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Buffalo man receives three life sentences for role in 2019 burned bodies case

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 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. The following day, Cobb and Wilson drove the van to Tonawanda Street and lit it on fire. 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 two bodies inside, and investigators later found Roman-Audiffred’s remains in a backyard fire pit at a home on Box Avenue.

On Sept. 27, 2022, more than three years after the incident, Wilson’s trial began, with Cobb and Reed testifying against him, and he 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, and they face a maximum of life in prison when they’re sentenced.

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