DENVER: One of three teens accused of setting a house fire that killed five recent immigrants from Senegal last year admitted to starting the fire and targeting the house because he believed his stolen cell phone was there, a detective said Friday.
Detective Neil Baker’s testimony came during a hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence for the two teens charged as adults in the case, Kevin Bui and Gavin Seymour, to stand trial. The third teen is charged in juvenile court.
Bui and Seymour are charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, arson and burglary in the Aug. 5, 2020, fire that killed Djibril and Adja Diol, their 22-month-old daughter Khadija, as well as Djibril Diol’s sister Hassan Diol and her infant daughter Hawa Baye. Their bodies were found on the first floor of the home near the front door, Baker said. One of Hassan Diol’s arms was found wrapped around her baby, he said.
Bui and the others were arrested in January when Bui and Seymour were 16 years old and the third boy was 15 following a lengthy investigation focused on cell phone usage, Google searches for the home’s address and surveillance cameras from nearby homes.
Once in custody, Bui said he had been robbed in late July 2020, with his phone, money and shoes taken, while trying to buy a gun, Baker said. Using an app to track his phone, Bui said he learned it was at the home and believed the people who robbed him lived there though he did not research the home’s residents, he said.
Bui admitted to setting the fire, only to realize the next day through news coverage that the victims weren’t the ones who robbed him, said Baker, the lead investigator in the case.
However, under questioning by Bui’s lawyer, Chris Earl, Baker said that Seymour, in a recent statement to investigators, said that Bui told him that the teen charged as a juvenile started the fire. Seymour also said the trio did not have a real plan about what they were going to do when they got to the home and said one possibility was vandalizing it, Baker said.
In answer to questions Chief Deputy District Attorney Courtney Johnston, Baker said home surveillance video footage of the teens did not show any of them with rocks or baseball bats that could be used to damage the home, just a gasoline can. Bui also did not try to confront anyone over the items that had been stolen, Baker said.
Evidence of an accelerant to more quickly spread a fire was found inside and outside the home as well as near where the teens’ car was seen parked close the home, Baker said.
Neither Bui nor Seymour have been asked to enter pleas to the charges yet.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
Read all the Latest News here
Comments
0 comment