Death penalty sought in slayings of 70-year-olds

Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty against a young couple accused of killing the man’s grandparents so he could get his modest inheritance.

District Attorney Brittny Lewton said Friday she will seek execution for 20-year-old Brendan Lee Johnson and 18-year-old Cassandra Ann Rieb.

They are charged with first-degree murder and other counts in the strangulation deaths of Charles and Shirley Severance. The couple, both 70, lived in the northeastern Colorado town of Sterling. They were killed in May.

Court documents say the young couple told police they wanted to get the Severances’ small house and and $20,000 that Johnson expected to inherit.

Johnson’s lawyer, Rachel Lanzen, didn’t immediately return a call. Rieb’s attorney, Thor Bauer, said he was unaware of the death penalty decision and couldn’t comment.