Kaylee Messerly, convicted of child abuse resulting in the death of her baby, sentenced to 26 years in prison

A mother convicted of child abuse after exposing her kids to dangerously cold temperatures in the Colorado backcountry has been sentenced after one of her children died.

Kaylee Messerly, 36, of Craig, Colorado, received 16 years with time served for child abuse causing death. She also got 10 years for child abuse causing serious bodily injury and will have to serve those sentences consecutively, meaning she'll likely be in prison for 26 years.

Messerly, 36, and her daughters got stuck in the mud on a county road in Moffat County in March 2021.

Rescuers found them a mile away from their car. Messerly's 18-month-old daughter Emma Smith died. She was wearing no shoes, socks or hat. Her other daughter, Alena Smith, 3, had to have her legs partially amputated.

Messerly was arrested and tested positive for methamphetamines at the time.

She was convicted in June of this year.

Alena will get prosthetic legs, according to her father, Dave Smith.

According to the Moffat County Sheriff's Office, the Colorado Department of Human Services failed to act on complaints about the mother.