(EL PASO COUNTY, Colo.) — An El Paso County man who pled guilty to the murder of his sister following an intentional house fire in 2022 has been sentenced to 70 years, according to the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s (DA) Office.

The 4th Judicial DA posted about the sentencing on Facebook, and said Christopher Lenard pled guilty to Second Degree Murder as a Crime of Violence, which carries a sentence of 48 years. He also pled guilty to two counts of Attempted First Degree Murder, with a sentence of 22 years, as well as Attempted Incest and two counts of Menacing, each carrying a sentence of three years.

Lenard was arrested in June of 2022 after the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office (EPSO) received a call that someone was trying to set a house on fire on Chaps View in Fountain. Deputies and fire personnel responded to the fire on Chaps View, and deputies were then redirected down the street, where they found Shania Lenard dead.

Deputies gathered witness information on the scene and searched for him for about two hours, at which point Lenard was involved in a traffic crash at the intersection of Rasner Road and Whittemore Road in unincorporated El Paso County.

He was transported to a hospital for injuries sustained from the house fire and subsequently arrested.