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WARREN -- Sentencing hearings have been scheduled for two of three co-defendants in the 2023 fatal house fire that resulted in the death of 16-year-old Chassidy Broadstone, court records show.
The first of the pair of defendants, Brendan Daviduk, will be sentenced July 24. He pleaded guilty before Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Sean O'Brien to an amended indictment of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and aggravated arson for his involvement in the fire. He faces a sentence of 32 years to life.
Daviduk was captured on surveillance footage forcing entry into the 429 Nevada Ave. home by kicking in the garage door. He was accompanied by co-defendant Zackary Gurd and the pair was seen on surveillance fleeing the home as Chassidy and her two sisters were asleep upstairs during the early morning hours of Jan. 19, 2023.
Gurd, 24, faces 40 to 60 years in prison as he awaits an Aug. 13 sentencing hearing before Judge Cynthia Rice. He's charged with pouring gasoline and lighting the fatal fire.
Chassidy's two sisters were able to escape, but one of them suffered a broken back after jumping from a second-story window while Chassidy was found dead from smoke inhalation.
Gurd later fled the Warren area by boarding a Greyhound bus heading south, believed to be heading toward Florida. U.S. Marshals were involved in a mileslong foot pursuit of Gurd after he got off in Richmond, Virginia, tracking him to the 1200 block of Iron Bridge Road in Chester, Virginia, where he was taken into custody a week and six days after the fire.
He was extradited back to face several felony charges in March of 2023. Gurd eventually accepted a plea deal on an amended indictment of two counts of aggravated murder, two counts of attempted murder, aggravated arson, aggravated burglary and tampering with evidence.
Both he and Daviduk originally faced capital murder charges and could have gotten the death penalty.
Gurd provided the prosecution with a statement that would have been used against Daviduk and a third co-defendant, Patricia Zarlingo. She became the final co-defendant to accept a plea deal and opted to go straight to being sentenced by O'Brien.
The judge went along with prosecutors and Zarlingo received a sentence of 35-years-to-life. Zarlingo pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated murder, two counts of aggravated arson, aggravated burglary and tampering with evidence.
Prosecutors say she had been involved in an argument over child support with an ex-boyfriend and drove from her and Daviduk's Youngstown residence with Gurd to the Nevada Avenue home containing Chassidy and her sisters. She was said to have sat in the vehicle while the home was ransacked and set on fire. She and Daviduk were arrested at their home on the West Side of Youngstown with investigators noting a U-haul van parked in the driveway.