SAN JOSE — A woman has been charged with arson and involuntary manslaughter on allegations she set fire to a commercial building, killing an entrepreneur who ran a marketing and design shop there, authorities said.

The early Sunday fire destroyed the two-story structure on North 27th Street north of East St. James Street in the city’s Roosevelt Park neighborhood. The San Jose Fire Department said the fire was reported at 3:55 a.m. and started on a fence, then jumped to the adjacent building.

The man who died is believed to be 51-year-old Christopher Tran, one of the operators of Branding Out, a custom design and marketing business that was one of several small businesses at the property. The Santa Clara County medical examiner-coroner’s office had not formally identified him as of Tuesday, but San Jose police detectives tentatively identified Tran based on contact with his family and evidence at the fire scene.

Tributes to Tran have been populating social media since, and Branding Out — which city records show has operated in San Jose since 2009 and had five employees — released a statement to its patrons and supporters Tuesday confirming that its business site was destroyed by the fire.

“It is with deep sadness that we announce our shop was completely destroyed by a fire early Sunday morning,” the statement read. “We appreciate your understanding an continued support. Together, we will rebuild. Thank you for being part our community.”

Yessenia Yanira Estrada, a 35-year-old San Jose resident, was charged Wednesday with involuntary manslaughter and felony arson causing great bodily injury. Each count is accompanied by charging enhancements based on allegations including Tran being a particularly vulnerable victim, Estrada’s prior criminal convictions, and her being on probation.

A police affidavit accompanying the criminal complaint indicated homicide detectives explored a murder allegation, and that was what Estrada was booked into jail for, so the manslaughter charge suggests that the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office found evidence for deadly recklessness but not intent to kill.

Estrada was scheduled for arraignment Wednesday but it was postponed to Friday because she was receiving undisclosed medical treatment.

After a two-alarm fire response extinguished the blaze within about two hours, San Jose firefighters and police investigators quickly suspected foul play in the fire’s cause, and were notified by Tran’s family that he was believed to have been inside when the fire broke out. His car was parked outside and his cellphone signal was tracked to the fire site, according to the affidavit.

But authorities could not conduct an immediate search for the man because of concerns about the stability of the ravaged building. Meanwhile, Estrada was soon identified as a suspect, based on surveillance footage, eyewitnesses and community accounts that she was known to be living in a white van on the street and would frequently loiter at the building.

Arson investigators with the San Jose Fire Department and San Jose Police Department homicide detectives eventually obtained an arrest warrant for Estrada, who was taken into custody Monday.

That same day, the fire department’s Urban Search and Rescue unit, the police department’s Crime Scene Unit and the coroner’s office found a deceased person in the rubble of the building, authorities said.

Witnesses reportedly told detectives that shortly before the fire erupted, someone matching Estrada’s description was heard screaming, “Everyone is going to die!” and she was seen crouching near a fence that caught on fire moments later.

The fire spread to furniture behind the fence, then to a propane tank and then to the building, according to an arson investigator cited in the affidavit.

Estrada was booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail, police said. Court records show that in February, she pleaded no contest to misdemeanor hit-and-run, drug possession and illegally entering a dwelling, in a plea deal that downgraded initial felony charges. She was on probation for that conviction when Sunday’s fire occurred.

Additionally, Estrada pleaded no contest last October to illegal firearm possession as a felon and misdemeanor vehicle tampering, and in July 2024 she pleaded no contest to a felony charge of possessing a stolen vehicle.

The fire death is being investigated as the city’s 14th homicide of the year investigated by San Jose police.

Anyone with information for investigators can contact the SJPD homicide unit at 408-277-5283 or email Detective Sgt. Ivan Barragan at 4106@sanjoseca.gov or Detective Mike Harrington at 4365@sanjoseca.gov. Tips can also be left with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or at siliconvalleycrimestoppers.org.