RAMONA, Calif. -- A North County businessman who owned a rental home that blew up early Halloween morning, killing one of his employees, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of murder and insurance fraud.

James Anthony Kurtenbach, 47, surrendered to detectives shortly after 7 a.m. at the gas station he runs in Ramona, sheriff's homicide Lt. Dennis Brugos said.

Seven weeks ago, a 4,000-square-foot house Kurtenbach owned and rented out several miles to the west of his business exploded in a powerful predawn blast. It burned to the ground.

Firefighters discovered the badly burned body of Joseph Nesheiwat, 24, in the back yard of the gutted Mount Woodson Drive residence.

Kurtenbach, a Poway resident, told investigators the property was vacant at the time of the blaze and that nobody was supposed to be there.

Investigators concluded that the Oct. 31 fire had been intentionally set and that Nesheiwat died during the commission of the crime, Brugos said.

Nesheiwat, a Ramona resident who had worked at Kurtenbach's Stars Petroleum gas station for seven years, succumbed to severe burns, smoke inhalation and blast injuries to his head and chest, according to autopsy results.

County records show that Kurtenbach owed $16,600 in back taxes on his Ramona-area rental property at the time of the fire.

Kurtenbach was booked on suspicion of murder, insurance fraud and tax evasion, according to jail officials. He was being held without bail pending an initial hearing scheduled for Monday afternoon at East Division Court in El Cajon.