Information From Google Helped Lead Denver Investigators To Teenage Arson Suspects, Kevin Bui & Gavin Seymour
DENVER (CBS4) - Denver District Court Judge Martin Egelhoff Friday said two of three teenaged suspects in the killings of five people should move another step closer to trial. The teenagers are accused of an arson in Green Valley Ranch in August of 2020.
In a preliminary hearing, Eglehoff indicated there is enough probable cause to allow the murder case with dozens of charges. He also denied new bond requests from the defense.
The two suspects were 16 at the time of the crime. Another suspect who was 15 remains in juvenile court. They are accused in the fiery deaths of Senegalese immigrants, Djibril Diol, his wife, Adja Diol, and their 3-year-old daughter, Kahadija, as well as Hassan Diol and her infant daughter, Hawa Beye.
Detective Neil Baker explained in court they sought a warrant to Google for whoever may have sought out the location of the house in advance.
"It didn't really match of why they would be searching for that house, so that's why we focused our investigation on those three."
Denver District Attorney Beth McCann says her office now has a digital evidence unit which specializes in gathering electronic information. Search and location data figure large in the case.
"They can get that information through Google with a legitimate search warrant, and then determine what cell phones had accessed the address."
Prosecutors claimed suspect Kevin Bui had a phone stolen when he tried to buy a gun near City Park. They believe he then tracked the phone to the area of the home on Truckee Street, but got the house wrong.
In late July, police detectives saw from their warrant for Google data, three different phones had been searching for the address on North Truckee Street.
"Three individuals that we had observed that had searched that address, multiple times," said Baker. "These three individuals were also from the Green Mountain area in Lakewood, which is completely on the other side of the metro area."
One of them even was seeking information on the inside of the home.
"It didn't really match of why they would be searching for that house, so that's why we focused our investigation on those three."
Further searching of data revealed devices associated with the trio were in the area of the fire on the night of the fire. That data can be collected in a variety of ways testified ATF agent Mark Sonnendecker.
"It could be GPS. It could be proximity to known wi-fi access points. It could be done through triangulation within the cellular networks."
Text messages from Bui to a family member were also introduced. In one of them he texted, "They gonna' get theirs like I got mine, I swear."