Woman claims she was targeted in deadly Tiffany Square Apartment fire, now evicted: "I didn't do anything wrong"
A woman who asked that CBS News Colorado not identify her, says she and her son were the targets of the fire that killed two at the Tiffany Square Apartments in Lakewood early Halloween morning. She said the blaze began after she kicked two boys out of her unit who were playing video games and then causing trouble.
"I was just trying to help them, I didn't want them to be out there on the street in that crazy neighborhood."
She said the boys, ages 14 and 12, were friends with her son.
"I got a little mad and told them to leave and they finally left and came back with a gas can or whatever and they bombed the house or whatever they did," she said.
Kathleen Payton, 31, and her daughter, Jazmine Payton-Aguayo, 10, were unable to get out and died in the fire.
When the woman who kicked the boys out returned to her burned-out unit, she found an eviction notice that CBS News Colorado investigator Rick Sallinger read.
"It claims two of your unauthorized occupants..." said Sallinger. "intentionally caused the fire."
The woman interrupted, "They weren't occupants."
She says she can't understand why she is being forced out.
"I'm not the cause of the fire, I didn't do anything wrong but get two little kids to come over so they wouldn't be out running the streets all night."
She insists she is being wrongly thrown out and not given a place to stay.
With tears, she said, "I don't have anything. I don't have a home to go to... we tried to help them."
The management company for the Tiffany Square, Apartments at ninth and Sheridan issued the following statement to CBS News Colorado: Unit 50 is the household whose tenancy is being terminated due to having an unauthorized guest that allegedly caused the fire. The household was served the proper termination notices to begin the eviction proceedings. As you know this is an ongoing legal matter.
The 12 and 14-year-old juveniles appeared in court on Monday. They are facing several charges, including first-degree murder in the deaths of the mother and daughter.
