DENVER — A 16-year-old boy suspected of driving drunk when he lost control of his car and rammed a tree – killing his 16-year-old passenger – has reached a plea agreement with Denver prosecutors.
Lilyanna Gunsaules – who went by her middle name, Miah – died in the crash June 5 along Sheridan Boulevard in northwest Denver.
Prosecutors have told the girl’s family that the boy faces an “out-of-home” placement of no more than two years as part of the plea agreement.
That could include living in a foster home or with a family member, according to Miah’s mother, Shyla Combs.
“I know he's a kid,” Combs told 9NEWS. “I know you make mistakes. And I don't want him, you know, going to jail for life. But knowing that the punishment is not even two years, at max, is just unbelievable.”
Prosecutors originally filed multiple charges against him, including second-degree murder, vehicular homicide, and leaving the scene of an accident involving death.
The case is being handled in juvenile court, and 9NEWS is not naming the boy.
Combs said her daughter was spending the night at a friend’s house when she went for a ride with the boy after meeting him on social media.
They were headed south on Sheridan when the car went out of control, crossed the northbound lanes, and crashed into a tree along Willis Case Golf Course.
The car burst into flames. The boy fled the scene, leaving Miah behind in the car. She died there.
She had been due home the next morning to watch her younger brother.
“She didn't show up, which was very unlike her,” Combs said. “Like, if she knew that I needed her for something, she was there.
“And we had talked about it the night before. And she was like, I know, Mom, I'll be there.”
After she didn’t show up, Combs began calling her daughter’s friends. Nobody knew where she was.
Then came a phone call from the Denver coroner’s office.
“I just couldn't breathe,” Combs said. “Like, I couldn't breathe at all. And I just dropped to the floor.”
Police initially did not know who was driving the car. Weeks after the crash, they arrested the boy.
Combs said she’s unhappy with the sentence – and unhappy the resolution of the case won’t require that the boy meet with her and answer her questions.
“That was something that I wanted from the beginning, because there's so many unanswered questions,” she said. “But at this point, I don't know if that will ever happen. And I don't think he wants it.”
The boy is due in court, to enter his plea and be sentenced, on March 26.
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