BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — A Buffalo man was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences plus 30 years Thursday for his role in the September 2019 murders of Miguel Anthony Valentin-Colon, Nicole Marie Merced-Plaud, and Dhamyl Roman-Audiffred.

Deandre Wilson, 51, was convicted on 15 charges, including murder while engaged in a narcotics conspiracy.

According to officials, on the evening of Sept. 15, 2019, Wilson, Jariel Cobb and James Reed had arranged a meet-up to buy a kilogram of cocaine at a residence on Roebling Avenue in Buffalo’s Schiller Park Neighborhood. They were purchasing the cocaine from Valentin-Colon and Roman-Audiffred, who drove up to Buffalo from Florida along with Valentin-Colon’s wife, Merced-Plaud, and Noelvin, their then 3-year-old son.

Wilson killed Roman-Audiffred inside the home, before walking outside and shooting Valentin-Colon and his wife to death inside their van, officials say. Cobb and Reed dismembered Roman-Audiffred’s body and then burned the body parts in a fire pit.

In the early morning hours of Sept. 16, 2019, Cobb and Wilson drove the van to a non-residential area on Tonawanda Street and lit it on fire with Valentin-Colon and Merced-Plaud’s bodies inside. They took Noelvin and dropped him off on a stranger’s porch on Potomac Avenue, where the homeowner found him and notified police who began the search for his parents.

Officers later found the burnt-out minivan with the two bodies inside, and investigators discovered Roman-Audiffred’s remains in the backyard fire pit at a home on Box Avenue just over a week later.

In September 2020, the United States Attorney’s Office filed murder charges against Cobb and Wilson and two years later, on Sept. 27, 2022, Wilson’s trial began, with Cobb and Reed testifying against him. Wilson was found guilty in November.

During Thursday’s sentencing, Wilson sat still in his seat as the sentence was read, showing no emotion. His family, who filled a front row of seats, shook their heads. At one point a man held his head in his hands.

On the opposite side of the courtroom, Zenaida Colon – the mother of Valentin-Colon and grandmother of Noelvin, cried as the sentence was read aloud.

Earlier, Colon gave a victim impact statement, apologizing for her shaking voice as she spoke about how she had to quit her nursing job to care for Noelvin, who has since been diagnosed with PTSD. Colon says her grandson still has nightmares of the “bad guys” he remembers killing his mom and dad while he watched.

During Wilson’s sentencing, Judge Elizabeth Wolford told him “Noelvin said it best, you are a bad guy.” She went on to say Wilson cannot be rehabilitated and therefore should spend the rest of his days behind bars.

The full list of Wilson’s charges are:

– narcotics conspiracy
– Hobbs Act robbery
– murder while engaged in a narcotics conspiracy
– discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and drug trafficking crimes
– two counts of discharge of a firearm causing death in furtherance of a crime of violence and drug trafficking crimes
– conspiracy to obstruct justice
– two counts of obstruction of justice
– conspiracy to use fire to commit a felony
– two counts of use of fire to commit a felony
– conspiracy to damage and destroy a vehicle used in interstate commerce by fire
– damaging and destroying a vehicle used in interstate commerce by fire
– possession with intent to distribute marijuana 

In July 2022, Cobb and Reed pleaded guilty for their roles in the case, and they face a maximum of life in prison when they’re sentenced.