NORTH HIGHLANDS, Calif. — Fire investigators have determined that a fire in a Sacramento County home that left a woman and a boy dead earlier this month was arson.

Thirty-seven-year-old Laura Fernandez and her son, eight-year-old-year-old Wilfred Villarruel, were found dead when firefighters entered their North Highlands home during the April 6 fire.

The Sacramento Bee reports that Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District investigators had said previously that there were suspicious aspects of the fire.

Five people lived in the home, but the other three residents were not home at the time of the 8 p.m. blaze.

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