Man suspected of setting Stockton mobile home on fire, killing woman and 2 children, arrested
STOCKTON – The man accused of intentionally setting a mobile home on fire in Stockton, killing a woman and her two young children, is now under arrest and in jail.
Jose Carmen Cardona was taken into custody just after midnight Friday, according to the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office. Stockton police say he was arrested in Modesto. He's accused of setting a trailer on fire while the victims were asleep inside last month.
A $10,000 reward was being offered for information that would lead to the arrest.
Lisbeth Gutierres, 32, and her two sons—Julian, 10, and Juan Gutierres, 6—were asleep in a camper when the Stockton Police Department says Cardona purposely set the trailer on fire.
It happened on June 25 along along Visalia Court near Harbor Street.
The reward was being offered by the U.S. Marshals Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force Sacramento Office.
The task force said Cardona, 59, has ties to Idaho and north Texas. He is Hispanic, 5-foot-7 and weighs around 190 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.
Cardona has known aliases of Jose Carmona-Estrada, Roberto Giron-Giron, Felipe Ramirez Leon, Juan Alonzo-Alemndares, Juan Alonzo, Jose Avilla Cardona, and Andres Vecerra Torres.
It was previously reported by authorities that Carmona and Gutierres were married. However, the task force now said Gutierrez was Cardona's ex-spouse.
A friend of Gutierres spoke to CBS Sacramento in the days following the fire and recalled seeing bruises and markings on her body just days before she and her kids were killed. Her father also said she had just moved into the camper.