Woman with ‘unrestrained hatred’ for child predators killed, dismembered alleged wanted sex offender, prosecutor says

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV/Gray News) - A Colorado woman who had an ‘unrestrained hatred’ for child predators will spend the rest of her life behind bars after she killed and dismembered an alleged wanted sex offender.

Authorities said 38-year-old Deka Simmons was sentenced to life in prison without parole after a two-year-long murder investigation.

In April 2022, Simmons was initially arrested for the murder of 48-year-old Daxcimo Ceja. His body had not been recovered at the time.

A year later, police received an anonymous tip about human remains being in a bag inside a drainage ditch. Officials positively identified the human remains as those of Ceja, KKTV reported.

Simmons was charged with first-degree murder after deliberation, violent crime with a weapon, violent crime causing death, tampering with physical evidence and tampering with a deceased human body.

Prosecutor Sharon Flaherty said in closing arguments that Simmons killed Ceja because he was a registered sex offender who had a relationship with a 17-year-old girl when he was 25, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported.

Ceja had a warrant out for his arrest for failing to register as a sex offender when he was killed, the outlet reported.

“(Simmons) has an unrestrained hatred for anyone who would molest a child,” Flaherty said.

Police said Simmons shot Ceja in a garage, dismembered his body, and stored it in a freezer before moving the remains in a van.

Officials linked Simmons to the murder through DNA from blood in the garage, the paper reported.

Simmons was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, an additional 24 years for tampering with a deceased body, and three more years for tampering with physical evidence.

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