Man stabbed, home set on fire, prosecutor says

Moments before fire ravaged an Escondido home Oct. 4, surveillance video picked up someone leaving the house.

Once the fire was suppressed, firefighters found a man on the kitchen f loor, a Vista prosecutor said Friday. The man had been stabbed and would soon die.

Authorities say the man caught on camera was 32-yearold Jose Lozano Romero. On Friday, Romero pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and arson.

Documents identify the victim as Procopio Blanco Cervantes. Consumer records indicate he was 50 years old.

Police have been mostly mum about the case. Friday’s arraignment — livestreamed from the Vista courtroom of Superior Court Judge Harry Elias — offered the first glimpse at what authorities suspect happened.

Romero’s attorney asked that bail be set at $100,000, noting that Romero has no criminal record and supports his wife and children with his full-time job.

But after hearing from the prosecutor, Elias declined to set any bail amount.

According to Deputy District Attorney Jack Wong, the victim had been landlord to Romero, who is also identified as Jose Trinidad Romero.

Wong told the judge that there had been a dispute centered on property that Romero left behind when he moved out of the home on Waverly Place.

Wong said that at about 10 a.m. Oct. 4, surveillance camera picked up Romero entering the property with Cervantes, then closing the gate and going inside the home. No one else came by, and no one left.

About an hour later, at 11:07 a.m., Cervantes’ cousin called. The cousin told police he had spoken to Cervantes, but he “indicated that the victim sounded odd, and things were out of place,” Wong said.

Ten minutes later, at 11:17 a.m., surveillance video caught Romero leaving, the prosecutor said. Moments later, fire engulfed the home.