Two of the three teenage boys accused of murder related to a house fire that killed five members of a family in northeast Denver last summer will be tried as adults and Denver’s district attorney is asking for the case of a third defendant to be moved from juvenile court.
Denver District Attorney Beth McCann on Monday direct-filed 60 felony charges against Kevin Bui and Gavin Seymour, both 16, including accusations of first-degree murder, attempted murder, first- and second-degree assault, first- and fourth-degree arson, first- and second- degree burglary, conspiracy charges, and other sentencing enhancers.
Bui and Seymour were arrested last week in Jefferson County along with a third boy, who is 15 years old. The third boy, whose name has not been released, was charged in the juvenile system. He is accused of 47 counts including first-degree murder, attempted murder, first-degree and second-degree assault, first- and fourth- degree arson, first- and second- degree burglary, conspiracy charges and a sentence enhancer of being an aggravated juvenile offender.
McCann is expected to request that the third defendant’s case be transferred to Denver District Court so he can also face charges as an adult.
The teens are accused of intentionally setting a fire in the Green Valley Ranch neighborhood that killed Djibril Diol, 29, and his wife, 23-year-old Adja Diol, and their daughter, Khadija, a toddler. The fire also killed Hassan Diol, 25, and her infant daughter, Hawa Beye. Three other members of the family survived the fire by jumping to safety from the second story.
The arson-homicide investigation also led to the arrest last week of Tanya Bui, 23, a relative of Kevin Bui, on federal drug and weapons charges. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives investigators opened a case against her after reviewing social media and telephone records from Kevin Bui’s cell phone, which she paid for.