SAN DIEGO -- A Poway home and Ramona gas station owned by a man whose rental house exploded and burned in a Halloween arson fire, killing an ex-employee, were searched Thursday by sheriff's deputies.

James A. Kurtenbach, 47, reportedly owed $16,600 in back taxes on the property before it burned, and fire investigators concluded the blaze had been intentionally set.

The searches were related to the fatal blaze, said San Diego County sheriff's homicide Lt. Dennis Brugos.

The badly burned body of Joseph Nesheiwat, 24, was found by firefighters while they were dousing flames that engulfed the 4,000-square-foot rental residence near Mount Woodson Golf Club following a powerful blast that shook the rural neighborhood about 1:30 a.m. Oct. 31.

The explosion, which was felt a mile or more away, ripped large garage doors off the house and broke windows at a next-door residence.

Nesheiwat's body was found in the backyard of the gutted home.

Kurtenbach told investigators his rental property was vacant and nobody was supposed to be there.

Nesheiwat, a Ramona resident who previously worked for Kurtenbach at Stars Petroleum gas station, died of severe burns, smoke inhalation and blast injuries to his head and chest, according to autopsy results.

The Main Street service station was closed Thursday afternoon and cordoned off by crime-scene tape as investigators searched the premises.

In 2006, a jury found the businessman guilty of doctoring tax returns for a gas station he owned in Nebraska in order to inflate the selling price of the property, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.