Infant Found Dead in Champlin Home, Police Investigating As Homicide
BY MN CRIME STAFF
A 23-year-old Champlin woman is charged with murder after her young daughter was found dead last week, the same day the woman lost custody.
Officers were called Friday, Jan. 9, to a residence in the 11900 block of Castle Rock Court on a report of a baby not breathing.
When officers arrived, they found 18-month-old De’Ali Delgado unresponsive on the living room floor. Officers attempted life-saving measures before the child was transported to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
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Officers then located the child’s mother, Maige Elizabeth Yang, of Champlin, inside an upstairs bedroom suffering from medical distress after an apparent suicide attempt. She was transported to a Twin Cities hospital and was admitted under police supervision.
The criminal complaint outlines a sequence of events tied directly to a custody dispute earlier that day. Yang had attended a court hearing in which temporary custody of De’Ali was awarded to the child’s father, Erick Delgado. After returning home from court, Yang and her daughter went upstairs to a bedroom.
Yang’s father later told police he became concerned when the bedroom door was locked. He forced the door open and found De’Ali on the floor with her lips turning blue. He grabbed his granddaughter, ran downstairs and called 911.
In a post-Miranda statement, Yang admitted she put a significant amount of children’s sleeping medication into her daughter’s bottle and fed it to her. According to the complaint, Yang said she did so “to make the pain go away” and intended the medication to be lethal, telling investigators she wanted De’Ali to “pass peacefully” in her sleep.
Court records show the family’s concerns about Yang’s mental state predated the fatal incident. Delgado, who lives in Lakeville, petitioned for permanent custody in September and filed an emergency motion Jan. 2 seeking temporary sole custody, alleging Yang was demonstrating erratic behavior and may have had untreated mental health issues. The court scheduled the custody hearing rather than granting emergency relief, leading to the Jan. 9 ruling.
Days earlier, on Jan. 3, Champlin police issued an endangered missing persons alert after Yang and her daughter had not been seen by family for nearly a week. That alert was canceled within hours after Yang and De’Ali were located safe. According to investigators, they were later found again on Jan. 9 at the Champlin home during the medical emergency.
Investigators determined the case involved a homicide and an attempted suicide. On Jan. 13, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office issued a warrant charging Yang with second-degree murder with intent but without premeditation, a felony carrying a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.
Yang was booked into custody later that day by Champlin police after being released from the hospital. Jail records show she is now being held in custody in lieu of $1.5 million bail without conditions. She is scheduled to make her first court appearance Jan. 14 at 1:30 p.m. in Hennepin County District Court.
