The teenager tracked the stolen iPhone to a Denver suburb, where he believed the device pinged, and in revenge set fire to a house where he thought his phone was located.
He hit the wrong platform.
In what police are calling a coordinated arson, the 2020 fire killed five members of a Senegalese family, including two infants. On Friday, Kevin Hoy Bui, now 20, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the family’s deaths.
According to authorities, Bui, who was 16 years old at the time of the robbery, used the Find My iPhone app and accidentally tracked the stolen cell phone to another home. Bui and two teenage co-defendants were all later charged as adults in the case, according to court documents.
Under the plea agreement, Bui faces up to 60 years in prison when sentenced this summer for his role in the five murders.
According to an arrest warrant filed by Denver police, the fire occurred on August 5, 2020, and killed Djibril Deol, 29, Aja Deol, 23, and their 22-month-old daughter Khadijah Deol. Died. Also killed were 25-year-old mother Hassan Deol and her 7-month-old daughter Hawa Bey.
Three others fled the home through a second-floor back window, several of them suffering broken bones, according to court documents.
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Co-defendants also pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
According to records, Bui was the last of the three friends to act as defense attorneys in the fatal arson case.
Dillon Siebert, 18, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2022 and was sentenced to three years in a juvenile facility followed by seven years in state prison, according to online Colorado Department of Corrections records. Siebert, who was 14 at the time of the arson, remained incarcerated Tuesday and has an estimated parole date of February 2029.
A third co-defendant in the case, Gavin Seymour, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in January and was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Records show he was 16 years old at the time of the crime and remained incarcerated as of Tuesday, with his expected parole date estimated at November 2050.
Police kicked down the front door but were unable to get inside due to the extreme heat.
According to the 17-page arrest warrant, on the day of the fire, police officers from the city’s Green Valley Ranch neighborhood were patrolling the area around 2:40 a.m. when they discovered the family’s home on fire.
After notifying fire personnel, officers attempted to enter the home through the garage but were unable to do so due to the heat and flames.
He then rushed to the front door and said: “Someone had tried to unlock the door with a keypad but was unsuccessful. He kicked in the front door but was unable to get back in due to the intense heat. There wasn’t.”
Arriving firefighters were able to pull one victim from near the front door, and the bodies of the other four victims were recovered from the front area of the home, the warrant continues.
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A neighbor’s security camera captured three people wearing masks and hoodies.
According to the warrant, surveillance camera footage provided by a neighbor showed three suspects wearing black hoodies and masks outside the home at 2:26 a.m. The footage also showed at least one of the suspects holding what appeared to be a gasoline can.
Court documents also show that in what police called a “coordinated attack,” the suspects broke into the home, used gasoline as an accelerant to set a fire in the rear of the house and then fled.
Detectives then turned to Google, which had looked up the home’s address before the fire, obtained a search warrant and eventually identified Bui, Siebert and Seymour as suspects. The warrant goes on to say detectives reviewed conversations between the three on social media, including one in which Bui told a friend he had been robbed on July 15, 2020. It also includes a scene in which he wrote, “We’re going to get what’s ours.”
The warrant states that on Aug. 1, 2020, Bui sent Seymour a Snapchat message that read, “#possiblyruinourfuturesandburnhishousedown.”
Bui remained incarcerated Tuesday at a downtown Denver jail without bail, according to online records.
He is scheduled to be sentenced in Denver County District Court on July 2.
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter at USA TODAY. Contact her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her at nalund@nataliealund.
