A routine traffic stop in Orono, Minnesota, on May 20, 2022, led officers to a shocking discovery: six-year-old Eli Kenneth Alejo Hart was found concealed in the trunk of a car and later autopsy results showed he had been shot multiple times with a shotgun. The vehicle had a shattered rear window and was missing a tire; police observed what appeared to be blood inside the car and on the driver, Eli’s mother, Julissa Thaler.

Court records and family accounts describe a bitter custody dispute in the weeks before the killing. Ten days earlier, a court had awarded Thaler full custody despite warnings from Eli’s father, Tory Hart, and other relatives about Thaler’s mental health struggles and substance abuse. Eli had previously spent extended periods in foster care. Prosecutors say Thaler purchased the shotgun in the days after regaining custody and shot Eli as many as nine times while he was in her car.

Thaler was arrested and charged with murder; a jury later found her guilty of first- and second-degree murder and she received life without parole. Eli’s father filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Dakota County, which was later settled.

If anyone knew Eli’s routine, who had contact with him after the custody change, or saw that vehicle on May 20, please share what was observed.