AURORA | Kyree Brown, 20, was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for the 2020 robbery and murder of an Aurora couple looking for a used car, according to a Wednesday news release from the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Brown was convicted of the murders in September and sentenced Wednesday. Brown shot and killed Joseph and Jossline Rowland in August 2020 as part of a botched robbery, according to court documents. He was 18 at the time.
On Aug. 14, Joseph Roland had contacted Brown on the resale app LetGo in response to a car Brown had listed on the site for $5,000. Investigators learned that Brown had stolen the car, a 2017 Toyota RAV4, in Denver’s Montbello neighborhood five days earlier.
Joseph’s eldest daughter later told detectives that her father bought and refurbished used cars for a living.
Brown and Joseph eventually agreed to meet at Aurora’s Southlands shopping center to exchange cash for the vehicle, according to the arrest document. Joseph’s daughter was supposed to accompany him on the outing, but Jossline eventually went with him instead, the girl told investigators.
Once at Southlands, Brown said he had mistakenly brought the wrong vehicle title and asked Joseph and Jossline to follow him to his home to get the correct document.
They then tailed Brown across most of Aurora before arriving on East Cornell Circle. Brown then parked behind the couple, approached the driver’s side window wielding a handgun and demanded Joseph give him the cash he had brought with him to pay for the RAV4. Joseph then grabbed Brown’s arm through the window, at which point the teenager fired several shots into the car, striking both Joseph and Jossline.
The Rolands had five children, who were then ages 17, 12, 10, 8 and 4 at the time of the murders, the release said.
“My parents were and always will be the two most giving, compassionate, helpful, kind and selfless people I’ve ever met,” Madison Roland, the couple’s oldest daughter said in the release. “We will never get to experience anything as a family ever again.”
In addition to the two murders, Brown was convicted of aggravated robbery, aggravated motor vehicle theft, arson and bait advertising, the release said.
Last year, the victims’ family members filed a wrongful death lawsuit against LetGo and its parent company in federal court, alleging that it was negligent by allowing Brown to be listed as a verified seller. According to reporting from Colorado Politics, the case was dismissed in December after a judge ruled the company could not be held liable for the couple’s deaths.
Five children had their mother and father taken from them. There is no sentence that can ever restore their loss.