Victims of October’s deadly Lakewood apartment fire and relatives of the mother and daughter who died that night watched a hearing Thursday morning for one of the two boys accused of setting the blaze.

The 12-year-old suspect appeared via WebEx in Jefferson County Juvenile Court from the Montview Youth Services Center, where he has been housed since he and a 14-year-old friend were arrested Nov. 6.

After attorneys discussed a date for an IQ test, as well as a competency evaluation for the boy, First District Judge Ann Meinster closed the courtroom for the rest of the hearing to address sensitive issues regarding search practices for juvenile detainees. The boy’s lawyers have filed motions voicing concerns related to the search policies of the juvenile detention facility.

The two juveniles face 100 charges each including first degree murder-extreme indifference, 39 counts of attempted murder and 15 counts of 1st degree arson.

Their names are not being released due to their ages.

Kathleen Payton, 31, and her 10-year-old daughter Jazmine Payton-Aguayo were trapped in the bathroom of their second floor apartment where they died of smoke inhalation early the morning of Halloween 2022. At least 10 others were injured and dozens were displaced by the fire at the Tiffany Square Apartments, 935 Sheridan Blvd.

After narrowly surviving the fire, Ayoncee’ Hicks and her 1-year-old, Demarion, have moved back into one of the Tiffany Square apartments which has been reopened. She said she returned to the scene of her trauma against her best instincts, but rental prices everywhere else were too high.

“It was between that and being homeless,” Hicks told The Gazette. “It’s all I could afford and it doesn’t smell like smoke.”

She, Demarion and a friend were sound asleep directly above where the fire started and survived because they jumped out of a second story window.

“I have to look at that burned out area every day, but my son is happy and that’s all that matters,” the single mother said.

A donation drive sponsored by Denver7 allowed her to replace furniture and other belongings that were destroyed.

When she returned to the complex, she requested a first-floor apartment, stipulating “Nothing second floor or higher.”

Investigators testified during the 14-year-old’s preliminary hearing that the boys set fire to a pair of pants and threw them into a bush outside of the apartment of a woman who threw them out in the middle of the night. They said the bush went up in flames and quickly spread to a wooden walkway,  which wrapped around the second floor units. She is angry about the fact under Colorado law, the longest sentence a juvenile can face for any crime is seven years — meaning the 12-year-old suspect could be released at age 19 and the 14-year-old at age 21.

“They knew what they were doing. Seven years is nothing,” Hicks said.

The 12-year-old suspect has a status conference hearing March 6. The 14-year-old’s trial has been set for May 1.