Woman sentenced for killing, dismembering man because she allegedly believed he was a sex offender

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (TCN) -- A woman will spend the rest of her life behind bars for killing a man whose dismembered remains were found in a bag months after her initial arrest.

According to Colorado's Fourth Judicial District Attorney's Office, a jury convicted Deka Simmons on Aug. 21 of the first-degree murder of Daxcimo Ceja, as well as tampering with physical evidence, tampering with a deceased human body, and sentencing enhancers of violent crime with a weapon and violent crime causing death. She subsequently received a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In a press release, Colorado Springs Police said the investigation into Ceja's homicide began on March 30, 2022. Police arrested Deka Simmons in April 2022 on suspicion of the victim's death even though they had not located his remains.

Nearly a year and a half later, on Oct. 5, 2023, police responded to an anonymous report of possible human remains inside a bag in a drainage culvert. Authorities collected the remains and submitted them for an autopsy, and several days later, the coroner positively identified the victim as Ceja.

According to the Denver Gazette, prosecutors said during the trial that Simmons fatally shot Ceja in a garage because she believed he was a sex offender and allegedly had a relationship with a 17-year-old girl when he was 25. Prosecutors alleged that Simmons worried her daughter was a victim of sex trafficking, and she "has an unrestrained hatred for anyone who would molest a child." Prosecutor Sharon Flaherty reportedly described it as a "fixation" and "paranoia" Simmons had.

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