More than two decades after a deadly attack outside a beloved Chula Vista eatery, four men have been arrested in connection with the 2004 stabbing death of 22-year-old Ryan Cunningham near La Bella's Pizza Garden. The defendants, identified as Jose Roque-Garcia, 50; Carlos Herrera, 42; Marco Herrera, 41; and Franco Dominguez, 43, are being held without bail and are expected in a downtown San Diego courtroom on Tuesday for arraignment.
Arrests and arraignment
The four men were taken into custody in recent days and are scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday morning in a downtown San Diego courtroom, according to local reporting. County jail records show Roque-Garcia has actually been locked up since December and is also linked to a separate South Bay murder case, while the other three were booked last Thursday. All four are being held without bail, as reported by the Times of San Diego.
What happened in 2004
According to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, on March 20, 2004, Cunningham was sitting on the patio at La Bella's Pizza Garden when a group of men approached and beat him with a variety of weapons, and one of the attackers stabbed him. The suspects took off in two vehicles, and Cunningham later died at a hospital. The District Attorney’s Office and Crime Stoppers later put up a $1,000 reward for information in the case, but the trail stayed cold for years.
How investigators reopened the case
Officials say the District Attorney’s Office and the Chula Vista Police Department publicly pushed for new tips last year, a renewed call that helped investigators identify suspects, although authorities have not said which specific leads led to the arrests. Multiple employees and patrons who were at private parties at the restaurant that night were identified as potentially having information, Times of San Diego reported.
What comes next
The case will now move to arraignment and pretrial hearings in San Diego while prosecutors and detectives continue to dig. The District Attorney’s Gangs Division has been involved in the case, reflecting its complexity and long history. "The victim, Ryan Cunningham, lost his life in this senseless murder and his family deserves to have justice," District Attorney Summer Stephan said in a statement to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, as authorities again urged anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers.
