NewsLocal News

Actions

Denver drug dealer sentenced to life in prison for killing three homeless people

Posted at 6:46 AM, Jul 26, 2019
and last updated 2019-07-26 08:57:51-04

DENVER — A Denver drug dealer who prosecutors said shot and killed three homeless people over an unpaid drug debt has been sentenced to life in prison for the murders.

Maurice Butler, 39, was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences and must pay more than $16,000 in restitution.

Butler was found guilty earlier this month on three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Christopher Zamudio, 45, Nicole Boston, 28, and Jerome Coronado, 39. Police found their bodies near a light rail station near Broadway and I-25 in Denver last August.

Investigators said Boston and Coronado would often purchase drugs from Butler, who went by the name of “Khaos,” at Civic Center Park in Denver. When they accrued a debt to Butler, he went to their camp and shot and killed the pair and Zamudio, investigators said.

In an interview with the Denver Post, Butler said that while the GPS ankle monitor he wore as a condition of his parole put him in the area of the killings that night, he was there to buy drugs from a supplier and never saw any of the victims.

Butler said he plans to appeal his conviction.