Georgia – In a harrowing case in Georgia, a 29-year-old mother, identified as A. Hobbs, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in connection with the death of her 7-year-old disabled daughter, identified as Alivia J., whom she heartlessly abandoned and left to die alone in a wardrobe.
The unsettling details emerged when police were led to an apartment complex by a call from a disconnected cellphone in late June 2023. Inside the apartment, hidden behind a door, they found what no human being should ever see: the mummified remains of a little girl, trapped and abandoned in a closet for months. Alivia had been left confined, defenseless, strapped into a stroller, left to suffer in darkness. Five days after the discovery, police charged Hobbs, who had a history of violence and prior arrests for assault and battery involving her family.
Investigators believe Hobbs abandoned her daughter sometime between February 28 and June 25, 2023, turning her back on the vulnerable child who needed her most. During a later police interview, Hobbs finally confessed: she had left Alivia alive in that closet because, in her words, her life had become “too much.” Alivia, a little girl who suffered from cerebral palsy and seizures, had no way to free herself. She spent her final moments trapped in unimaginable fear and loneliness, while her mother walked away without a second glance.
Shockingly, even after her daughter’s slow death, Hobbs continued cashing Alivia’s $900 disability checks. She didn’t mourn — she dated. Investigators revealed Hobbs told them that being cheated on during one of her new relationships was the “worst day of her life,” oblivious to the life she had stolen from her innocent daughter. Prosecutors revealed that Hobbs was completely unmoved by her daughter’s suffering. Her emotional disconnect was further highlighted during the investigation when she expressed indifference towards her daughter’s funeral arrangements, stating that no one had helped her raise Alivia.
During the sentencing, Hobbs’ attorney conveyed her client’s wish to take responsibility for her actions, contrasting sharply with her prior attempts to deflect and minimize her role in her daughter’s death. According to the attorney, Hobbs recognized the gravity of her actions too late, expressing a desire to atone. “She either had to do what she did to Alivia or she would have killed herself,” prosecutors said, quoting Hobbs’ own words. But while Hobbs sought escape, she stole every future moment from a little girl who had already endured more suffering than most.
Hobbs pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one count of malice murder, two counts of felony murder, and two counts of cruelty to children in the first degree. Without hesitation, Superior Court Judge L. Jackson sentenced Hobbs to life in prison with no chance of ever stepping into freedom again, underscoring the irreversible harm Hobbs had inflicted on her daughter. The judge remarked on the severity of the crime, emphasizing that Alivia’s death was caused not by a conventional weapon but by deliberate neglect and confinement.
District Attorney S. Boston reflected on the case, stating, “Alivia did not deserve the slow, painful, and lonely death she suffered at the hands of her mother.” She hoped the sentence would bring some solace to Alivia’s family, who long believed Alivia was safe and being cared for, and serve as a stern reminder of the responsibilities and legal obligations of parenthood. As Hobbs begins her life sentence, the community continues to mourn a life lost too soon and grapple with the unsettling reality of a mother who failed to protect her child. With Hobbs now permanently confined to a prison cell, the system delivered the only justice it could for a child who had no voice and no one to save her.
