Arvin, CA: Details emerge in hunt for suspect in killing, his children

BY JORGE BARRIENTOS AND JILL COWAN, Californian staff writers jbarrientos@bakersfield.com
jcowan@bakersfield.com | Tuesday, Sep 13 2011 11:45 AM

Last Updated Tuesday, Sep 13 2011 02:28 PM

Arvin Police Chief Tommy Tunson held a press conference along with Supervisor Senior Resident Agent with the FBI Rob Guyton outside the Arvin police station Tuesday. Arvin police and the FBI were searching for a man suspected of killing his girlfriend and fleeing with their two children, ages 9 and 8.
Arvin police and the FBI were searching Tuesday for a man suspected of killing his girlfriend and possibly fleeing with their two children.

He was identified as Maico Encarnacion of Arvin and was said to be dangerous. He goes by the nickname Michael.

The kids were identified as a girl and boy, Mariela, 9, and Louis Miguel, 8. Their mother’s name is also Mariela, 27.

“That’s of our highest interest right now, to look for the children,” said Arvin Police Chief Tommy Tunson.

The FBI was aiding in the search because the suspect may be going to another country, officials said.
Police asked anyone with information about the case to call Arvin police at 854-5583 or the FBI at 323-9665 or 916-481-9110.

Arvin police said they found the body of Mariela Monday evening in a home in the 200 block of Lang Ford Avenue in Arvin.

That’s where the suspect, Encarnacion, was living. The couple had been separated for about a month; the girlfriend and the kids moved out of the residence to elsewhere in Arvin, said Paula Moreno, who lives across the street from where Mariela was found dead.

She had a knife wound to the neck, Arvin police said.

They said they found her during a second check of the residence. They’d made a check-the-welfare visit to the house one time before but it was locked.

Moreno said she thought it was strange both cars of the couple were at the residence overnight Sunday night. She called the woman’s cell phone at 10 a.m. Monday, got no response, and then called the house phone. She got no response there, either.

Both parents worked, Moreno said. Mariela would leave the children with Maico before heading to work, and would pick them up after.

“It was rare and suspicious to see the cars there, and for no one to answer,” Moreno said.

Mary Valenzuela, who lives across the street from the Encarnacion residence, said she also saw Mariela leave with the children at night. Encarnacion did not have much contact with neighbors, she said.

“He never talked to nobody,” she said.

Moreno called the police at noon Monday and again at 6 p.m. or 7 p.m.

Police said they have not issued an Amber Alert because they do not have a vehicle description to offer.

The news shook the Arvin neighborhood, where residents regularly leave garage doors open and police presence is a rarity, neighbors said.

Rosa and Adan Martinez, who have lived on Lang Ford for 30 years, called it a “good neighborhood.”

“Never has anything like this happened around here,” Rosa Martinez said.

On Tuesday, Arvin Union School District officials spoke with teachers at Sierra Vista Elementary, where both children attend, Superintendent Michelle McLean said. Other children have not been told what has happened.

Counselors are on hand if needed for teachers and students.

“We’re just hoping and praying they’ll be found quickly,” McLean said. “It’s a tragedy.”