judge awarded temporary custody of De’Ali to Delgado.
Yang returned to her family’s Champlin home with the child after the hearing, according to statements her parents later gave investigators. She carried De’Ali into an upstairs bedroom and locked the door. Yang’s father eventually tried to check on them. When he could not enter, he forced the door open and found the toddler on the floor. Her lips were turning blue. He picked up his granddaughter, rushed downstairs and called 911.
Champlin police arrived at the house in the 11900 block of Castle Rock Court and found De’Ali on the living room floor, not breathing. Officers attempted lifesaving measures. Emergency medical personnel transported the toddler to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Police also found Yang partially unconscious in an upstairs bedroom after what authorities characterized as an apparent suicide attempt. She was hospitalized under police supervision.
Investigators later questioned Yang about what De’Ali had been given. According to the criminal complaint, Yang admitted that she had poured a “significant amount” of children’s sleeping medication into her daughter’s bottle. She said she fed it to the toddler “to make the pain go away” and wanted De’Ali to “pass peacefully in her sleep.” The available reporting does not identify the specific medication or dosage, and those details are not necessary to establish the central fact Yang later admitted in court: the killing was intentional.
Prosecutors filed a second-degree murder charge against Yang on Jan. 13. Early coverage of the case described the poisoning as an allegation because the charge had not yet been adjudicated. Yang was hospitalized immediately after the incident and later taken into custody. The case proceeded in Hennepin County court for several months before Yang chose to plead guilty rather than take the charge to trial.
Her June plea was to intentional second-degree murder. Minnesota News Network reported that the plea arrangement contemplated an aggravated sentence of up to 35 years. The eventual 380-month sentence amounted to slightly less than 32 years. Because Yang admitted the offense, there was no jury verdict and no need for prosecutors to prove at trial that she acted intentionally. Her own account to detectives and guilty plea provided the legal basis for the conviction.
For Delgado, the case had already become something more immediate than a prosecution. He publicly wrote after De’Ali’s death that he had finally obtained custody of his daughter on the day she was killed. He described himself as heartbroken and said he had fought to protect her. He also created an online fundraiser to help cover funeral expenses. His public statements conveyed both grief and anger over a court process that, from his perspective, reached the result he wanted too late to save his daughter.
No official finding reviewed for this article establishes that the family court, Champlin police or another agency had specific knowledge that Yang would kill De’Ali after the custody hearing. The public record does show a sequence of concerns: Delgado sought emergency custody, police briefly treated Yang and De’Ali as endangered missing persons, and a judge subsequently transferred temporary custody to Delgado. The murder occurred after that order but before De’Ali was physically placed with her father under the new arrangement.
The legal system measures Yang’s crime in a conviction, a 380-month sentence and credit for days already spent in custody. De’Ali’s family measures the loss differently. Her obituary describes the foods she liked, the sounds that drew her attention, her movements when she was excited and the affection she shared with her father. Those details are not evidence in the murder case, but they preserve parts of the child’s life that would otherwise disappear behind the details of how she died.
De’Ali’s obituary said she was survived by her father, grandparents, uncles, cousins and great-grandmother and that a private Mass of Christian Burial would be held. It described her as a child with a bright smile and a joyful spirit who made a lasting impact on the people around her despite her short life.
For now, Yang’s sentence resolves the principal criminal prosecution stemming from the Jan. 9 killing. The 18-month-old at the center of the case will remain known in court records as the victim of intentional second-degree murder, but her family’s memorial offers another record: De’Ali Blia Delgado as a toddler who loved to eat, make noise, dance and stay close to the people she loved.
Author note: Last updated October 19, 2026.