How Google Helped Capture Teens Who Killed a Family of Five

In 2020, a Senegalese family lost their lives to a fire that was set by someone who believed they had stolen his phone.

The Beginning

In 2020, Kevin Huy Bui who was sixteen at the time had his iPhone stolen. He was angry and swore to get revenge if he found the person who stole his device. Kevin downloaded an app, the "Find My iPhone " app, and started searching. The app indicated that his phone had pinged at an address on N Truckee Street in Denver, Colorado.

Without questioning the accuracy of the app's results, Kevin started making plans to punish the "thief" for what he had done. To carry out the act, he recruited two of his friends, Dillon Siebert who was 14, and Gavin Seymour who was 16.

They hatched out a plan, a plan that would cause irreparable damages. On August 15, 2020, at around 2:30 am, the three teens went to the apartment located at the 5300 block of North Truckee Street. With their face perfectly concealed behind a black mask and armed with a can of gasoline, they set the house on fire and fled the scene.

A police officer, Gordon King, on patrol, spotted the fire and called for help. He rushed to the building and tried to kick open the front door. His attempts yielded no positive results because of the extreme heat which prevented him from getting very close. He could see a small body about three feet from the door, but he could not help.

When the fire department responded and the fire was doused, they found the body of Djibril Diol (29), Adja Diol (23), and their 22-month-old daughter, Khadija Diol. Additionally, Hassan Diol (25) and her 6-month-old daughter, Hawa Beye, were also victims of the heartbreaking incident.

Three other occupants of the building sustained several degrees of injuries but managed to escape the fire by jumping from the second floor.

Catching the Perpetrators

Investigators quickly determined that this was a case of arson as they identified that a liquid accelerant had been used to start the fire.

Considering that the arsonists had planned their attack, and the security camera footage from a neighbor's house captured the masked faces of the attackers.

Investigators reasoned that the attackers must have searched for the house address on Google before going for the attack. This prompted them to reach out to Google for assistance. They wanted Google to release the IP names of the people who had searched for the house address within 15 days before the incident.

Google was unwilling to release the required information because of its policy of protecting the privacy of its users. However, after so much pressure they agreed to release only the IP addresses and not the names of the Google accounts that had searched the house address.

Armed with this information, they narrowed down their search to, and about five months after the fire they were captured. This is the first time Google assisted in this manner to solve a crime.

Through another warrant, the investigators reviewed the social media chat between the trio where they talked about the crime.

Sentencing

In 2022, Dillon Siebert pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to a juvenile facility for three years and an additional seven years in a state prison. He is expected to be paroled in February of 2029.

Gavin also pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 40 years in prison, and is expected to be paroled in November 2050.

Bui was the last to plead guilty to second-degree murder. He is yet to be sentenced but faces up to 60 years in prison.