AURORA | An Aurora mom whose two toddlers died in a fire after she left them alone for several hours to party with friends has pleaded guilty to child abuse resulting in death.
Danielle Lynn Brockman, 25, is scheduled for sentencing Thursday in Arapahoe County District Court.
According to court records, she pleaded guilty in August to two counts of child abuse resulting in death stemming from the October 2011 deaths of her two children, Timothy Joseph Ramirez, 3, and Alivia Ramirez, 15 months.
Lisa Pinto, a spokeswoman for the Arapahoe County district attorney’s office, said that under terms of the plea agreement, Brockman faces between 24 and 28 years in prison.
Had the case gone to trial, as it was scheduled to in August before the agreement, she could have faced as much as 48 years in prison on each charge.
Brockman told investigators after the fire that she left her children in the home on East 13th Avenue around 9:30 p.m. Oct. 29, 2011, to go out with friends.
She said she went to a house party, then the Montview Bar and Grill, then a friend’s house before heading home around 5 a.m. the following day. When she got there, a fire had broken out in the kitchen and the smoke was so heavy she couldn’t get to the children, the lead investigator testified last year.
Her son was pronounced dead on the way to a nearby hospital after police ripped steel burglar bars from the toddlers’ window to pull them from the home. His sister died a few days later. Both children died from smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning, investigators said.
Brockman has been in jail since her arrest a few days after the fire.
According to state records, she was also charged with simple assault early this year for an incident that occurred in the jail.