15-year-old pleads guilty, faces life in prison for murder of 10-year-old Thornton girl

A teenager could be facing a life sentence after he plead guilty to the killing of a 10-year-old Thornton girl on Friday.

According to our media partners at KDVR, Aidan Zellmer, 16, was charged as an adult in the death of Kiaya Campbell on June 7, 2017, after the two left Campbell’s father’s home to go to a shopping center.

Her beaten body was discovered near a ditch, grassy area the very next day. The Adams County Coroner’s Office eventually determined the young girl had been beaten to death, suffering multiple blunt-force injuries to the head and several wounds along the fingers.

Police arrested Zellmer, who was 15 at the time, two days later. KDVR reports, investigators determined the two had lived inside the same Thornton home off the 12400 block of Forest Drive and their parents had been dating.

Investigators say Zellmer’s mother was in a relationship with Campbell’s father at the time of the murder.

Originally, Zellmer was looking at facing four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of sexual assault, and one count of sexual assault on a child. However, all of those charges were dropped after he decided to plead guilty.

Zellmer will be eligible for parole after 40 years and will be sentenced on March 11.