A Lincoln County woman who pleaded guilty in the deaths of two people inside a mobile home in December of 2019 has been sentenced to serve 21 years in federal prison.
U.S. District Judge Bernard M. Jones on Monday of this week sentenced Desma Valdez, 20, to 262 months in federal prison. The prison term is to be followed by five years of supervised release.
Valdez pleaded guilty on March 10, 2021 to two counts of second degree murder in connection with a fatal house fire in Indian Country. In January of 2020, a federal grand jury returned a six-count indictment against Valdez including two counts of first degree murders, two counts of second degree murder, arson and using fire and explosives to commit a felony.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, in imposing the sentence, Judge Jones noted the seriousness of the offense, including the impact to both the victims and the families of the victims. Valdez has been in federal custody since her arrest on Jan. 1, 2020.
The fatal fire occurred on the afternoon of Dec. 28, 2019.
Valdez, 19 at the time, was accused of setting a mobile home on fire where the bodies of the victims were found inside.
She reportedly was injured as a result of the fire and transported to the Emergency Room at OU Medical Center and later transferred to the Intensive Care Unit for treatment of injuries including smoke inhalation.
The U.S. Attorney’s office alleged Valdez was staying in the trailer home with the two individuals whose bodies were found. Public records indicated her sister and her sister’s boyfriend were sleeping in the trailer.
The case was charged in federal court because the crime took place in Indian Country and Valdez is an Indian.
According to an affidavit filed in support of a criminal complaint filed Dec. 31, 2019, Valdez admitted to Kickapoo Tribal Police Detective Sciortina that she “lit them on fire.”
The affidavit further stated that Valdez identified the two individuals inside the residence as “Kaulaity” and “Rice.” It also said law enforcement identified the two victims as Tyler Kaulaity, 22, and Daisica Nashawn Rice, 20.
Valdez and Kaulaity got into multiple verbal and physical altercations that day of the fire and Kaulaity reportedly slapped Valdez in the face, grabbed her, squeezed her tightly and at one point threw her into a refrigerator.
Agents said Valdez told them she feared Kaulaity was going to hurt her. She reportedly confronted Rice, her sister, why she allowed her men to do this to her.
There was one altercation that Rice had to separate the two and she made her boyfriend leave the house, Valdez told agents, and that Rice later let him back in the house. After that, Rice and Kaulaity reportedly went to sleep and Valdez advised agents she fell asleep.
ATF Senior Special Agent Certified Fire Investigator Ashley Stephens determined the fire originated in the living room near center of the residence and the cause of the fire to be incendiary, the affidavit said.
The case is a result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Oklahoma City Field Division, the Kickapoo Tribal Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark Stoneman and Thomas B. Snyder prosecuted the case.