CENTENNIAL | An Aurora woman who tried to kill her former lover last year by setting fire to her apartment was sentenced to 45 years in prison Thursday, Oct. 29.
Naomi Christine Almodovar, 24, of Aurora, was given the sentence in Arapahoe County court after pleading guilty Aug. 20 to two counts of attempted first-degree murder with extreme indifference, first-degree arson, and three counts of violent crime with a weapon.
Almodovar was charged with intentionally setting the early morning blaze June 6, 2014, at the Copper Terrace apartment complex, 6500 S. Dayton St. in Centennial. The blaze spread to multiple units and forced several tenants to leap from apartment balconies to escape the blaze until South Metro Fire Rescue crews put out the fire.
“Many people could have died in that fire and we cared for multiple victims, some with serious injuries,” said South Metro Fire Rescue Fire Chief Bob Baker. “We are pleased that they have received justice.”
Upon investigation, an Aurora Fire official working with the Colorado Bureau of Investigations found that the fire originated in front of a specific unit on the second floor of the apartment building. That led them to interview the occupants, one of whom said she had dated Almodovar but they had broken up in March. Almodovar reportedly harassed her former lover as well as one of her male roommates, whom she began a relationship with after the breakup with Almodovar.
Prosecutors said Almodovar’s former lover claimed she had previously made threats to burn the building down, and subsequent interviews with Almodovar’s family revealed that she “was very angry over the breakup,” according to a news release from District Attorney George Brauchler’s office.
When Almodovar was in the detention facility July 7, 2014, on an unrelated charge, she called her father to ask him to “contact her friend who could provide an alibi” for her whereabouts on the night of the fire, according to the release. Upon interviewing Almodovar’s friend, it was determined he went with her to a gas station to fill a gas can with fuel.
Almodovar was arrested July 18, 2014.
“It’s outrageous that a member of our community could be so self-involved as to attempt to murder a former girlfriend by setting fire to an entire apartment building…and then fleeing like a coward,” Brauchler said in the release. “Many lives were endangered by this selfish act of domestic violence arson. Once again the heroism of the Arapahoe County Sheriff Office, South West Metro Fire and Aurora Fire Department prevented this arsonist from becoming a mass murderer.”