Jose Rios apparently was killed more than two months ago after he had an argument with his female roommate about her boyfriend staying over at their apartment.

Clara Flores, who manages the Federal Square Apartments, 820 S. Federal Blvd., said the roommate and her boyfriend "were terrible people. How could he let people like them live there and not be afraid?"

Rios, 74, was found dead Jan. 7 lying inside the door of his apartment.

His throat had been cut.

Police have released little information on the death, other than that two people, Candy Peralta, 36, and Joseph Valenzuela, 47, have been arrested in the case.

Both are being held without bail at the Denver County Jail. They each are charged with first- degree murder, and their preliminary hearing is set for today.

Court documents show that early Jan. 7, a female friend went to check on Rios and found him dead on the floor, just inside the front door.

Investigators say there was a struggle in the bedroom, and there were several possible weapons that could have been used in the attack, including a broken liquor bottle.

A neighbor told investigators he had heard "screaming and yelling" coming from Rios' apartment the night before.

The news of Rios' death shocked Flores and her tenants. "It was a horrible death," she said. "He never bothered nobody."

Flores said Rios had moved in about a year ago.

About six months ago, Flores learned that Peralta, whom she only knew as "Candy," had moved in with Rios.

"She used to hang around here, and she didn't have a place to stay," Flores recalled. "She would take care of him, clean him up, do the laundry."

But Flores said that Peralta soon began having her boyfriend stay over at Rios' apartment, which led to frequent arguments between Peralta and Rios. Flores said she had to call police on Dec. 16 because of one such fight.

After that fight, Rios told Flores that he had kicked Peralta out for good because she stole money from him.

But about a week later, Flores said the building's owner spotted Peralta at Rios' apartment.

Flores said that on Jan. 6 she could hear Rios arguing with Peralta again and went over to the apartment at 11 p.m. to tell them to stop and to check if Rios was OK.

"He wouldn't come to the door, but he said he was all right, that he was lying down," she said.

Both Peralta and Valenzuela have criminal records.

She had been arrested for a number of trespassing charges. He had a number of disturbing the peace and assault arrests, and had served 30 days in jail on a 1993 conviction of those charges.

fongt@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5489