A Colorado mother who took justice into her own hands will spend the rest of her life behind bars.
Deka Simmons, 38, was sentenced to life in prison in 2024 after killing and dismembering 48-year-old Daxcimo Ceja — a man she believed had preyed on underage girls.

Investigators said the gruesome crime began in April 2022 when Ceja was reported missing. Nearly a year later, police found his remains stuffed inside bags hidden in a drainage area of Colorado Springs. Evidence later showed Simmons had shot him inside a garage, cut up his body, and stored it in a freezer before disposing of the parts.

Authorities said Simmons acted out of deep anger toward child predators after learning Ceja had once been involved with a 17-year-old when he was 25. Under California law, that relationship would have been considered statutory rape.

At sentencing, prosecutors described Simmons as someone “driven by fear and hatred of anyone who harms a child.” Ceja’s family, however, pleaded that he had changed and didn’t deserve such a fate.

Simmons received life without parole, plus 27 additional years for evidence tampering. Investigators later said her DNA and blood traces linked her directly to the brutal act — closing one of Colorado’s most disturbing murder cases.