Teen Agrees to Serve 60 Years in Prison after Setting Fire to Wrong Home Over Stolen iPhone, Killing Family of Five

Kevin Bui, right, agreed to serve 60 years behind bars for setting fire to a Denver home that killed five family members on Aug. 5, 2020.

The third person accused of killing five family members in Colorado by intentionally setting their house on fire—mistakenly believing a stolen iPhone was in the home—will be spending several decades behind bars.

Kevin Bui, 20, appeared in court on Friday and formally pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in the 2020 slayings of Djibril “Jibby” Diol, his 23-year-old wife Adja, their 21-month-old daughter Khadija, Diol’s sister Hassan, and her 6-month-old daughter Hawa Beye, authorities announced.

Djibril Diol, 29, and Adja Diol, 23, and their 22-month-old daughter, Khadija Diol, as well as their relative Hassan Diol, 25, and her 6-month-old daughter, Hawa Beye, were all killed in the blaze.

Bui's legal team reached a deal with prosecutors in the Denver District Attorney’s Office in which he agreed to serve a 60-year sentence in exchange for the state dropping an additional 60 criminal charges.

Bui was 16 years old when he, along with Gavin Seymour and Dillon Siebert, lit the fatal blaze. The fire occurred while the victims and three others were inside their home on North Truckee Street in Green Valley Ranch. The three survivors escaped by leaping from a second-floor window.

Bui, who was 16 years old at the time, was portrayed by prosecutors as the ringleader of three friends who plotted the inferno that killed the Senegalese family.

Authorities identified Bui as the ringleader, whose stolen phone prompted the crime. He used the “Find My iPhone” app to track his stolen device to the general area of the Diol family’s home. The group spent weeks planning the fire as revenge for the stolen phone. They purchased hockey masks from a costume store, broke into the home armed with gasoline, and set the house ablaze before fleeing. The home quickly became fully engulfed in flames.

Police linked Bui, Seymour, and Siebert to the scene using cell phone location data and surveillance footage showing them buying masks. A neighbor’s doorbell camera also captured the crime. The trio was arrested in January 2021 and initially charged with dozens of felonies, including first-degree murder and arson.

Surveillance video had captured Bui and his two friends wearing full face masks and dark hoodies when they set fire to the home.

Seymour, who was also 16 at the time, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder earlier this year and received a 40-year sentence. Siebert, who was 14, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to three years in juvenile detention and an additional seven years in state prison.

Kevin Bui, now 20, pleaded guilty last week to igniting the late-night blaze in a Denver neighborhood in August 2020 that killed the family of five.

Bui did not say much during Friday’s proceedings, offering only terse responses to Judge Karen Brody’s questions. None of the victims' family members attended the proceedings in person, opting to watch the hearing online.

Bui is scheduled to appear in court again on June 2 for formal sentencing.