Two suspects arrested in Orange Cove homicide case

FRESNO — Two suspects from the Visalia area were arrested today in connection to a homicide in Orange Cove earlier this week.

Miguel Angel Encisco, 27, and Mayra Perez, 20, were arrested Friday on suspicion of murder and placed in the Fresno County Jail. Perez is the ex-wife of the victim, identified as Figueroa Dominguez, 26, of Orosi. Encisco is Perez’s current boyfriend, according to investigators.

At a news conference this afternoon, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said the arrests were the result of “good, old-fashioned police work.”

The homicide was called in on Tuesday shortly after 6:30 a.m. The body had been found in an orange orchard south of Manning Avenue and west of Hill Avenue by a farm worker. The body appeared to have been burned, officials said.

Investigators discovered a gas can near the body and traced the sale of the can to the Walmart in Dinuba. They identified the suspects through the store’s surveillance video.

According to Sheriff Mims, Encisco and Dominguez got into a fight at the victim’s home in Orosi, during which Dominguez was killed. Encisco and Perez bought the gas can, put the body in a car and drove out to the orchard. They then tried several times to burn the body in an attempt to destroy the evidence, Mims said.

Although they strongly believe that the burned body is that of Dominguez, Mims said the Sheriff’s Office is still waiting on DNA tests to confirm it.