Ryan Cunningham stumbled into the lobby of a downtown Chula Vista pizzeria, made it past kids playing video games, then fell. The 22-year-old had been stabbed, attacked by a group of men on the restaurant patio on a busy Saturday night in 2004.
He did not survive. For more than two decades, his slaying remained unsolved.
The District Attorney’s Office released last year a composite sketch of a suspect in the 2004 fatal stabbing of 22-year-old Ryan Cunningham in Chula Vista. (San Diego County District Attorney’s Office)
On Tuesday, approaching 22 years since Cunningham’s death, four people are slated to be arraigned in connection with his killing. According to the District Attorney’s Office, they are Jose Roque-Garcia, 50; Carlos Herrera, 42; Marco Herrera, 41; and Franco Dominguez, 43.
A year ago, the District Attorney’s Office issued a plea for fresh tips in Cunningham’s case, urging witnesses and tipsters to come forward. The office said that Cunningham had been sitting on the patio of La Bella Pizza Garden when he was attacked, beaten and, after he fell to the ground, stabbed.
The restaurant had hosted several private parties that evening, and people may have witnessed the attack, the District Attorney’s Office said.
“It’s clear that there are witnesses that know who stabbed the victim to death or have other valuable information that can help police and investigators to solve this case, but maybe they are afraid to come forward or simply don’t want to be involved,” District Attorney Summer Stephan said in the statement last year.
It is not clear if the arrests this month were a result of tips generated by last year’s plea for help.
A Chula Vista police homicide detective said following the slaying that Cunningham had been eating on the patio when he was approached by three men who demanded his car keys about 7:30 p.m. March 20, 2004. The witnesses told police Cunningham “seemed taken aback.”
“When he looked up, he had a look on his face like, ‘Who are you guys and why are you asking for that?’” then-Detective Greg Puente said in an interview at the time.
Cunningham’s family told the Union-Tribune in 2004 that Ryan, the oldest of five, tried to keep to himself. “All his life, he’s been picked on, beat up and bullied,” his mother, Cindy Cunningham, said.
“All he wanted was for people to give him a chance,” she said. “He just wanted to be like everyone else.”