A second teen has pleaded guilty in connection with a deadly 2022 fire at a Colorado apartment complex that killed a mother and her young daughter and forced dozens of residents from their homes.
On Tuesday, Feb. 3, Colorado’s First Judicial District Attorney’s Office said in a press release that the two teens involved received the maximum sentence allowed: seven years in the Colorado Department of Human Services Division of Youth Services (DYS). Because they are minors, their names and genders were not released. Authorities said the teens were 14 and 12 at the time of the incident.
Prosecutors said that in the hours before the Oct. 31 fire at the Tiffany Square Apartments complex, the teens had been asked to leave a friend’s home. Just before 4 a.m., investigators say they returned and started a fire by igniting bushes outside the building. Surveillance footage obtained during the Lakewood Police investigation reportedly shows the teens running to a nearby building as the flames spread, then leaving the area using public transportation.
Inside one unit, Kathleen Payton, 31, and her 10-year-old daughter, Jazmine Payton-Aguayo, became trapped. Authorities said they died from carbon monoxide poisoning and smoke inhalation.
Ten other people were injured. All surviving residents of the 32-unit complex were displaced.
“Today’s sentence brings a measure of justice for the many members of our community impacted by this senseless fire,” Deputy District Attorney Riley Gonya said. “While nothing can restore the lives lost, the homes destroyed, or the sense of safety that was shattered, we hope this outcome provides a sense of closure and allows everyone involved to finally begin the long process of healing.”
Relatives of Payton and Jazmine attended the sentencing and said in a statement, “We will never stop grieving the loss of our beloved girls, Katie and Jazzy.”
The first teen involved in the fatal fire was sentenced in October 2023.
Both teens have remained in custody since the Oct. 31, 2022 fire and faced the same charges, including two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated juvenile offender, and first-degree arson, among other offenses.
“Katie was always helping her neighbor, giving her diapers when she needed them,” Rochelle Vigil Valdez, Payton’s aunt and Jazmine’s great-aunt, told The Denver Gazette in 2022. “Jazmine had just started 5th grade. She [was] just the sweetest little girl. She was into unicorns. She had so many toys it was ridiculous.”
In addition to the seven-year DYS sentences, each teen received 113 days of pre-sentence confinement credit.
