Bodies found in burned home

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SANTEE, Calif. —
A second body was found Sunday in the rubble of a burned house in Santee where a man threatened to kill his wife and himself and burn down their home, a sheriff's lieutenant said.

The man made the threats Saturday, shortly before the home went up in flames, but investigators were unable to enter the dwelling until Sunday morning because it was unstable, said San Diego County sheriff's Lt. Jim Duffy.

The medical examiner will have to positively identify the charred bodies, but one of them appears to be that of a female, he said.

At 2:34 p.m. Saturday, deputies got a call from a man living at 8567 Clifford Heights Road who said he was going to kill his wife, burn his house down, shoot anyone who interfered and then kill himself.

The Los Angeles Times reported the home on Clifford Heights Road in Santee, a middle-class suburb east of San Diego, is listed as owned by Michael Cour, 60, and Janice Gervais, 70, according to San Diego County property records.

A blaze fully engulfed the home in about an hour and ammunition could be heard exploding inside by deputies.

Neighbor Ruth Taloza told the San Diego Union-Tribune the man of the house had come over earlier Saturday to drop off an air compressor, and her friend said she could smell gasoline.

When Tazola went back to thank the man through his open garage door, he said he and his wife were both laid off, were going to be evicted after being denied for a lower loan rate and his wife had cancer.

The fire broke out about a half-hour later in the garage.

The man and wife were believed to be 60 and 70 years old respectively and no one else lived at the home, deputies said.

Citing county records, the Union-Tribune reported the couple filed for bankruptcy last summer. A bank foreclosed on the property Dec. 6, according to the newspaper.

School officials confirmed both Cour and Gervais were longtime educators. Cour was a retired Grossmont Union High School District employee. Gervais had been working as an adjunct English professor at Miramar College.
 
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