Alva Review-Courier -

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A capital murder charge was filed Wednesday against a man suspected of setting a fire in Kansas that killed his estranged girlfriend and two of her children.

Ismael Caballero also was charged with second-degree murder and arson in the Dec. 30 fire that killed 32-year-old Yazmine Rodriguez-Santilla, 14-year-old Amerikha Rodriguez and 10-year-old Jean Carlos Rodriguez at their Kansas City, Kansas, home, Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree said.

Caballero has been in custody since the fire. He was originally charged with three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of arson.

Dupree said the capital murder charge allows him the option of seeking the death penalty but he had not yet made that decision and will speak to family members of the victims before he does.