FIRST ON FOX: Authorities in California have arrested a thrice-deported illegal immigrant in connection with a deadly house fire that killed a mom and two of her three of her children last month, according to a law enforcement source.
Stockton police announced the arrest of Jose Carmen Cardona, 59, Friday morning.
A source with knowledge of the investigation tells Fox News Digital the suspect has been deported three times and returned to the U.S. anyway.
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The victims have been identified as Lisbeth Gutierrez-Salazar, 32, and her two sons, Juan Gutierrez-Salazr, 10, and Julian Cardona-Gutierrez, 7. A third boy whose name was not immediately released is the only one who escaped.
They were all asleep in their mobile home when Cardona allegedly set it on fire.
Cardona was dating the mother, but he was not the father of the children, police said.
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He fled the area and police requested help from the U.S. Marshal Service after obtaining an arrest warrant on June 28, according to authorities.
A nationwide manhunt came to an end Friday with his capture in Modesto, about 30 miles away from the crime scene.
U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of California Lasha Boyden said that Cardona was arrested without incident at a bus stop.
Cardona faces charges of murder, attempted murder and child endangerment, as well as special circumstances allegations of multiple murder, arson and torture, which make him eligible for the death penalty.
Boyden shared her condolences with the family and called Cardona a “violent offender.”
“I hope that the capture of this violent offender will bring some sense of justice to you and your loved ones,” Boyden said in a news conference Friday afternoon. “This horrific act of violence was felt by all not just in the Central Valley but across our nation.”
He is due in court Monday for arraignment.
In the meantime, he’s being held without bail at the San Joaquin County Jail in French Camp, California.
