Colorado woman convicted of killing man she claimed was a sex offender: ‘Unbridled hatred’

Prosecutors said Deka Simmons, 40, killed Daxcimo Ceja after learning that he had had a sexual relationship with a minor as an adult.

A Colorado woman who killed a man she suspected of being a sex offender will spend the rest of her life behind bars, authorities said.

On Wednesday, August 21, 40-year-old Deka Simmons was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being found guilty of the 2022 murder of Daxcimo Ceja, according to a press release from the 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office.

Ceja's remains were found in a bag in a Colorado Springs sewer on October 5, 2023, after local police responded to an anonymous tip, police previously said. According to police, the investigation into Ceja's murder began on March 30, 2022, and Simmons was arrested on first-degree murder charges in April of that year.

Prosecutors said Simmons killed Ceja, 48, in a garage after learning that he had allegedly had a relationship with a 17-year-old girl in California when he was 25, according to the Colorado Springs GazetteThe outlet reports that prosecutors described Simmons as someone who harbors “an unbridled hatred for anyone who abuses a child,” and also pointed to Simmons' fear that her daughter could become a victim of sex trafficking.

Ceja’s mother, Karen Fancher, said in court at the verdict: “[Ceja] was killed for something he did 24 years ago,” said Gazette. “[Simmons] She's not going to be out on the streets hurting other people's families like she has done her whole life.”

According to Megan's Law's online records, Ceja was not listed as a convicted sex offender in the state of California, where the alleged relationship took place. PEOPLE's call to the Colorado Fourth Judicial District Attorney's Office seeking clarification was not immediately returned.

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According to the outlet, Simmons is suspected of murdering three other people, but he has not been charged with any murder other than Ceja's.

Simmons was also sentenced to an additional 24 years in prison for bodily harm and an additional three years for tampering with evidence. Their sentences will be served consecutively, according to the judge's order, prosecutors said.

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