MONROE COUNTY, Ga. — An Oregon man admitted to encouraging his girlfriend to set a fire in Monroe County that killed her mother and brother.
Kaleo Pangelinan pled guilty on Monday to First-Degree Arson, according to Leslie Tilson.
In February 2020, a fire killed Tasha Vandiver and 21-year-old Gerald Walton.
Tilson said in 2020 that Pangelinan and his girlfriend Candace Walton exchanged thousands of messages on Instagram.
The pair planned for Walton to run away to be with him in Oregon. Tilson said he urged Walton to kill her family members and discussed different ways of doing it, including smothering, shooting them, using a knife and poisoning.
Walton suggested on at least one occasion that she should steal her mom’s car and run away without killing them. Still, Pangelinan said that was not a good plan and “the only way for her to get to Oregon unhindered was to get rid of her family,” Tilson said.
Two years ago, Pangelinan was charged with two counts of Murder due to the Instagram messages. However, as part of a plea deal, he pleaded only to a single count of Arson.
A judge sentenced him to 20 years in state prison. Candace Walton, 16 at the time, pleaded guilty in February to multiple counts of Murder and several other charges. She is currently serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole.
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