Cold case murder sparked by cartel member's girlfriend's missing Porsche keys: DA

Four men accused in the stabbing death of a man outside a Chula Vista restaurant more than 20 years ago pleaded not guilty to murder charges Tuesday.

The suspects are accused in the March 20, 2004, killing of 21-year-old Ryan Cunningham, who was sitting on the patio of La Bella’s Pizza Garden when he was attacked by a group of men who beat him with a variety of weapons, according to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office.

Ultimately, one of the suspects stabbed Cunningham and the attackers fled in two vehicles, according to the DA’s Office.

The defendants — Jose Roque-Garcia, 50; Carlos Herrera, 42; Marco Herrera, 41; and Franco Dominguez, 43 — appeared in a downtown San Diego courtroom on Tuesday morning to be arraigned in the case.

Deputy District Attorney Robert Eacret said in court that Cunningham and his alleged killers were strangers to one another.

But while at La Bella’s, the victim accidentally passed through a private room where a baby shower was being held for Roque-Garcia’s girlfriend, the prosecutor said.

Roque-Garcia’s girlfriend accused Cunningham of stealing her Porsche car keys while he was in the room, though Eacret said that didn’t turn out to be true. Prosecutors said Cunningham “was an innocent bystander who was simply at the restaurant enjoying a drink while celebrating his upcoming relocation to Arizona the next day.”

Roque-Garcia, who prosecutors said was a “high-ranking member of a Mexican drug cartel,” then allegedly called upon his three co-defendants — identified by the D.A.’s Office as “gang associates” — to head over to the restaurant and “(expletive) up” Cunningham.

Dominguez and the Herrera brothers then allegedly drove to La Bella’s, ambushed the victim, and beat him with a two-by-four and a metal chair, while also shocking him with a cattle prod.

Cunningham was stabbed in the chest at some point during the attack. Prosecutors have not said which of the men was believed to have stabbed the victim.

Roque-Garcia has been in custody since December after he was initially charged by himself for the killing.

A grand jury later returned an indictment against all four men, charging them each with a single count of murder.

County jail records indicate the other three men were booked into jail last Thursday.

Roque-Garcia is being held without bail. Carlos Herrera is being held on $1 million bail, while Marco Herrera and Dominguez are each being held on $500,000 bail.

Officials did not disclose what specifically led investigators to identify the men as suspects in the killing.

The District Attorney’s Office said that after the case went cold, prosecutors and investigators were able “to piece together missing pieces of evidence that ultimately supported the grand jury’s indictment.”

Last year, the District Attorney’s Office and Chula Vista Police Department called on the public for information leading to the identification of Cunningham’s attackers. The DA’s Office indicated at the time that several private parties, including a baby shower, were being held at the restaurant and said the murder was witnessed by multiple employees and customers.

Prosecutors said the case involved multiple agencies, including San Diego and Chula Vista police, and the Department of Homeland Security. Several search warrants were executed, they added, and DNA evidence was re-examined.

All four suspects are due back in court in February.