Victim’s family outraged as teen killers in Guffey triple murder move closer to release
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – Nearly 25 years after the infamous "Simon Says" murders shocked the small town of Guffey, two of the teens convicted in the case are now one step closer to life outside of prison.
The recent developments are stirring renewed emotions and concerns for victims’ families, especially as one of the masterminds behind the 2001 triple homicide is already out of a traditional prison setting.
Simon Sue, the former high school senior who led a fictitious secret militia and orchestrated the murders, was transferred earlier this year to a supervised residential facility known as a community corrections program.
Under Colorado law, community corrections is not early release – it’s a transitional program between incarceration and parole, where offenders remain under strict supervision.
This week, Isaac Grimes, another of the teens who carried out the murders, was approved by the Denver Community Corrections Board for placement in a similar program.
Grimes, who was 15 at the time of the killings, remains at Arrowhead Correctional Center while awaiting final program placement in Denver. His parole hearing is scheduled for July 8.
Charles Dutcher, who lost his parents and his son Tony in the attack, tells KRDO13 he strongly opposes the transfer or release of any of the three convicted in the case.
"This was planned. It was brutal," Dutcher said. "They were sentenced to decades. They’ve served barely half that. They still owe us – my family, and the public."
The 2001 crime left the state stunned. Sue, along with Grimes and a third teen, John Matthew Moya, formed what prosecutors described as a manipulative and deadly militia fantasy.
Grimes and Moya carried out the killings, believing they were on a mission.
Moya, also known as Jonathan Matheny, remains in prison, serving a 66-year sentence. Unlike his co-defendants, he has not been approved for community corrections.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Jeff Lindsey from the 10th Judicial District says these developments feel like a betrayal of justice.
“When we tell the victim's family that this is the sentence they are going to receive and it's not even close to that sentence, I just don't think that's fair," Lindsey said.
The Colorado Department of Corrections emphasizes that these community placements are legal and tightly regulated. Local boards, not the DOC, make the decisions, and the inmates are still considered under state custody.
For now, Grimes remains behind bars, but his path toward re-entry has begun. And for the Dutcher family, the pain of 2001 continues to echo nearly a quarter-century later.
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