OAN’s James Meyers
12:22 PM – Tuesday, May 21, 2024
A Colorado man faces up to 60 years in prison for setting the wrong house on fire and killing a family of five in retaliation for his stolen iPhone and other belongings.
Advertisement
Kevin Bui, who is now 20, pleaded guilty last week to igniting the late-night blaze in a Denver neighborhood back in August 2020 when he was just 16-years-old.
He reportedly used Apple’s “Find my iPhone” app to track his stolen phone to the general area. However, he mistakenly thought a house filled with innocent family members was the house that had his stolen phone.
Bui also told police that in addition to his phone, money and shoes that belonged to him were stolen as well.
Even though it has no bearing on the severity of the heinous crime, it is unclear how police were able to determine that Bui’s belongings were not at that particular residence.
According to prosecutors, at the time, 16-year-old Bui was said to be the ringleader of a group of three friends who plotted the mass blaze that killed the Senegalese family while they were sleeping, including two baby girls.
Djibril Diol, 29, Adja Diol, 23, 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 fire.
Additionally, three other unnamed people also suffered severe injuries while trying to escape from the second floor of the home in the middle of the night.
Surveillance footage captured arsonist Bui and his two friends wearing face masks and dark hoodies when they set fire to the home. Law enforcement were able to pinpoint the suspects after obtaining a search warrant for Google to hand over IP addresses that were pinged close to the home’s address at the exact time of the incident.
As a result, the teens were finally arrested almost five months after the blaze as the ongoing investigation concluded.
Bui, the ringleader, was prosecuted as an adult and pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in a plea deal that proposes up to 60 years in prison, 30 years for each count.
Meanwhile, the second accomplice, Gavin Seymour, now 19, was sentenced to 40 years in prison in March after pleading guilty to one count of second-degree murder.
Lastly, “17-year-old Dillon Siebert was sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment during his hearing in Denver District Court for his role” in the 2020 crime, according to CBS News. Seibert was the youngest arsonist accomplice, as he was only 14 at the time of the crime.
Both boys assisted Bui in his plot of revenge.
Bui is set to be sentenced on July 2nd.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
Be the first to comment