A jury has convicted a man who was arrested after a body was found in a burning home in Golden.
The Jefferson County District Attorney's Office says 24-year-old Thomas LaPerch was found guilty Monday of first-degree murder, arson and criminal mischief stemming from the March 2014 death of 57-year-old William Burchett. LaPerch is scheduled to be sentenced Friday.
Prosecutors say he began subletting the lower level of a home Burchett lived in, but within days of moving in, Burchett became uncomfortable with the arrangement. Burchett offered to give LaPerch his money back, plus a couple of hundred dollars if he would move out, but LaPerch refused.
On March 15, 2014, firefighters found Burchett dead in the bedroom of the burning home. He had been stabbed more than 20 times, and an empty bottle of kerosene was found nearby.
