A Colorado teenager who killed a five-member innocent family by setting fire to the incorrect house in a heinous retaliation scheme over his stolen iPhone could spend up to 60 years in jail. After tracking his stolen phone to the general vicinity using the “Find my iPhone” app, Kevin Bui, now 20 years old, admitted guilt last week to starting the late-night fire in a Denver neighborhood in August 2020.
Prosecutors described 16-year-old Bui as the head of three buddies who planned the fire that killed the Senegalese family, which included two infant girls.
Kevin Bui, now 20, pleaded guilty last week to igniting the late-night blaze in a Denver neighborhood in August 2020 that killed the family of five.
AP
In the fire died Djibril Diol, 29, Adja Diol, 23, and their 22-month-old daughter Khadija Diol; also, their relative Hassan Diol, 25, and her 6-month-old baby Hawa Beye.
Three other persons suffered fractures when they jumped from the second story of the house in the middle of the night to escape.
Djibril Diol, 29, and Adja Diol, 23, and their 22-month-old daughter, Khadija Diol, as well as their relative Hassan Diol, 25, and her 6-month-old daughter, Hawa Beye, were all killed in the blaze.
Denver Post via Getty Images
Bui and his two friends were shown on surveillance tape setting fire to the house while donning black hoodies and full face masks. With a search warrant obtained to force Google to provide IP addresses that had searched the house’s address within 15 days before the fire, police identified the three as suspects.
The teens were arrested about five months after the blaze.
Pleading guilty to second-degree murder, 14-year-old Dillon Siebert was sentenced last year to seven years in a state prison program for young convicts and three years in juvenile detention. In March, Gavin Seymour, 19, admitted guilt to one count of second-degree murder and received a 40-year jail sentence.
In a plea agreement that calls for a minimum of 60 years in prison—30 years for each count—Bui, who was prosecuted as an adult, admitted guilt to two charges of second-degree murder. Under the arrangement, prosecutors dropped sixty additional charges Bui had faced, including first-degree murder, attempted murder, arson, and burglary.
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