An illegal immigrant who was deported three times has been charged with setting the California fire that killed a mother and her two young children, according to police.
Jose Carmen Cardona, 59, was arrested Friday and charged in the June 25 camper fire in Stockton that killed 32-year-old Lisbeth Gutierrez-Salazar and her two sons — Juan Gutierrez-Salazar, 10, and Julian Cardona-Gutierrez, 7, San Joaquin County prosecutors said in a release.
Police said Cardona was in a relationship with the victim.
The suspect was on the run until he was picked up by the US Marshals Service.
“The U.S. Marshals Service Task Force in the Eastern District of California worked countless hours and traveled great distances to locate this violent fugitive,” Lasha Boyden, the US Marshal for the Eastern District of California, said in a statement Friday.
“Thanks to a tipster, we were able to act quickly and take this suspect into custody safely and without incident. The loss of life in this horrific tragedy was felt by the community and our nation,” Boyden said. “I hope his capture brings some sense of relief to the victims’ family.”
Carmona allegedly set the deadly blaze shortly before 6:40 a.m. on June 25 while Guiterrez-Salazar and the two children were asleep inside the trailer, which was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, the San Juaquin County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Police identified Carmona as the suspect and, three days after the fire, issued a five-count arrest warrant for him charging him with murder, attempted murder and child endangerment.
According to Fox News, Carmona had been deported from the US three times but continued to return illegally, although the outlet did not identify his country of origin.