San Jose man suspected of killing roommate, setting fire to Cupertino house

A man was arrested Wednesday after Santa Clara sheriff’s deputies suspect he killed his roommate and set fire to the Cupertino house where they had been living.

Jimmie Leonard Hollins IV, 23, of San Jose, was taken into custody on suspicion of homicide and arson in connection with a pre-dawn fire that erupted Sept. 26 at a house in the 1000 block of Tuscany Place in Cupertino, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators suspect Hollins used a “sharp object” during an altercation that broke out between him and a roommate, said deputy Russell Davis, a sheriff’s spokesman.

Firefighters later discovered the roommate’s body while battling flames that, authorities previously said, were concentrated in a first-floor bedroom at the back of the home. Evidence of flammable accelerants were found inside the house, the sheriff’s office said.

The name of the slain tenant was not available Wednesday.

Hollins was being held without bail Wednesday in the Santa Clara County Main Jail.