Gavin Seymour: Colorado teen gets 40 years in prison for house fire that killed family of five including toddler and infant

DENVER, COLORADO: One of the three teenagers convicted of setting a Denver home on fire and killing five members of a Senegalese family, including a baby and a toddler, was given a 40-year prison sentence on Friday, March 15.

The maximum sentence for the second-degree murder charge against Gavin Seymour, 19, was handed down following the testimony of numerous distraught family members who denounced the homicidal teen.

16-year-old Gavin Seymour pleaded guilty to setting house ablaze

Last month, Seymour entered a guilty plea for setting fire to the house in the middle of the night in August 2020, killing Djibril Diol, 29, her sister Hassan Diol, 25, and her 6-month-old daughter Hawa Baye.

He also killed Djibril's wife Adja Diol, 23, and their daughter Khadija Diol, 1.

Hanady Diol, the father of Djibril and Hassan, told the court over the phone from Senegal through a translator, "Even if you kill five sheep or goats, you should get a maximum sentence," according to the Denver Post.

Diol went on to say, “This person here, they are talking about 40 or 30 years. That just means there is no justice there. There is no judging that the people who died are human beings.”

According to the prosecution, Seymour, who was 16 at the time, did the horrific act at the request of his friend Kevin Bui, who thought the house was a place where someone had stolen his phone.

Dillon Siebert, 14, and the other two 16-year-olds allegedly planned the fire for weeks, according to the investigators. Only three people made it out of the burning house by jumping from the second story.

Prosecutors said that Djibril Diol attempted to guide his wife and their 1-year-old daughter through the flames, making it down a flight of stairs before collapsing close to the exit.

The next morning, Seymour knew that he and his friends had killed the family; according to internet records, he had read about the deaths in the news and looked up the length of the murder sentence.

Denver police dubbed incident as 'senseless murder'

The teenagers were identified after police obtained a search warrant and asked Google which accounts had searched the home's address within 15 days of the fire. It took several months for investigators to identify them.

“This is by far the worst, most senseless murder investigation I have ever investigated,” Denver police Detective Neil Baker said in court, New York Post reported.

Baker further added, “I can’t think of any other one that is more deserving of a maximum sentence allowed… There are five victims. Two were babies.”

In January, Seymour agreed to a plea agreement that called for a sentence ranging from 16 to 40 years. He expressed regret for his part in the fire in court on Friday.

“If I could go back and prevent all this I would. There is not a moment that goes by that I don’t feel extreme guilt and remorse for my actions. … I want to say how truly sorry I am to the family members and community for all the harm I’ve done,” Seymour said.

Siebert was 17 when he was sentenced in February 2023 to three years in juvenile detention and seven years in a state prison program for young inmates.

But he is scheduled to appear in court again on March 21 and is accused of several first-degree murder counts.