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Fire in home where man found slain is ruled arson

Citizen Staff Writer
LAW AND ORDER REPORT

DAVID L. TEIBEL

dteibel@tucsoncitizen.com

Arson is the cause of fire that destroyed a home in which the owner had been found slain three days earlier, a Tucson Fire Department spokeswoman said Monday

The case has been turned over to Tucson police, said fire Capt. Tricia Tracy.

Police spokesman Sgt. Fabian Pacheco said investigators have little to go on and asked that anyone with information about the blaze call 911 or 88-CRIME.

Neither a suspect nor a motive has been determined for the arson, Pacheco said. “There is very limited information and leads.”

On April 4, police found the body of Dominic D. Sandoval, 49, inside his home at 1812 W. Astolat Road after his ex-wife reported the death.

Officers went to the home Sandoval shared with his son, Rocky J. Sandoval, 25, and also went to the ex-wife’s midtown home, where they found the son and arrested him, police said.

He was booked into the Pima County Jail on a charge of first-degree murder and ordered held on $175,000 bail. He remained jailed Monday, according to the Pima County Jail Web site.

Police have not revealed a cause of death or a motive for the killing.

Sgt. Fabian Pacheco said only that investigating officers found “evidence consistent with a violent confrontation” in the Sandoval home.

On April 7, a fire was set in the carport of the then boarded-up Sandoval home, Tracy said earlier.

The fire destroyed the Sandoval home and damage was estimated at $150,000. The blaze also spread to the home next door, causing an estimated $50,000 in damage, Tracy said.

No one was injured in the fires.

Arson cited in destruction of home where slain man found

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