"I let him stay here. He used to live in the street," Massoud Rahman said.
Rahman planned to spend the night watching the Yankees game with his roommate.
At the last minute he says the 42 year old man backed out and decided to spend the night at home.
When Rahman pulled up to 395 Warwick street around 1:00 Tuesday morning, he found firefighters putting out the blaze and got the news his roommate was dead.
"He's a very good guy, a very good guy. You know I never saw him disrespecting anybody. He was nice to everybody," Rahman said.
But detectives say someone had a problem with the man from Bangladesh -- enough to take his life and risk the lives of others.
The fire spread to next door buildings.
Those victims were forced out of their homes.
Wrapped in blankets, they watched investigators ask questions and gather evidence.
Neighbors couldn't help but shiver knowing someone tied up the victim's hands and feet. They murdered him, and then tried to cover up the crime by torching the home.
"It's shocking because this neighborhood has gotten better. Much better in the past 3 years," Lee Mejia said. "You can walk around here, but before you couldn't."
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